Mr. Paul Kuhn reports

AVRUPA MINERALS ANNOUNCES UPDATED SLIVOVA MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE (MRE)

Avrupa Minerals Ltd.'s partner at the Slivova gold project in Kosovo, Western Tethyan Resources (WTR), has provided a new mineral resource estimate and general near-term work plan for the gold-silver deposit. Slivova is located in the prolific Vardar Mineral Trend, about 30 km SE of the capital, Pristina. WTR can earn in to 75 per cent of the project by financing exploration and development for 1.8 million euros over three years, and then a further 10 per cent by making certain milestone and success payments, producing an environmental impact statement, delivering a feasibility study, and completing a mining licence application.

• Global in situ gold resource increases by 78 per cent over original MRE;
• Global in situ silver resource increases by 113 per cent over original MRE.
• New MRE figures:
  • Measured resources: 835,000 metric tonnes at 4.3 grams per tonne gold and 15 g/t silver;
  • Indicated resources: 296,000 mt at 3.6 g/t Au and 15 g/t Ag;
  • Inferred resources: 250,000 mt at 3.7 g/t Au and 13 g/t Ag;
  • 4,500-metre drilling program planned for the next phase of fieldwork, which will include resource infill drilling and exploration drilling around the licence.

Paul W. Kuhn, president and chief executive officer of Avrupa Minerals, commented: "We are truly excited about this new development in the progress of the Slivova project, and look forward to continued success in the program. WTR and its associated company, Ariana Resources, are working hard to advance the project to the next level. We expect further information concerning progress, as the two companies work to complete a preliminary economic assessment for Slivova in the coming months and begin a 4,500-metre drilling program to further define the Slivova deposit and test other attractive, previously identified possibilities around the licence."

Dr. Kerim Sener, managing director of Ariana Resources, provided further information: "We are very pleased to provide a substantial resource update on the Slivova gold project in Kosovo. With a measured and indicated resource of 146,000 oz of gold and 546,000 oz of silver, and an inferred resource of another 30,000 oz of gold and 100,000 oz Ag in global resources now defined, Slivova is now well on track to be developed conceptually as a high-grade, open-pit and underground mining operation.

"We are increasingly confident that further resource expansion will occur as exploration proceeds at the site in the upcoming years. Several exploration targets in the immediate vicinity require follow-up and drill testing, and the broader project area contains significant exploration potential for similar mineralization based on the latest regional BLEG stream-sediment results.

"We are firmly in the planning stage for a new drilling program at Slivova, which will be focused in part on resource infill and extensional drilling. We are targeting a minimum resource of 200,000 ounces of gold prior to the initiation of more advanced project development work, which would include more advanced studies."

Mentor Demi, managing director of Western Tethyan Resources, added:

"Western Tethyan Resources is very excited to announce a significant resource increase for the Slivova gold deposit. The resource growth came mostly from the incorporation of the new historical drilling data and the revision of the geology and resource interpretation and model.

"Based on the current resources' size, Slivova represents a very prospective, undeveloped gold project, in Kosovo.

"Slivova is well on its way to becoming an advanced project, yet with a lot of exploration upside, down dip from the current resource, as well as from the surrounding satellite prospects. WTR is looking forward to starting in Q3 with the exploration program, environmental impact assessment and social engagement plan following recommendations from the preliminary economic assessment."

The following information is a summary of the mineral resource estimate, provided by Richard Siddle, MAIG, of Addison Mining Services Ltd., an independent qualified person, as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101 regulations. With the publication of this document, the full MRE must be publicly filed within 45 days.

Introduction

Between October, 2022, and June, 2023, the Western Tethyan and Ariana teams completed detailed field, drill core and digital data reviews of all information attributed to the Slivova project and its mineral resources. Mineral resources have been estimated by Mr. Siddle, MAIG, of Addison Mining Services Ltd., an independent qualified person as defined by Canadian NI 43-101.

The Slivova gold and silver deposit consists of intrusive-related, stratiform massive to disseminated gold-bearing and base metal mineralogy hosted in Cretaceous-aged calcareous sediments. The mineralization occurs as disseminated to massive replacement of calcareous sandstone to pebble conglomerate and minor replacement of limestone, associated with pyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite and base-metal sulphides. Lithological control and structural features appear to have played a major role in focusing the alteration and mineralization, both as fluid pathways and fluid retardants.

The Slivova project exploration licence is located along the Vardar trend, approximately 30 kilometres southeast of Pristina, the capital city of Kosovo.

Slivova mineral resource estimate

Mineral resources have been estimated for the Slivova deposit (Peshter target) only. No mineral resources have as yet been declared for other targets within the Slivova project, such as Dzemajl, Valiaviste and Brus.

