Mar 29 2013
Avrupa Minerals Ltd. is pleased to report on further progress at the Covas Tungsten Joint Venture exploration program in NW Portugal. The project is operated by Avrupa, and funded by Blackheath Resources Inc. ("Blackheath"), under a previously-announced earn-in agreement (see AVU news release, dated May 18, 2011).
Phase 1 of the exploration program at Covas is now complete, with all outstanding results in hand. The program successfully confirmed and tested known skarn-related mineral occurrences and extensions, as well as new targets. Work in Phase 1 included re-interpretation of historic magnetic data, completion of a gravity survey in the Covas Dome area, as well as geological mapping, rock sampling, and a total of 1,606 meters of core drilling in 15 completed drill holes in five separate target areas. Review of all data and results is underway in preparation for the next phase of work, which will commence later this April and will include further core drilling later this year.
Highlights of the recent drilling program included previously-reported intercepts of high grade tungsten mineralization, particularly 2.11% WO3 over 7.98 meters starting at a depth of 44.57 meters in Hole CO 7/12 at the Telheira target and 1.56% WO3 over 11.40 meters starting at a depth of 52.70 meters in Hole CO 13/12 at the Lapa Grande target. Other results from the drilling confirmed extensions of tungsten mineralization in the skarn zones at Covas (see news releases dated November 26, 2012 and March 1, 2013 for further details). Only results from the final two holes at the Lapa Grande target have not been previously reported. Hole CO 20/13 tested an area to the east of the known mineralized zone and returned weak tungsten grades, but with anomalous gold and silver mineralization averaging 0.31 g/t Au and 4.4 g/t Ag over 5 meters, starting at a depth of 53.70 meters. The anomalous precious metal mineralization may be part of an intrusion-related gold target associated with a NW-trending fault zone passing close to the Lapa Grande prospect. Hole CO 21/13 tested an extension to the west of the known Lapa Grande mineralization and intercepted 4.02 meters of skarn rocks starting at 62.63 meters and averaging 0.142% WO3 (see news release dated March 1, 2013 for drill hole locations). The drill holes are all vertical, and intercepts are considered to represent close to true thickness of the mostly flat-lying mineralized zones.
Paul W. Kuhn, President and CEO of Avrupa Minerals commented, "The work, to date, indicates positive potential for the Covas prospect. We will continue our targeting work this spring, with the objective of increasing the size of the known skarn-related tungsten deposits, and with developing a larger tungsten-gold target in the Covas Dome area. We expect to advance the next exploration phase with a drilling program designed to fulfill both objectives during 2013."
Covas is a past-producing tungsten mine, and remaining historic resources (indicated and inferred) on the property have been estimated at 922,900 metric tonnes of 0.78% WO3 by Union Carbide in 1980, based on work including 327 drill holes on the property. Mineralization is open to expansion. The price of tungsten has increased significantly in recent years and is currently approximately $36 per kilogram of contained tungsten trioxide. (These resources are historic in nature, prepared by Union Carbide Corp. in 1980 and are considered relevant. However, a qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current mineral resources, and the Company is not considering the historical estimates as current mineral resources.)