Many exploration and development companies are doing stellar work at this point and many of those companies may lie a bit under the radar for many investors. Hence, it is necessary to explore the industry a bit more deeply in order to discover new promising companies. One company that fits the bill in this regard is Tinka Resources (OTCMKTS:TKRFF) (TSXV:TK).
About The Company & Projects
Tinka Resources is an exploration and development company and its flagship property is the Ayawlica zinc-silver-tin project in central Peru which it owns in its entirety.
The deposit at the zinc zone recorded an estimated mineral resource of 19.0 Mt @ 7.15% Zn, 16.8 g/t Ag & 0.2% Pb, while the inferred mineral resource was  47.9 Mt @ 5.4% Zn, 20.0 g/t Ag & 0.4% Pb.
On the other hand, the inferred mineral resource at the Ayawlica Tin Zone was 8.4 Mt grading 1.0% Sn. It should however be noted that Tinka Resources currently holds as much as 46000 hectares of mining claims in the Central Peru region. That makes the company one of the biggest mining claims holders in that area. The company is also exploring copper-gold skarn deposits at the Silvia project, which is owned in its entirety.
The company’s flagship project is something that investors ought to know a bit more about if they are to have an informed view of Tinka Resources as a company. The Ayawlica zinc-silver-tin project is situated around 200 miles from the country’s capital Lima in the Pasco area of central Peru. Ayawlica is classified as a carbonate replacement deposit, which is regarded as a major style of silver-zinc-lead mineralization in Central Peru.
At this point in time, the project has grown into one of the biggest zinc-silver resources that is owned by a junior mining company. A Preliminary Economic Assessment that had been conducted back in October 2021 indicated that Ayawlica could potentially turn into one of the top 10 zinc producers in the world.
Now that you have a fair idea about the company’s business and its flagship project, it is important to take a look at some of the more recent developments which could have an impact on its fortunes.
Tinka Drills 45 metres at 11.5% Zinc and 6.5 metres at 27% Zinc at West Ayawilca
Last month on January 24, the company had come into the news cycle after it made the announcement with regards to the result from the four drill holes that had been drilled as part of its expansion and resource definition drilling program at the Ayawlica zinc project.
The four holes which had been the subject of the report had been in the West Ayawlica area. The company announced that the results from those holes revealed that the quality of the product was of a higher grade than the earlier holes and that can only be seen as a positive. Not too long ago Tinka had also announced that it was going to extend the drill program to as much as 11,000 meters owing to the positive results that had been returned earlier and especially so in the case of South Ayawlica.
Up until then, the company had been able to drill around 8200 meters spread across a total of 24 drill holes and the results had been obtained for 17 of those. The drill program is an important one for Tinka and it was reported at the time that the whole thing had been going on uninterrupted around the clock. Tinka expects the drilling activities to continue up until April this year.
The company has been making considerable progress at the Ayawlica property for quite some time and further earlier in January the company announced that it had drilled a ‘spectacular’ hole. It was a significant breakthrough for the company in its drilling program and its Chief Executive Officer and President, Dr. Graham Carman, provided the specific details. He noted that the results showed that there was ultra-high-grade zinc at the hole and could well prove to be a ‘game changer’ for the Ayawlica project. He went on to add that there was an interval of only 10.4 meters and the grading stood at as much as 42% zinc.
They consisted of pure zinc sulphide mineralization. On the other hand, the interval grading for zinc stood at around 50%. This is one of the more important projects for the company at this point in time and the findings from the hole that it announced on January 9 certainly present promising possibilities. At the same time, Dr. Carman had also announced that owing to the excellent results that had been achieved by the company it had decided to extend the drill program for 2022-23 to 11000 meters.
The work that is being conducted by Tinka Resources at the Ayawlica project has been going on for some time and the progress that has been made has also been commendable. The company had made an announcement with regards to another significant drill hole at the project back in November 2022. It was a 45 meters hole and could well prove to be an important one for the company in the long run.
At the time, Dr. Carman spoke about the specific details from the drill hole as well. The interval had been 16 meters and the grading for the zinc stood at 22%, which at the time was among the best zinc intersections that had been accomplished by Tinka Resources in the West Ayawlica area.
At the time the company announced that in 2022 alone it had managed to drill as much as 4900 meters in the resource definition and expansion initiative at Ayawlica. It was also announced by the company’s CEO Dr. Carmen that the company had continued with two drilling rigs. One of the rigs was focused on South Ayawlica while the other was focused on West Ayawlica. At the time, the results from some of the holes from South Ayawlica were still had results pending.
Last but not the least, the company made a key announcement with regard to the results from as many as 5 drill holes at its Ayawlica project. The results from the whole thing was positive as Tinka announced that the results from the drill holes were positive. In this context, it is also important to point out that the company had also been successful in intersecting strong tin-copper mineralization.
At the time, the CEO of the company, Dr. Carman noted that the zinc grades that had been intercepted at the five holes following the drilling had been ‘exceptional’. It could be a good idea for investors to continue to keep an eye on Tinka Resources and its work with the Ayawlica project.
