Avrupa: Drilling Starts at Alvalade Project, Portugal

Avrupa Minerals (TSXV:AVU) has announced the startup of drilling at the Sesmarias copper-zinc discovery located on its Alvalade Property in the Iberian Pyrite Belt of south Portugal.

The company said it will drill approximately 2,500 meters in five to seven diamond drill holes to enlarge and upgrade at least two lenses of copper and zinc -bearing massive sulfide mineralization discovered by Avrupa during previous exploration work in the target area.

As quoted in the press release:

Recent, ongoing geological review of Sesmarias area core, along with subsequent interpretation and three-dimensional modeling of the data, suggests a simplified deposition history of mineralization and surrounding rock units. Using the newly developed information, company geologists see continued potential in the SES002 lens and in the SES010 lens. The new work indicates the possibility that a third lens may be located between widely-spaced drill holes SES008 and SES009.

The 2 Lens is characterized by higher grade mineralization, including 10.85 meters at 1.81 percent copper; 75.27 ppm silver; 2.57 percent lead; 4.38 percent zinc; 0.13 percent tin, although at this point, the extents of the mineralized envelope are undefined. The new 3D modeling suggests that the Lens is oriented in a non-parallel direction to the 10 Lens, which may explain why previous follow-up drilling did not significantly extend the discovery area. The company is sending massive sulfide mineralization for analysis from previously-drilled hole SES003, which intersected the 2 Lens, but was never analyzed.

Click here to read the full Avrupa Minerals (TSXV:AVU) press release.