Avrupa Minerals to option Slivovo project to Byrnecut

Apr 17, 2014

AVRUPA OPTIONS OUT SLIVOVO GOLD PROJECT TO BYRNECUT INTERNATIONAL

Avrupa Minerals Ltd. has signed the earn-in and shareholders agreement to option out the Slivovo gold project in Kosovo to Byrnecut International Ltd. (BIL). Under the earn-in agreement, Avrupa will be the operator, and BIL will have the following participation options:

To earn a 51-per-cent interest in the Slivovo project, BIL must spend one million euros for exploration on the project by April 10, 2015, of which 360,000 euros is a firm commitment and must be spent by Oct. 10, 2014.
To earn a further 24-per-cent interest in the Slivovo project, for a total interest of 75 per cent, BIL must spend an additional one million euros for exploration, bringing total expenditures to two million euros by April 10, 2016.
BIL can earn an additional 10-per-cent interest by completing a preliminary feasibility study on the Slivovo project for a total interest of 85 per cent by April 10, 2017.

Paul W. Kuhn, chief executive officer of Avrupa Minerals, commented: “The signing of the Slivovo [joint venture] agreement is an important milestone for Avrupa. This is the company’s first JV outside of Portugal and will solidify potential interest in Kosovo, where we hold several other prospective licences. We are excited to be working with Byrnecut in advancing Slivovo to the next stage, and we look forward to working with the Byrnecut team. The Slivovo project covers at least two exciting, outcropping gold and base metal targets. We anticipate an immediate start-up of fieldwork to rapidly move the program forward over the summer.”

The Slivovo gold project

The Slivovo licence, located approximately 15 kilometres southeast of Prishtine, the capital city of Kosovo, and covering 15.2 square kilometres, was issued to the company on June 27, 2012. Early rock-chip sampling of the Pester gossan zone (22 samples) returned strongly anomalous lead (average 1,825 parts per million), zinc (average 3,647 parts per million), silver (average 11.47 parts per million) and gold (average 2.09 parts per million) results. Subsequent, wide-scale geological mapping of the area indicated potential for gold-bearing, massive sulphide mineralization of the style common in the Vardar zone, which extends through east-central Europe.

However, following the discovery of the Pester gossan zone, the company then discovered several gold-bearing rock units in the Pester area. First-pass soil and rock-chip sampling outlined two separate areas with anomalous gold results. One area surrounds the Pester gossan zone, measures approximately 500 metres by 150 metres in size, and is potentially open along strike. The other, more important anomalous gold-bearing zone, located approximately 1,000 metres from the Pester gossan, is related to beds of a strongly altered, calcareous sandstone unit, intruded by a mineralized felsic dike(s). At present, the length of this exposed mineralized zone is 900 metres, while known surface expression is 100 metres to 150 metres wide. The anomalous zone is open along strike in both directions, and appears to have potential for downdip mineralization. Trenching across the target zone shows geological potential for expansion of the mineralization. Trench sampling will be completed in the coming months.

Work in the first six months of the Slivovo program will be designed toward drill targeting, with an anticipated 2,000-metre drill program slated to commence early in the fourth quarter of 2014. The company will continue geological mapping, sampling, trenching and possibly follow-up ground geophysics to assist in defining high-quality drill targets.

Byrnecut International is an Australian company engaged in mechanized underground mine feasibility, mine development and mine production. This includes shaft sinking, shotcreting, raise-boring, the provision of high-quality equipment rebuilds, maintenance engineering, labour hire and training for the mining industry, as well as mine engineering consultancy services. Principal customers include first-world mine owners across the globe.

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