Tinka Resources Drills 10.8 Metres of 16.7% Zinc at South Ayawilca; Plans Updated Resource Estimate by November 2017

VANCOUVER, Sept. 18, 2017 /CNW/ - Tinka Resources Limited ("Tinka" or the "Company") (TSXV: TK) (OTCPK: TKRFF) is pleased to announce assay results for an additional nine step-out drill holes from the Company's 100%-owned Ayawilca zinc project in central Peru. Strong zinc intercepts continue to be encountered at South Ayawilca and West Ayawilca. An initial hole at the Chaucha area, about 1.5 kilometres north of the Ayawilca resource, shows encouraging geology and this area requires additional work. Tinka continues to expand the footprint of the zinc mineralization at Ayawilca, with approximately 15,000 metres in 44 holes drilled year-to-date at several prospective areas (Figure 1). Step-out drilling in the current program is expected to continue at South Ayawilca until December. 

The Company is also pleased to announce that it intends to update the Ayawilca zinc resource estimation on completion of the two holes now in progress at South Ayawilca (including sampling and assaying). The resource update is expected to be completed by early November. RPA Inc. of Toronto has been retained to complete the resource update and the accompanying National Instrument 43-101 report. 

Key Highlights of latest drill holes

Hole A17-089 (South Ayawilca):

• 10.8 metres at 16.7 % zinc & 681 g/t indium from 218.6 metres depth, including
  • 1.8 metres at 35.9 % zinc & 1,248 g/t indium from 218.6 metres depth, and
  • 2.7 metres at 33.6 % zinc & 1,800 g/t indium from 222.5 metres depth;
• 9.2 metres at 7.9 % zinc, 18 g/t silver & 60 g/t indium from 241.0 metres depth.

Hole A17-083 (West Ayawilca):  

• 2.9 metres at 8.0 % zinc, 0.6 % lead & 61 g/t silver from 81.6 metres depth;
• 10.2 metres at 3.0 % zinc, 0.7 % lead & 15 g/t silver from 268.0 metres depth.

Hole A17-085 (West Ayawilca):

• 1.8 metres at 9.6 % zinc from 292.3 metres depth;
• 2.4 metres at 14.3 % zinc, 0.2 % lead & 18 g/t silver from 303.1 metres depth.

Dr. Graham Carman, Tinka´s President and CEO, stated: "Our ongoing drill program continues to expand the high grade zinc mineralization at South Ayawilca and to grow the West Ayawilca zone beyond the limits of the existing resource model. Following up on our successful campaign so far, I am pleased to announce that Tinka is planning an updated estimate of the zinc mineral resources at Ayawilca by early November. This resource update will be a significant milestone for the Company, and it will incorporate mineralization at the high-grade South Ayawilca discovery.  Importantly, drilling will continue beyond this period as we test the southern and eastern extensions of South Ayawilca for further high-grade discoveries."

Dr. Carman continued: "Tinka was recently awarded the title of 'Explorer of the Year Americas 2017' by the Mining Journal of London, UK. We are very proud of this award as it brings with it recognition of our achievements during the year. We believe there is much more value to be added, as we advance towards a significant resource update and continue to de-risk Ayawilca with additional studies including metallurgical test work which will be reported late 2017. We also believe there is more exploration upside to be unlocked as zinc mineralization remains open in multiple directions." 

See Table 1 for a summary of all significant zinc intercepts in the 2017 drill program to date. 

South Ayawilca area

Mineralization at South Ayawilca remains open to the south and southeast (Figure 2). Five holes from South Ayawilca have assays pending (A17-093 through A17-097) and two holes are in progress (A17-098 and A17-099). Holes A17-087 and A17-089 have some very high grade zinc intercepts at the western end of South Ayawilca where the prospective limestone appears to thin out (Figure 3).

West Ayawilca area

New results from holes A17-083 and A17-085 have expanded the mineralization at West Ayawilca to the northeast (Figure 4). Mineralization remains open in this direction, and further drilling is planned in 2018.