The estimated mineral resource for Slivova is reported in accordance with Canadian Institute of Mining Definition Standards, comprising an anticipated open-pittable portion and an anticipated underground extraction portion reported above appropriate cut-off grades reflecting each anticipated mining type. Identification of material which has a reasonable prospect of eventual economic extraction is supported by existing metallurgical test work and a continuing preliminary economic analysis by Bara Consulting Ltd. of the United Kingdom.

Mineralization and block models for the mineral resource estimate were informed by data from 62 surface drill holes over a total of 6,640 metres performed between 2014 and 2018 by the previous explorer, Innomatik Exploration Kosova (IEK). The hole spacing for the deposit is approximately 15 m north by 15 m east in the core of the deposit, extending to 30 m north by 30 m east toward the edges. Sample spacing and distribution are considered sufficient to establish the geological and grade continuity required for modelling and resource estimation. Gold and silver have been estimated as mining products, with no byproducts or deleterious elements modelled.

The drill database was validated prior to resource estimation and quality control (QC) checks were made using industry-standard control charts for blanks, core duplicates and commercially certified reference material inserted into assay batches. The qualified person has reviewed the QC data and has found them suitable for use in mineral resource estimation. Additionally, the assay database was reconstructed from the original assay certificates to increase confidence in the final assay database used in the resource estimation.

Geological modelling

The mineralization is understood to be typically defined as a single identifiable unit, and geologically constrained (for example, higher grades are noted in some cases to be associated with coarser grained pebble conglomerates). The steeply dipping, intercalated pebble and cobble conglomerates, sandstone, and minor siltstone beds are thought to control the mineralization through their different porosity and permeability characteristics. The geological model as applied to the mineral resource estimate comprises a single domain plunging to the east-southeast, the strike of which is controlled by the host rocks.

The Slivova geological modelling used a combination of surface mapping data, structural measurements, geophysics, geological interpretations and multielement geochemical analysis in conjunction with date derived from diamond drill holes across the deposit area. Interpretations of geological surfaces are derived from 3-D implicit modelling of drill hole data in Leapfrog GEO and EDGE version 2023.1.0 using the software's intrusion function to generate an encapsulating volume over economically defined drill composites. All wireframes have been clipped to the topography.

A mineralized wireframe at a cut-off of approximately 0.2 g/t Au was used to distinguish mineralized and unmineralized material. Grade continuity within the interpreted mineralized zones is generally robust. Where continuity was not established between sections, the strike extrapolation was limited both manually (wireframes) and statistically (interpolations). While higher-grade subpopulations of three to 10 g/t Au and above 10 g/t Au are inferred from the data distribution inspection, the drill core indicated that this could not reliably be modelled and as such an indicator kriging approach was adapted during block model estimation.

The mineralization broadly follows a northwest-southeast trend, as supported by structural measurements both in outcrop and on oriented core. The mineralization outcrops at surface with visible sulphides in the exposure. The mineralized zone is approximately 260 m along strike and 70 m wide and covers an area of approximately 1.7 hectares. The mineral resources extend from surface to a depth of approximately 200 metres, plunging for approximately 300 metres to the east-southeast with a vertical extent of 100 to 150 metres, and are typically 50 to 100 metres wide. Mineralization is closed by drilling to the north, south and east, however, remains open down plunge to the east-southeast. The northern contact of the mineralization is interpreted to be controlled by a bounding fault.

Estimation methodology

The block model was prepared using Micromine Origin and Beyond version 2023, Services Pack 4. A five m by five m by five m block model was created with subblocks of minimum size one m by one m by one m on domain boundaries. Grade estimation from two m composites was carried out using median indicator kriging (mIK) for gold and using ordinary kriging for silver. The model was validated by comparison of input and output statistics, declustering, kriging neighbourhood analysis and by inspection of the assay data and block model in cross-section.

The density database contains 2,472 bulk density determinations of which 1,222 fall within the mineralised domain. Values within the domain were interpolated into each block using inverse distance weighting to a power of two with a lower limit of 1.5 tonnes per cubic metre and capped at 3.8 tonnes per cubic metre.

Slivova mineral resource classification

Mineral resources were classified according to the qualified person's view of the accuracy of the estimates and the quality and confidence of data underpinning them. Mineral resource classification considered the data quality, spacing and kriging standard error statistic (SE). Measured mineral resources are supported in the part of the deposit with the closest spaced drilling where the southeast is 0.4 and the average data spacing was typically less than 25 m. The remaining blocks were classified as inferred mineral resources including the down plunge portion of the deposit which is largely informed by two drill holes and is extrapolated by approximately 55 m.

The mineral resource estimate has an effective date of June 22, 2023, superseding the previous mineral resource estimate which had an effective date of May 31, 2016. The mineral resource estimate for Slivova is reported in the attached table, which was completed July 14, 2023.

No estimates of mineral reserves have been prepared. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing or other relevant issues. The qualified person is not aware of any such issues at the time of writing.

