JSC Caucasus Minerals

JSC Caucasus Minerals is rated 3 out of 5 in the category mining & metals. Read and write reviews about JSC Caucasus Minerals. Zopkhito antimony/gold deposit is one of the largest known mineral deposits in Georgia. Zopkhito is located on the southern slope of Great Caucasus mountains in western Georgia. Deposit is in the gorge of Zopkhito river (feeder of Rioni river) in upper Racha region 16 km from village of Ghebi. Exploration of Zopkhito deposit has been key source of employment in Ghebi. Technical road connecting Ghebi and Zopkhito was built during soviet times and restored by Caucasus Minerals (“CM”) in 2012-2014. Currently, Zopkhito is easily accessible by SUVs and light trucks. A good quality paved road connects Ghebi to main Georgian roads. Ghebi is 130km from Kutaisi, Georgia’s second largest city and major railroad hub 240km from Poti, largest Georgian port on the Black Sea. Caucasus Minerals holds 30 year license for the exploration and mining of Zopkhito deposit, which it acquired in 2012. The license covers four known deposits withing Zopkhito Group: Khirkhi, Kodiani, Edena and Sagebi. Exploration of Zopkhito deposit started in 1930s and during soviet times exploration was undertaken by State Geological Department. Initially, antimony was the principal mineral of economic interest up until 1957. From 1966 onwards, exploration focused on both antimony and gold. The main mineralisation area (Khirkhi) has been explored most extensively. So far over 17.5 km of exploration drives have been developed and 16,000 samples analyzed. There are 41 known veins at Khirkhi site. Antimony resource has been estimated only for part of 16 veins and gold resource for 10 veins. Antimony resource also was estimated for 3 smaller deposits. Caucasus Minerals has been working on the exploration of Zopkhito from 2012. We work under the oversight of Wardell Armstrong International, leading international Geological consulting firm. In 2015 Wardell Armstrong completed Zopkhito’s first Mineral Resource Estimate report under Joint Ore Committee of Reserves (JORC) international standard