Chaucha, Zone 3 and Valley target areas

Tinka has now drilled its first exploration holes into the Chaucha, Zone 3 and Valley target areas, about 1.5 kilometres north of the Ayawilca zinc resources (Figure 1). At Chaucha, two holes were successfully drilled to test a discrete magnetic anomaly approximately 150 metres across. Drill hole A17-086 intersected massive iron oxides (magnetite - hematite) and pyrite over a down hole interval of 125 metres (from 57.50 to 181.80 metres) within a sub-vertical brecciated carbonate host rock.  Although there was no significant zinc mineralization we believe the abundance of iron, a first for this style of mineralization at Ayawilca, could indicate the presence of a large hydrothermal system nearby. More drilling is planned in 2018, to better understand the significance of the mineralization encountered. The second hole at Chaucha, A17-084, tested outside the limit of the magnetic anomaly and did not intersect significant mineralization. 

At the Zone 3 area, hole A17-081 was stopped at 506 metres in chlorite-altered limestone. The chlorite alteration is interpreted to indicate a nearby mineralizing heat source. Results are pending for hole A17-091, which also encountered strong chlorite alteration in a fault zone. Given the high priority of the resource drilling, the Company recently moved the drill rig from Zone 3 to South Ayawilca. More drilling is planned for Zone 3 in 2018. At the Valley area, results are pending for holes A17-090 and 092. 

True thicknesses of the zinc intersections are estimated to be at least 85% of the downhole thickness, except where otherwise noted in footnotes to Table 1. All significant results of the 2017 program are summarized in Table 1 with the strongest intercepts in bold text. Table 2 summarizes all drill collar information to date. 

Maps attached:

Figure 1:  Geological map with 2017 drill holes and targets

Figure 2:  Drill hole locations at South, West and Central Ayawilca

Figure 3:  Longitudinal section of South Ayawilca

Figure 4:  Cross section of West Ayawilca

NI 43-101 Technical Report:

On June 29, 2016, Tinka filed an independent National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report (the "NI 43-101 Technical Report") on the Mineral Resource Estimate for the Ayawilca Property, Department of Pasco, Peru in support of the Company's news release dated May 25, 2016. The NI 43-101 Technical Report was authored by Mr. David Ross. P.Geo., of Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., who is an independent "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The NI 43-101 Technical Report may be found under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.tinkaresources.com.

The qualified person, Dr. Graham Carman, Tinka's President and CEO, and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, has reviewed and verified the technical contents of this release. 

Table 1. Summary of 2017 Drill Results from Ayawilca by Area and Date of Release

¹ hole lost at 293.9 metres; wedged and completed as A17-056A to 376 metres depth
² includes 0.6 m with no core recovery from 315.2 to 315.8 m; this interval was given a zero grade
³ includes 3.1 m with no core recovery from 198.8 to 201.9 m; this interval was given a zero grade
⁴ includes a silver assay cut at 1,000 g/t; actual assay in A17-056 was 0.2 m at 16,490 g/t Ag, 7.0% Zn & 6.9 % Cu from 287.1 m.
⁵ high grade vein intercepts with variable true thicknesses
⁶ includes 4.3 m of no recovery assumed zero grade
⁷ includes 1.7 m of no recovery assumed zero grade
Note: Assays are calculated using a zinc only cut-off grade of 2% over 6 metres

Notes on sampling and assaying

Drill holes are diamond HQ or NQ size core holes with recoveries generally above 80% and often close to 100%. The drill core is marked up, logged, and photographed on site. The cores are cut in half at the Company's core storage facility, with half-cores stored as a future reference. Half-core is bagged on average over 1 to 2 metre composite intervals and sent to ALS or SGS laboratories in Lima for assay in batches. Standards and blanks are inserted into each batch prior to departure from Tinka's core storage facilities. At the laboratory samples are dried, crushed to 100% passing 2mm, then 500 grams pulverized for multi-element analysis by ICP using multi-acid digestion. Samples assaying over 1% zinc, lead, or copper and over 100 g/t silver are re-assayed using precise ore-grade AAS techniques.

Table 2. Summary of Drill Collar Information (coordinates are in UTM Zone 18S WGS84 datum)

About Tinka Resources Limited

Tinka is an exploration and development company with its flagship property being the 100%-owned Ayawilca carbonate replacement deposit (CRD) in the zinc-lead-silver belt of central Peru, 200 kilometres northeast of Lima. The Ayawilca Zinc Zone has an Inferred Mineral Resource of 18.8 Mt at 5.9 % zinc, 0.2 % lead, 15 g/t silver & 74 g/t indium, and a Tin Zone Inferred Mineral Resource of 5.4 Mt at 0.76 % tin, 0.31 % copper & 18 g/t silver (May 25, 2016). A significant resource expansion drill program began in February 2017 and is ongoing.