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Strickland Metals has lit up its Serbian Rogozna project with a fresh high-grade gold-copper discovery, immediately loading the war chest with a $55 million capital raise to accelerate drilling and development studies.
The one-two punch signals a clear shift from discovery mode to development intent, with drilling success now matched by the funding firepower to accelerate growth.
The discovery was made at the Red Creek prospect, about 1km west of the company’s 5.3-million-ounce gold equivalent Shanac deposit. Initial drilling has intersected both shallow epithermal gold mineralisation and deeper skarn-hosted gold and base metals zones – a geological mix that mirrors other major deposits across the Rogozna system.
The standout discovery hole delivered numerous zones of mineralisation, including a solid 4.0 metres running at an impressive 4.0 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent from 44.0m and a deeper interval of 53.0m at 2.3g/t gold equivalent from 514.4m.
Within that deeper 53m zone, the drill bit threw up a 35-metre wide, higher-grade core, running 3.1g/t gold equivalent, including a thick 4.4-metre slice at a stellar 8.9g/t gold equivalent at 522.0m, followed by another hefty 5.8-metre interval grading 4.5g/t gold equivalent from 536.7m.
Importantly, Red Creek sits on the same structure that hosts the Copper Canyon deposit, about 1.5km along strike, opening up a new corridor of exploration ground between Copper Canyon and Shanac that has seen little drilling to date. Mineralisation at Red Creek remains open along strike and at depth, with assays pending from several additional holes.
Strickland managing director Paul L’Herpiniere said: “Our world-class team in Serbia have done it again, with exploration drilling at Red Creek, just 1km from our cornerstone Shanac Deposit, delivering a new high-grade discovery. This is an exciting development which reinforces the highly endowed nature of the mineral system at Rogozna and offers an exciting new focal point for resource growth.”
Hot on the heels of the discovery, Strickland moved to lock in funding, announcing a $55m institutional placement priced at 16 cents per share. The raise will fund an additional 70,000m of drilling across Rogozna in 2026 and support delivery of a pre-feasibility study targeted for the first half of 2027.
Backing the story is some heavyweight support. Global mining major Zijin Mining Group has committed $5m to the placement, lifting its stake in Strickland to four per cent. The endorsement from one of the world’s largest copper and gold producers adds serious credibility to Rogozna’s development pathway and underlines the project’s strategic appeal as drilling success continues to stack up.
Strickland’s $55 million funding package will bankroll one of the most aggressive exploration campaigns ever mounted in the Balkans, with a massive 70,000m drilling program planned across Rogozna through this year. The drilling will serve the dual purpose of tightening up and upgrading resources at Shanac, Gradina and Copper Canyon, while simultaneously chasing growth at the new Red Creek discovery and testing fresh targets across the broader system.
Crucially, the scale and structure of the program are designed to fast-track Rogozna towards development, feeding directly into an internal scoping study in the first half of this year and a full pre-feasibility study targeted for the first half of 2027. This will deliver Strickland’s first detailed economic picture of Rogozna, including costs, production profiles and project returns – the kind of milestone that typically unlocks institutional backing and strategic interest, provided the geology stacks up.
With gold running hot, copper tightening and a $55m war chest locked in, Strickland now has both the discoveries and the firepower to push Rogozna hard.
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