Tinka Launches PEA Update for Ayawilca Project
News related to:Tinka Resources Limited · 2 min read
Tinka Resources Limited, a Peruvian-focused exploration and development company, has announced the commencement of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) update for its Ayawilca zinc-silver-tin project in Peru. The PEA Update will incorporate a staged development concept involving an open-pit silver operation at Colquipucro, followed by an underground zinc-silver-lead mine at Ayawilca. This strategic approach is driven by the significant increase in silver prices, which have nearly tripled since the company’s previous PEA in February 2024.
The PEA Update is expected to be completed by early 2027. It will include an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for both the Colquipucro silver deposit and the Ayawilca polymetallic zinc-silver-lead deposits. Tinka Resources is also advancing preparations for a fully-funded 5,000-metre diamond drilling programme at Ayawilca, which is set to commence in late Q4 2026. The drilling programme will focus on resource expansion and improving the confidence of high-grade silver and polymetallic zinc-silver-lead resources at West Ayawilca.
The Colquipucro silver deposit is located approximately 2 km north of the polymetallic Ayawilca deposit. The deposit has a history of small-scale mining dating back to the 19th century. Tinka explored Colquipucro between 2009 and 2014, completing a drilling programme comprising 49 diamond drill holes for a total of approximately 8,700 metres. The most recent Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), dated May 25, 2016, was reported in the Company's 2024 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for Ayawilca, although Colquipucro was not included in the PEA's economic analysis. There has been no drilling at the Colquipucucro deposit since the initial Mineral Resource estimate by RPA (now SLR) dated February 23, 2015.
The Colquipucro deposit extends approximately 550 metres north-south, 380 metres east-west, and 75 metres in thickness, with mineralisation remaining open to the west. Much of the higher-grade mineralisation occurs close to surface, supporting the evaluation of a potential open-pit mining scenario. Silver mineralisation is predominantly oxidised and amenable to recovery by leaching. Minor to trace amounts of primary sulphide mineralisation occur as disseminated and veinlet style pyrite, pyrargyrite, and galena.
The 2026 PEA Update will reassess Colquipucro's potential as the first stage of a sequenced development strategy for the broader Ayawilca Project. The study will evaluate a potential open-pit silver operation at Colquipucro ahead of an underground zinc-silver development at Ayawilca, including opportunities to identify synergies between the two operations and optimise overall project capital requirements.