Other considerations

To the best of the qualified person's knowledge, at the time of estimation there are no known environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-economic, marketing, political or other relevant issues that could materially impact the eventual extraction of the mineral resource.

The most likely extraction scenario is anticipated to be by means of a small 100 m wide open pit to a depth of approximately 30 m, followed by underground stoping. While a larger open pit would likely be economically viable based on pit optimization tests, the size of the pit may encroach on local waterways and bring nearby farm buildings within the safe blast radius of the pit. As such, the above scenario is considered more likely.

Studies have been previously completed as part of the 2017 prefeasibility study (internal, unpublished) on the natural environment and potential impacts on the local community.

GR Engineering Services Ltd. (GRES) completed a metallurgical and processing report for the project as part of the 2017 PFS (internal, unpublished). The metallurgical work was conducted at ALS Metallurgical Laboratories in Balcatta, Western Australia, with initial tests confirming the gold is not refractory. In summary, good gold recovery was demonstrated in cyanide leaching (96 per cent) and flotation (88 per cent), whereas the gravity method gave only 36-per-cent recovery.

Detailed studies were previously completed as part of the 2017 PFS (internal, unpublished) on mining, hydrology, geomechanics, waste geochemistry, mine waste and tailings, power supply, surface infrastructure, and capital expenditures and operating expenditures.

Sampling and assaying procedures

All of the drill holes used to define the Slivova project have been drilled using diamond core drilling techniques in HQ, NTW and NQ diameter core sizes.

All diamond drill core is processed in the company's core shed, near the Slivova project. Initially, all sample preparation occurred at the ALS Group sample preparation facility at Rosia Montana, Romania, and then at ALS in Bor, Serbia.

Drill core samples from the drilling programs at Slivova were cut in half by a diamond saw and sent for analysis in batches in line with the company's quality control procedures.

The review of the quality assurance/quality control results from the 2014 to 2016 drill program, the holes which were used in the resource estimate, indicated no issues. Standards, blanks and duplicates all showed good performance. The insertion rate of QA/QC samples for these phases of the drill program was 12 per cent (4,930 samples including 582 QA/QC samples), with a similar proportion of blanks, standards, field duplicates, analytical duplicates and pulp duplicates inserted.

Diamond drill core recoveries were monitored and recorded in the sampling database. Overall core recovery for the diamond drilling is 92 per cent, with core recovery for only the holes used in the resource estimate being 90 per cent. There is no bias between sample recovery and grade. Samples with less than 80-per-cent recovery were noted to be in zones of fault gouge, highly broken core or drill-spun core.

All samples have been submitted for gold and silver analysis, with some batches being submitted for a full multielement suite of analysis. Not all batches had multielement analysis due to budget constraints. All analysis has been undertaken by ALS Group at its fully accredited laboratories, as detailed below.

Gold analysis was undertaken at the ALS laboratory in Rosia Montana, Romania, using fire assay with an atomic absorption spectrometry finish on a 30-gram charge. The upper detection limit for this method (Au-AA23) is set at 10 g/t gold, with any overdetection values reanalyzed via fire assay with a gravimetric finish (Au-GRA21).

Silver analysis was undertaken at the ALS laboratory in Loughrea, Ireland, using a multiacid digest and a hydrochloric acid leach with an AAS read. An upper detection limit of 100 g/t silver is set for this analytical technique -- no samples returned grades at this upper detection limit.

Multielement analysis was undertaken at the ALS facility in Ireland, using a multiacid digest with the analysis completed by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICPMS).

Review of the assay results determined that all quality control and quality assurance samples (blanks, standards and duplicates) passed the required quality control checks established by the company, with duplicate samples showing excellent correlation. Laboratory sample preparation, assaying procedures and chain of custody were appropriately controlled. The company maintains an archive of half-core samples and a photographic record of all cores for future reference.

The independent qualified person for mineral resources as defined by National Instrument 43-101 is Mr. Siddle, MAIG, of Addison Mining Services Ltd. Mr. Siddle has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical content of this news release. The qualified person completed a site visit to the project on June 13, 2023, and has inspected the property, drill hole locations and has reviewed selected intervals of the drill core used in the mineral resource estimate. No concerns were identified during the visit.

Avrupa Minerals is a growth-oriented junior exploration and development company directed to discovery of mineral deposits, using a hybrid prospect generator business model. The company holds one 100-per-cent-owned licence in Portugal, the Alvalade VMS (volcanogenic massive sulphide) project, presently optioned to Sandfire MATSA in an earn-in joint venture agreement. The company now holds one 100-per-cent-owned exploration licence covering the Slivova gold prospect in Kosovo, and is actively advancing four prospects in central Finland through its in-process acquisition of Akkerman Finland Oy. Avrupa focuses its project generation work in politically stable and prospective regions of Europe, presently including Portugal, Finland and Kosovo. The company continues to seek and develop other opportunities around Europe.