Jan 20 2011
Avrupa Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:AVU) has announced that its 92.5%-owned subsidiary, Innomatik Exploration Kosovo, has been granted two new exploration licenses in the well-mineralized Vardar Mineral Trend of Kosovo.
The Bajgora (pronounced "By-gora") license covers 76.5 square kilometers of highly prospective land in the Central Vardar Subzone in northern Kosovo. The Rezhanc (pronounced "Reh-shance") license covers 19.05 square kilometers in southernmost Kosovo at the eastern edge of the External Vardar Subzone. Both licenses are valid for three years under Kosovo's new mining law. The acquisition of the two highly prospective areas is a direct result of Avrupa's recently-initiated prospect generation program in Kosovo. Both licenses cover areas of known mineralization, but neither area has seen any sort of systematic exploration, modern or otherwise.
Bajgora License
The Bajgora Ag-Pb-Zn-Au license is located 30-40 kilometers north of the capital Prishtine. The license lies 5-10 kilometers ESE of Avrupa's Glavej license and about the same distance east of the historic, and presently producing, Stan Trg1 base metal mine, which has operated intermittently for more than 1,000 years, and has reportedly produced upwards of 25 million tons of +10% Lead (Pb) and Zinc (Zn), and 80 g/t Silver (Ag). Numerous Saxon-age workings are located to the west and south of the new property. The license area was identified as being prospective through the interpretation of satellite-generated imagery and alteration data that revealed regional structural anomalies and coincident alteration zones, along with the compilation and analysis of public-domain regional geophysical, geochemical, and geological data. During the first-pass field check of the Bajgora area, Avrupa geologists located a zone of clay alteration, spatially related to a strong stream sediment anomaly (+1000 ppb Au). According to the Mineral Map of Kosovo, several reported mercury showings are located in the same area. All known areas of interest lie within the new Bajgora license.
Rezhanc License
The Rezhanc Cu-Au license is located 55-60 kilometers south of Prishtine, close to the border with FYR Macedonia. The license covers slightly more than 19 square kilometers in an area with a favorable geological environment for occurrence of copper and base metals deposits, and potentially gold. The area was reportedly explored for copper during the Yugoslav period, but no records are available. The license area is covered by rocks not usually associated with copper-gold mineralization, however sub-volcanic and possibly porphyry activity is indicated by the presence of ring-shaped fractures that may be related to updoming processes at shallow depth, as well as caldera collapse. Fracture-controlled copper oxide and carbonate mineralization is present in several locations, as are local zones of disseminated pyrite-chalcopyrite mineralization.
Work Plan
As the weather and access conditions improve in Kosovo, Avrupa's exploration team will cover the new properties with a first-pass stream sediment sampling program. The company expects to collect approximately 80-100 stream sediment samples on the Bajgora property and 40-50 more samples at Rezhanc during the first stage of the program. Subsequent identification of significant anomalous target areas will be followed by detailed sampling and mapping of the extent and potential of the target areas. The emphasis of the work will be to upgrade the targets to drill-ready as quickly as possible.
Paul W. Kuhn, CEO of Avrupa Minerals, noted that the acquisition of the Bajgora and Rezhanc licenses, following the recent renewal of the Glavej and Kamenica licenses, is an important milestone in bringing Avrupa to "critical mass" in Kosovo. The company now holds four licenses with documented surface mineralization. Avrupa will now advance the properties to a level where the entire package becomes attractive to a potential joint venture mining partner who would then continue to move the properties forward to possible mining stage.
The highly mineralized Vardar Mineral Trend passes through Kosovo from north to southeast. Historically, the Vardar has been one of Europe's most significant silver-lead-zinc producing districts, with mining known from at least as far back as Roman times. All of Avrupa's properties lie along or close to the main Vardar Trend, and the company's prospect generation program is mostly targeting the Vardar Trend, for now.
Kosovo is a small country which has been independent for about two years now. The government is democratically elected, and enjoys continued in-country support from the European Union and the United Nations. The government recently instituted a new European-styled mining law, and Avrupa's subsidiary is one of the first companies to go through the renewal and acquisition processes under the new mining law.
Source: Avrupa Minerals Ltd.