Resource World Magazine

o c t o b e r / n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 6 www.resourceworld.com 53 miNiNg nicola mining drills 1.11% coppEr ovEr 85.92 mEtrEs at tHulE prospEct Nicola Mining Inc. [NIM-TSXV] reported that significant copper mineralization has been intersected on the Thule Copper Property located 14 km northwest of Merritt, British Columbia. The Thule Copper Property covers 10,084 hectares along the southern end of the Guichon Batholith and is 100% owned by Nicola. The diamond drilling program was designed to test three distinct zones on the Thule Copper Property, referred to as Embayment, Titan Queen, and Eric. Total diamond drilling meterage for the 2016 program at the property was 1,084 metres in five holes. Copper mineralization was intersected in all five holes, highlighted by an intersection of 1.11% copper over 85.92 metres in THU-002, through the Embayment Zone, located approximately 1 km northwest of the past-producing Craigmont Mine. Results from the drilling program sup- port the Embayment Zone as a fault-offset, westward continuation of the skarn zone that hosts the Craigmont deposit. A fol- low-up drill program will be designed to determine continuity of mineralization further west along strike and at depth from THU-002. In addition, drilling at Titan Queen Zone encountered alteration and mineralization features commonly observed in association with porphyry- style copper deposits, including the Highland Valley porphyry complex located 50 km north of Thule Property. Follow-up work will be planned to outline drill tar- gets over a broader area and further test porphyry-style mineralization potential. Peter Espig, CEO, said, "We are extremely encouraged with the results from our 2016 exploration program on the Thule Copper Property. The 1.11% copper over 85.92 metres, including 13.83 metres grading 2.71% copper, highlight the high- grade mineralization of the property. Our team is also very excited with key features observed at the Titan Queen Zone, which is more indicative of a porphyry-style copper deposit. It is well known that the historic Craigmont Mine is a prolific skarn, but the source of the mineralization has yet to be confirmed. In addition to the significant results, the project is further augmented because Nicola's Thule Copper Project is already associated with a current mine permit." Three priority target areas were identified from Nicola's compilation of historical data. The 2016 drilling program was designed to obtain preliminary infor- mation in order to establish the geological context of previous work and to better understand exploration potential. Nicola Mining has a fully-permitted, 200 tonne per day, custom mill that recommenced operations in June 2016. Its 100%-owned state-of-the-art mill and tailings facility near Merritt is capable of processing both gold and silver mill feed via gravity and flotation processes. The company also owns 100% of Treasure Mountain, its high-grade silver property between Hope and Merritt and a gravel pit located adjacent to its milling operations. tinka rEsourcEs: gEopHysics lEads to los pinos discovEry Tinka Resources Limited [TK-TSXV; TKRFF-OTC] has reported initial results of the 150 km 2 helicopter-borne magnetic survey completed over its 100%-owned Ayawilca property in central Peru. Results indicate that the Ayawilca inferred min- eral resources (18.8 million tonnes of 8.2% zinc equivalent and 5.4 million tonnes grading 0.89% tin equivalent lie at the southwestern end of a 5-km-long northeast-southwest-trending magnetic anomaly. The anomaly remains largely untested by drilling, in particular where the anomaly underlies a thick section of Pucara formation limestone at Zone 3 and at South Ayawilca where the high-grade zinc resources remain open. Field checking of magnetic anomalies following the recent helicopter-borne sur- vey has led to the discovery of the Los Pinos porphyry at the northeastern end of a 5-km long series of magnetic anomalies that encompasses the Ayawilca zinc and tin mineral resource areas. The 300 x 100-metre outcropping Los Pinos porphyry, which hosts quartz- sulphide stockwork veining, is the first intrusive rock discovered at Ayawilca and may be the source intrusion for the base metal mineralization along trend to the southwest. The 2.6-km gap between the outcrop- ping intrusive and the Ayawilca zinc mineral resource has not been tested by drilling, including a strong magnetic anomaly coincident with surface zinc gos- sans hosted by the Pucara limestone at Zone 3. A further magnetic anomaly is imme- diately south of the high-grade West Ayawilca inferred resource (4.5 million tonnes at 10.6% ZnEq) which also has not been drill tested. The South Ayawilca target will be the first target drilled once permits are granted. Additional magnetic anomalies else- where within the larger magnetic survey area are being field checked. The soil grid is being extended to cover the gap between the Los Pinos porphyry and Zone 3. Tinka expects drill permits will be granted by late in the third quarter or early Q4. Dr. Graham Carman, President and CEO, stated: "These new magnetic data indicate that Ayawilca is a larger mineralized sys- tem than was previously recognized, with potential for additional discoveries includ- ing skarn mineralization along trend of the existing mineral resources." n

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