History

Cyprus is the very origin of the name copper, from aes cyprium (metal of Cyprus), later corrupted to cuprum (Latin), from which the words derived, coper (Old English) and copper, first used around 1530.

Because copper is one of the few metals that can occur in nature in a directly usable metallic form there is clear evidence of early human use from c. 8000 BC. It was the first metal to be smelted from sulphide ores, c. 5000 BC, the first metal to be cast into a shape and the first metal to be purposefully alloyed with another metal, tin, to create bronze, c. 3500 BC.

Many of the exposed massive sulphide deposits in the Troodos Mountains in Cyprus have been mined since the Bronze Age.

Modern mining commenced in Cyprus in the 1920’s with more than 74 Mt of massive ore extracted from about 30 deposits over a 50-year period. Production focussed on pyrite, copper and gold.

Many of the exposed Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide deposits have been mined for copper since the Bronze Age and copper production continues at the privately owned Skouriotissa Mine (29,465 t of copper cathode produced by Hellenic Mining Company from 2007 to 2016 using an SX-EW plant). Over a period of 45 years, approximately 16.5 Mt of ore at 4.5% Cu was extracted at the Mavrovouni mine.

CMC: Cyprus Mines Corporation; HMC: Hellenic Mining Company; KM: Kambia Mines; Berdy: Berdy Mining Company; CSCC: Cyprus Sulphur and Copper Corporation; HCM: Hellenic Copper Mines; Maconda: Maconda Mining Company; CMD: Cyprus Development Co.

Whilst the presence of copper in Cyprus is well-documented it is widely considered that there is little gold on the Island. This is a fallacy perpetuated from historical inaccuracies. The gold content of many of the deposits was poorly documented or not tested, and so was rarely included in the historical mining statistics. There is extensive evidence that the massive pyrite deposits contained appreciable primary gold. Furthermore, the weathered zones above many deposits are highly enriched in gold and silver. For example, miners targeted “Devil’s Mud” – a narrow layer above the massive sulphide bodies – because it was so highly enriched in gold and silver (presumably supergene). The first preliminary assays of Devil’s Mud were taken from Skouriotissa in 1920, but it was never seriously investigated until depressed copper and pyrite prices in 1932 forced the Cyprus Mining Corporation (CMC) to investigate a possible precious metal income stream. Devil’s Mud was immediately identified at Skouriotissa with “areas of high-grade ore running as much as 50 ounces of gold per ton, though with very little silver, and, conversely, other areas containing 800 ounces of silver a ton and only traces of gold.” (Lavender, 1962). These discoveries led to exploration elsewhere in the Troodos Mountains and ultimately the mining of Devil’s Mud by CMC at seventeen locations, albeit most of this mining was very small scale. During 2016, the Hellenic Mining Company commissioned a gold circuit at Skouriotissa to process the oxide material in the area.

CMC’s experience of the Devil’s Mud clearly shows that gold and silver are widespread throughout Cyprus. The primary pyrite ores, however, were never exploited because the technology to extract gold and silver at that time was not advanced enough to be economically viable. This is not the case today.

More recent work confirms that gold is widespread in the primary pyrite ore and that it can be quite high grade. For example:

Zinc was also not considered when mining the Cyprus deposits, even though it is widely encountered and could be a reasonable addition to their exploitation.

Source: Competent Persons Report for Caerus Mineral Resources produced by Rocklore Exploration Services Limited.