Australian mining company BHP Group invests 5 million dollars in Serbian deposits with new copper and gold exploration in Bor

One of the world's largest mining companies by market capitalization, Australia's BHP Group, is undertaking a major expansion in Serbia by acquiring exploration rights to three new licenses in the Bor area. The deal was concluded with Magma Resources, a subsidiary of Canada's Elemental Royalty Corporation, and covers the promising Lenovac North, Lenovac South, and Durlan Istok areas. The agreement provides for BHP to invest a minimum of 5 million  dollars in exploration activities over the next five years, with an option to acquire a 100% stake in the projects, BalkanEngineer.com learned from SeeNews.com.

The strategic location of the new licenses in the Bor mining area, which has been one of Europe's leading copper producers for more than a century, underscores BHP's ambitions to extract critical raw materials in the Balkans. Under the financial terms of the agreement, BHP will make annual payments to Elemental Royalty and provide a 2% net smelter return (NSR) for each project.

This is the second major move by the Australian giant in Serbia in a matter of months, after the company secured an option for seven other licenses in October 2025 in cooperation with Mundoro Capital. Through its local subsidiary BHP Metals Exploration, launched in 2023, the company aims to use its advanced technologies to discover new copper-gold deposits in one of the most mineral-rich regions in Southeast Europe.

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