お知らせ • Oct 18
Tinka Resources Limited Provides Update on Activities At the Company's 100%-Owned Ayawilca and Silvia Projects in Peru
Tinka Resources Limited present an update on activities at the Company's 100%-owned Ayawilca and Silvia projects in Peru, and outline its exploration priorities as it enters the 2024/25 exploration season. The focus for the Company continues to be to advance the Ayawilca zinc-silver-tin project towards development. The 2024 Preliminary Economic Assessment demonstrated that Ayawilca is a robust project with strong economic fundamentals and excellent exploration upside. During the second half of 2024, the Company carried out a detailed geological review of the mineralization at Ayawilca, taking into account key findings from the Company's successful 2022-2023 drill program which led to an updated PEA being released in February 2024. This work has led to a significant change in the geological model for the deposit, resulting in an improved level of confidence in the geometry of some of the key areas of the resource and an understanding of the controls to mineralization. The review highlighted a number of exploration targets with significant potential to increase both in size and in the quality of the resource. Key exploration targets for the 2024/25 exploration season include: East Ayawilca: the Company will be targeting high-grade zinc mineralization up-dip and along strike of previous wide-spaced drill hole intercepts. West Ayawilca: the Company will be seeking to extend the West Ayawilca zinc zone (14.5 Mt @ 5.1% Zn, 14 g/t Ag & 0.2% Pb in Indicated Mineral Resources) to the north. Expanding the Silver and Tin zones, which have been largely untested, especially to depth. In addition, the Company expects to receive final approvals to launch a maiden drill program at its Silvia Copper-Gold exploration property in the first half of 2025. Key highlights of the Ayawilca Project Ayawilca represents one of the largest undeveloped primary zinc resources in the Americas with over 6,500 million pounds zinc in mineral resources, along with significant silver and tin credits. Outstanding drill results during the 2022-2023 drill program included:8.9 metres @ 20% zinc incl. 10.4 metres @ 42.0% zinc in hole A22-202, and 145 metres @ 10.9% zinc incl. 29.3 metres @ 20.2% zinc in hole A23-212 at the South areao 44.9 metres @ 12.0% zinc incl. 16.1 metres @ 22.2% zinc in hole A22-200, and 97.9 metres @ 8.8% zinc incl. 35.8 metres @ 19.0% zinc in A23-216 at the West area. The project benefits from excellent local infrastructure: it is located in a major mining belt with multiple options for road access to the coast, access to a local smelter and/or port facility, and an electrical power grid connection available only 4km from site. The 2024 PEA showed robust economics with a 21-year mine life, NPV8% of US$434 million post-tax, a 25.9% IRR post-tax and 2.9 year payback period. Tinka is backed by two local mining specialists: Buenaventura, one of Peru's largest mining companies, and Nexa Resources, a Brazilian zinc mining company with two mines and a zinc refinery in Peru, acquired strategic stakes. Major reinterpretation of geological controls at Ayawilca; The 2022-23 infill drill program at Ayawilca, which used low-angle west-dipping holes, was a huge success with some exceptional zinc drill hole intersections. The program was focused at West and South Ayawilca, which currently represent the most important parts of the Ayawilca zinc zone in both tonnage and grade, and reflect 68% of the current total combined zinc in resources. The geological wireframes changed at West from stacked horizontal lenses (pre-2022) to vertical chimneys or `pipes' due to the infill drilling. Although the updated resource did not grow significantly in terms of overall tonnage, the change in deposit geometry resulted in much improved continuity of the resources together with higher confidence in the geological model. The vertical continuity of the mineralization also reduced dilution in the 2024 PEA mine plan (compared with the previous PEA study), and reduced mining costs due to larger-scale mining method assumptions. New geological interpretation for East Ayawilca; As a result of the modified geological model, Tinka's geological team has carried out a reinterpretation of the geology of the whole Ayawilca deposit (including relogging of key drill holes and revision of geophysical data). In particular, the company’s geologists have developed a new interpretation for the eastern end of the Ayawilca deposit (i.e., East Ayawilca target), where it is now believed that a post-mineral northwest-trending strike-slip fault has offset East Ayawilca some 400 metres to the northwest. Once movement along this fault is reconstructed, the company interpret that the South - Central - East areas may once have been contiguous along the "060 Fault". The current inferred mineral resource at East Ayawilca is based on a limited number of widely-spaced holes drilled during 2014 and 2015. The East Ayawilca mineral resource wireframes are modelled in a similar fashion to the flat-dipping lense model used previously at West Ayawilca (now outdated). With the new modified geological model (i.e., change to subvertical `pipes') the company believe there is significant potential for high-grade zinc mineralization up-dip and along strike of previous wide-spaced drill hole intercepts. Drill hole intersections at East Ayawilca include 21 metres @ 6.1% Zn, 0.2% Pb and 13 g/t Ag, and 37 metres @ 6.1% Zn, 0.4% Pb, 10 g/t Ag (hole A14-18). Other exploration targets at Ayawilca. The West Ayawilca zinc zone (14.5 Mt @ 5.1% Zn, 14 g/t Ag & 0.2% Pb in Indicated Resources) is now interpreted to remain open to the north, as a result of a new structural interpretation which has potentially offset a northern extension of the West area by post-mineral faulting - see Figure 2. This area north of the West Ayawilca resource has not been drill tested. The Silver zone (1.0 Mt @ 111 g/t Ag, 1.5% Zn & 0.5% Pb in Inferred Resources) is a steep-dipping, silver-bearing epithermal vein system which lies on the edge of the South zinc-rich sulphide mineralization. The Silver zone remains open in almost all directions, including up-dip of previous high-grade holes (including 12 m at 781 g/t Ag & 5.2% Zn+Pb) as well as down-dip. The Silver zone has not been drilled at depths shallower than 200 metres. The Tin zone also has significant exploration potential and remains open at depth along the `060 Fault' (the probable feeder structure'). A previous drill hole ended in stockwork tin mineralization (16 m @ 1.0% tin and 0.7% copper to end of hole at 328 m in A13-011) and is coincident with a magnetic low that is untested by drilling. Mineral Resources at Ayawilca.
