Rogozna toward a new gold mine: Australian company plans up to 5 tonnes of gold a year

Australia’s Strickland Metals is preparing the first phase of development of its gold project on Mount Rogozna, near Novi Pazar, focused on the Gradina deposit — with a planned capacity of about 2.5 million tonnes of ore a year and potential output of up to 150,000 ounces (about 4.67 tonnes) of gold a year, as the eKapija portal reports.

The data was made public by the company’s chairman, Anthony McClure, during the “Mining Forum Americas 2026” forum in Colorado, where he presented in detail the development plan for Rogozna and explained why the company has temporarily slowed drilling activities in Serbia.

According to McClure, Gradina remains the main focus: “Gradina is where we are focused right now. This will be the first mining project we develop,” he said. The company estimates about 20 million tonnes of mineral material at Gradina with an average grade of 2.8 grams of gold per tonne, corresponding to a resource of about 1.8 million ounces of gold (about 56 tonnes), eKapija reports.

In a detail with political weight, McClure revealed that the Serbian government has asked mining companies to lower their public profile during the election campaign: “The government told us to be a bit quieter during this election process,” he said, adding that the company expects to resume activity after the October 25 parliamentary elections, with new drilling potentially starting as early as November.

Strickland also plans about 50,000 meters of additional drilling to raise the resource confidence category, while the preliminary feasibility study is expected in the second half of 2027. All of Rogozna currently includes four main deposits — Šanac, Gradina, Medenovac and Copper Canyon — with a total mineral resource of 9.25 million ounces of gold equivalent.

The company has about 80 million Australian dollars in liquidity and a market value of about 170 million Australian dollars; the Chinese company Zijin Mining holds 7.4% of its shares through several transactions, eKapija reports.