Sedefche Deposit Sedefche · Kardzhali Province · Bulgaria

The Sedefche deposit is an advanced-stage gold-silver ore occurrence within the Zvezdel–Pcheloyad ore field of the Eastern Rhodopes, located near the village of Sedefche in Momchilgrad Municipality, Kardzhali Province. The deposit lies within a recognised metallogenic province characterised by Oligocene-age low-sulphidation epithermal and polymetallic mineralisation, part of the broader Serbomacedonian–Rhodope metallogenic belt.

Geological exploration of the Sedefche deposit was conducted by Gorubso-Kardzhali A.D., the Bulgarian state-derived mining and processing company operating in the Kardzhali region. The exploration programme involved 45 surface exploration trenches, 41 exploratory shafts and pits, 122 diamond drill holes, three mega-trenches with 86 vertical channel samples, and a metallurgical bulk sample that was excavated and processed at Gorubso's gold processing plant in Kardzhali. The deposit has been advanced through feasibility and environmental permitting under Bulgarian regulatory procedures, resulting in the issuance of a mining concession for the site.

Historical resources for Sedefche were calculated by Gorubso using the Bulgarian national classification scheme, by manual sectional polygonal methods, and were submitted to and accepted by the Bulgarian government. The resource calculation and reserve recalculation were published in a 2006 geological report (Dragiev, H., 2006, Momchil Prospecting Licence, Zvezdel–Pcheloyad Ore Field). Mineralogical literature records the Sedefche deposit as carrying silver-bearing tetrahedrite among its ore minerals, consistent with a polymetallic Au-Ag assemblage.

In October 2019, Gorubso-Kardzhali granted Velocity Minerals Ltd., a Canadian company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, an exclusive option to acquire a 70% interest in the deposit by completing a 5,000-metre drilling programme. Velocity described Sedefche as an advanced-stage gold deposit with a fully permitted, near-surface historical Bulgarian-registered resource. The deposit was noted to remain open for expansion. Ore from the deposit, when mined, is intended for processing at the Gorubso-Kardzhali CIL gold plant, located approximately 39 km by road. No mining production history has been identified in the consulted sources; the deposit appears to have remained at the exploration and concession stage.