As a part of the exploratory ‘Slivova Gold Project’ a British company Western Tethyan Resources, WTR published data on Thursday showing there is potential for large amounts of gold ores.

“An Indicated Mineral Resource (NI 43-101) was subsequently defined at Slivova of 640,000 mt @ 4.8 g/t gold and 14.68 g/t silver, for approximately 98,700 ounces of gold and 302,000 ounces of silver”-  states the WTR announcement.

Mentor Demi, manager of Western Tethyan Resources, told BIRN that these data are from earlier research and still at a low level of reliability.

“The resources used in this study are from previous research and are at a low level of reliability. However, about 640 thousand tons of gold ore have been calculated as such” – he said.

Demi emphasized that the average gold extracted from one ton of ore is only 4.8 grams.

“The average amount of gold per ton is 4.8 grams -which means- from 640,000 tons of ore, there are about 2,800 kilograms of gold,” he clarified.

The project was previously explored by the Canadian company ‘Avrupa Minerals’, while  ‘Western Tethyan Resources’ is in the purchasing phase of the project.

Demi said that currently they have a license for research only and not for exploitation.

“The license is for research, not an exploitative one. The project extends to four municipalities, Prishtina, Artana/Novo Brdo, Lipjan and Gjilan.” 

According to him, in order to convert the research license to a mining one more detailed research must be carried out. 

On Thursday many media outlets shared articles saying that 640,000 tons of gold were found in Slivova. The media misinterpreted the difference between gold ores and pure gold that could be extracted in case of excavations.

The ‘Slivova Gold Project’ covers 32 km2 and is valid for 7 years of exploration. The license area was subject to a previous joint venture between Avrupa and Byrnecut International Ltd, until 2019 when the license was terminated after Byrnecut incurred exploration expenditures in excess of US$ 7 million.

Western Tethyan Resources Ltd, WTR is a UK registered mineral exploration and development Company focused on South East Europe. The company has a strategic alliance with Newmont Corporation and Ariana Resources and is currently focused on exploration for major copper-gold deposits in the Lecce Magmatic Complex and Vardar Belt in Kosovo.