Portugal
Avrupa Minerals, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, MAEPA Lda., holds 10 exploration licenses in Portugal, spread from the north to the south in the country. Total area under control by Avrupa is approximately 2,277 square kilometers.
The Covas license, located about 100 kilometers north of Porto, Portugal's second largest city, covers known and previously mined tungsten mineralization. The property carries a non NI 43-101 compliant resource of 922,900 metric tonnes of 0.78% WO3. The Covas project is now included in a JV with Blackheath Resources Inc. In addition to numerous tungsten targets on the property, Avrupa has also identified an intrusion-related gold target in the middle of the granitic intrusion complex that also hosts tungsten skarn occurrences around its periphery.
Five other licenses are located at the northern end of the Portuguese portion of the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB). The IPB is historically one of the world's largest and most prolific copper-zinc-iron massive sulfide belts. The Company's IPB licenses are located to the northwest of, and along trend from the giant Neves Corvo copper-zinc-tin massive sulfide deposit, presently being mined by Lundin Mining. Avrupa completed a four-hole scout drilling project in 2010-11 on the Marateca license. Two of the holes intercepted silver-rich stockwork mineralization at the Serrinha location. Two massive sulfide targets at São Martinho and Volta were not reached due to difficult drilling conditions. At least eight more target areas are present in the license area.
The contiguous Alvalade, Canal Caveira, and Ferreira do Alentejo licenses are organized into a single joint venture project with Antofagasta Minerals. The Company presently operates the JV, and has just completed a second phase of exploratory drilling. In total, during 2012, Avrupa drilled 16 holes for 6,757 meters. Five of the holes contained visible copper mineralization, including two holes at the Monte da Bela Vista target. The drill targeting was designed to both explore for massive sulfide deposits and to assist in revising and updating the model for geological and structural control of potential mineralization. Avrupa and AMSA geologists and consultants have successfully devised a new working model for drill targeting in the northern regions of the Pyrite Belt, thus opening up large new areas for possible massive sulfide mineralization within the JV area. Phase 3 drilling, planned for 4,500 to 5,000 meters, will commence in early March on the Alvalade Project.
The Company acquired two further exploration licenses in early 2012. The Alvito permit, covering 988 square kilometers, is located in southern Portugal, just north of the Pyrite Belt, and is potentially prospective for porphyry copper systems. The Arga permit is located in northern Portugal and is adjacent to the Covas license. The license covers more than 28 square kilometers of area that is highly prospective for intrusion-related gold deposits. Indeed, the gold targets at Arga may be genetically related to the Covas tungsten system, located only a few kilometers to the north.
Finally, The Company acquired three more exploration licenses during 2012-13 in the developing North Portugal Au-W Belt. The Sabroso and Arcas licenses have outcropping Au-W mineralization, and there is a formerly-producing silver mine located on the Candedo license.
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