Located in the Balkan Peninsula in SE Europe, Serbia occupies a region that has been famous since ancient times for mining, mineral exploration and metallurgy. However, it is only in recent years that exploration programs have begun to reveal the true mineral potential of the country. By today's standards Serbia is considered underexplored, with a prospective area of moderate size and with a wide spectrum of mineral deposits reflecting the diverse geological environments that are present.
Currently, Ultra Lithium is seeking to identify potential targets in Serbia that could host a new Lithium resource in the form of Jadarite mineralization.
Jadarite is a first-seen Na-borosilicate mineral with high B (47,2% B2O3) and Li (7,3% LiO2) content, first discovered in late 2004 in the Jadar basin, situated in western Serbia, close to the Bosnia Herzegovina border. The mineral was officially recognized by the International Mineralogical Association in 2006.
Ultra Lithium has been granted six exploration licenses in the Republic of Serbia - through its wholly-owned local subsidiary, Ultra Balkans doo - for the Koceljeva, Trnava, Valjevo East, Preljina, Ladevci and Kragujevac mineral prospects by the Ministry of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning. The successful exploration license applications cover an area of approximately 544 square km in total.
The Company is now initiating its multidisciplinary exploration program that includes field reconnaissance, mapping, geochemical sampling and geophysical surveys for the duration of the last two quarters of this year. The various geophysical methods include gravity, ground-magnetic and magneto-telluric surveys, which will be used to interpret basin geometry and identify potential lithium and boron bearing horizons. Given the anticipated rapid advance of the exploration program and pending favorable results, the Company expects to initiate exploration drilling by Q2 of 2012.
The Koceljeva mineral prospect is situated approximately 60 km southwest of Belgrade in the Municipalities of Vladimirci and Sabac. It covers an area of almost 66 square km and is situated approximately 20 km east of Rio Tinto's Jadar Li-B deposit (114Mt @ 1.8% Li2O & 13.1% B2O3) where production is estimated to commence in 2016. (2) The Koceljeva property hosts a distinct sedimentary sequence which the Company believes to be geologically correlated to Rio Tinto's Jadar deposit.
Valjevo East is a highly ranked mineral prospect which covers an area of approximately 78 located approximately 60 km south of Belgrade, in the Municipalities of Ljig and Lazarevac,
Serbia. It is situated adjacent to Pan Global Resources' Valjevo and Ljig mineral prospects.
The Ladevci and Preljina mineral prospects cover an area of approximately 100 square km each and are located in the central part of Serbia, in the Municipalities of Cacak, Kraljevo and Gornji Milanovac, approximately 100 km south of Belgrade. The tenements comprise the northern part of the NW-SE trending Morava depression (more than 1,000 square km in size) that hosts a promising basin system. Preljina and Ladevci properties are situated to the north of Trnava tenement that was awarded to Ultra Balkans last month and north of Rio Tinto's Janok mineral prospect.
The Trnava mineral prospect covers an area of approximately 100 square km and is located in the central part of Serbia, approximately 120 km south of Belgrade and less than 5 km south-east of the town of Cacak in the Moravica District. Field reconnaissance has begun on the Trnava tenement and geochemical assays of a short sampling campaign are expected by the month's end. This mineral prospect is adjacent to Rio Tinto's Janok mineral prospect where a recent drilling exploration program was implemented and is ongoing.
The Trnava mineral prospect will be explored primarily for its lithium and boron potential, as it has several features that warrant further investigation according to Ultra's exploration and target criteria:
- It is part of the NW-SE trending Morava depression (more than 1,000 square km in size) that hosts a promising basin system;
- Favourable lithologies have been identified by past exploration efforts of the Yugoslavian Geological Survey. The geology includes fine-grained, well-layered lacustrine sediments of Tertiary Age along with tuffs/tuffaceous sediments and intrusive rocks of a similar age;
- The basin has an interesting tectonic signature; and
- Gravity lows have been identified during Ultra's desktop studies.
The Kragujevac mineral prospect covers an area of approximately 100 square km and is located approximately 70 km south of Belgrade and less than 10 km north of the town of Kragujevac in the Sumadija District, Central Serbia.
The Republic of Serbia hosts high quality targets for Lithium-Boron mineralization within its Miocene-aged sedimentary basins. Rio Tinto's recent discovery of Jadar Li-B deposit is situated at the western part of the country and production is estimated to commence within 5-years.
Ultra is the 100% owner and operator of the Koceljeva, Trnava, Valjevo East, Preljina, Ladevci and Kragujevac Exploration Licenses. The Company is also pleased to announce that, in accordance with its strategy of expansion has applied for additional exploration licenses in the Republic of Serbia.
