The exploration licences for the Timok gold project are held by DPM Avala d.o.o.(previous Avala Resources d.o.o.), a Serbian registered, wholly owned subsidiary of Dundee Precious Metals Inc.
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Summary:
The Timok Project is located within the north-western part of the Timok Magmatic Complex (TMC) in eastern Serbia.
The dominant mineral prospects in the clastic sedimentary rocks along the western margin of the TMC are relatively low-temperature auriferous deposits that share many characteristics with Carlin-type gold deposits. The interpretation of the sediment-hosted gold prospects within the Project area as Carlin-type is based upon the following criteria (Knaak et al., 2016):
• Character of the sedimentary host;
• The metal association (gold, arsenic, mercury, thallium, sulphur and antimony);
• The fine-grained nature of the gold, high gold-to-silver ratio and alteration types including argillisation, decarbonisation, and locally, addition of quartz.
Four important mineralised areas have been defined in the Potaj Cuka Tisnica exploration licence, comprising of the Bigar Hill deposit, the Korkan and Korkan West deposits and the Kraku Pester deposit. All four zones share a similarity of mineralisation style, which has been most clearly defined at the Bigar Hill deposit and are associated with a large hydrothermal system that has been identified within the Timok Project.
Bigar Hill Deposit
Gold mineralisation at Bigar Hill is located principally along two stratigraphic horizons, with lesser amounts present along peripheral steeply dipping fracture zones within the clastic rocks and an andesite sill. A lower zone is localised along the unconformable and brecciated lower contact between the clastic S1 and isolated karst-infill zones above the KLS unit. The most continuous horizons lie at shallow stratigraphic levels along the contact between the S1 and S2 units, forming a middle zone. Above this zone, gold mineralisation occurs within the andesite intrusive unit.
Mineralisation is continuous and follows the dips of the stratigraphy. It has a north-south extent of approximately 900 m and an east-west extent of approximately 900 m. Mineralisation is largely from surface, and in the south its depth extent is greatest (approximately 500 m). Depth extent reduces to 200–300 m below surface moving further north. There is a small zone in the centre, where mineralisation starts from approximately 80 m vertical depth from surface.
Korkan Deposit
Mineralisation at the Korkan deposit is generally southeast-northwest trending and shares similar characteristics with the Bigar Hill deposit. Unlike Bigar Hill, stratiform gold mineralisation at Korkan occurs primarily along the unconformable and breccia-like lower contact zone of the clastic S1 sequence against the underlying KLS limestone unit, and in karst-infill zones at the upper boundary of the KLS limestone unit.
Mineralisation is less continuous at Korkan compared to Bigar Hill, due to higher structural complexity. As at Bigar Hill, it tends to follow the dips of the stratigraphy. The mineralised footprint has a northeast-southwest extent of approximately 1,100 m and a northwest-southeast extent of approximately 1,100 m. Mineralisation commences from surface and can be traced to a maximum depth of 400 m below surface.
Korkan West deposit
The Korkan West deposit is the newest discovery within the Project. It lies between the Bigar Hill and Korkan deposits, along a northwest trending structural corridor. The Korkan West deposit shares many characteristics with the Bigar Hill deposit, located approximately 1 km to the southeast, and the Korkan deposit located approximately 1 km to the northeast. Almost all mineralised intervals are manifested as oxide and transitional weathering states. Host rocks for gold mineralisation are: (1) oxidised fine to very coarse-grained (0.1 mm to 2 mm) sandstone belonging to the S1 or S2 units; (2) conglomerate layers containing quartzite clasts and/or not limestone clasts (S1 or S2 units). Mineralisation at S2/S1 contact can commonly be observed.
The orientation of structures in the Korkan West area are currently interpreted to be striking predominantly along a west-northwest to east-southeast orientation. These structures are located within a 300 m wide and 600 m long corridor and were most likely the feeder zones for hydrothermal fluids.
Kraku Pester deposit
The Kraku Pester deposit is located in an embayment at the north-western tip of the Potaj Cuka monzonite, consisting of a thermal aureole across a variably disrupted stratigraphic sequence of metamorphosed shale, marls and limestone metamorphosed to calc-silicate phyllite and marble, and tuffaceous rocks. Unlike Bigar Hill, gold mineralisation at Kraku Pester is hosted in brittle fault rocks composed of pyritised fault breccia to cataclasite, with relatively higher gold concentrations being associated with finer-grained cataclasite. Gold deposition is interpreted as being relatively late in the geological-structural evolution, post-dating the emplacement of the monzonite.