Canada-listed, Tinka Resources Limited (TSXV: TK) has announced the final results of the 2015 drill programme at its Ayawilca project in central Peru, which reveals further promising tin mineralisation, alongside zinc, silver and copper.
While zinc mineralisation remains the project’s main focus, tin-copper mineralisation is present below the zinc mineralisation and was present in the same drill holes. The 2015 exploration programme included twenty-three step-out diamond drill holes from the area of the existing zinc mineral resource. Notable intercepts for the final 8 drill holes of the year included 13 m at 0.74% Sn and 2.4 m at 2.4% Sn, with notable copper and silver grades also identified. The overall result of the programme has been to extend the known tin-copper footprint at the project, for which mineralisation remains open.
The Ayawilca project is located more than 4,000 m above sea level in the Andes Mountains. The tin-copper mineralisation at the project is generally flat-lying and is hosted in massive to semi-massive pyrrhotite replacement bodies varying from a few metres to 50 m thick. Tin occurs primarily as cassiterite, but some minor stannite is also present. Over half the cassiterite is coarse grained and so there is potential for gravity separation to be used effectively if a mine is developed, which would most likely be an underground operation accessed by horizontal adits.
Dr. Graham Carman, Tinka’s President and CEO, stated: “We estimate only 30% of the prospective area at Ayawilca has been drill tested” and that the company intend to “estimate an initial tin-copper mineral resource in 2016.” Drilling permit renewals and extensions, with new areas equivalent to 3 times the size of the existing permits, are expected to be granted during the second half of 2016. In the meantime, Tinka intends to continue with district-scale exploration using airborne remote sensing.
