Mr. Paul Kuhn reports

AVRUPA ADDS TO ITS PORTFOLIO OF VMS EXPLORATION PROJECTS IN FINLAND

Avrupa Minerals Ltd.'s joint venture company in Finland, Akkerman Finland Oy, has acquired a second exploration permit located adjacent to the Pyhasalmi mine, this one being on the south side of the mine licence and within sight of the mine's headframe. AFOy is a partnership between Avrupa and Akkerman Exploration bv of the Netherlands. AFOy now holds an exploration portfolio consisting of six copper-zinc exploration permits in the Pyhasalmi mining district and one gold exploration permit in the Oijarvi greenstone belt.

The new Lippikyla exploration permit covers 2.4 square kilometres, and is located just south of the Pyhasalmi mine. AFOy acquired the permit from Inmet Finland Oy, a 100-per-cent-owned subsidiary of First Quantum Minerals and parent company of Pyhasalmi Mine Oy. The agreement allows for AFOy to undertake generative exploration work within the permit boundaries and, if successful, potentially turn to PMO for partnering at later stages of exploration and development of a new mineral body. The initial cost to AFOy was nominal.

This purchase forms part of a continuing collaboration between AFOy and the Pyhasalmi mine covering continuing exploration around the 75-million-tonne Pyhasalmi zinc-copper massive sulphide deposit, mined from 1962 to 2022, producing more than 60 Mt of zinc and copper ore (as of 2017). AFOy is directing exploration toward potential extension(s) of the historic Pyhasalmi mineralization and possible satellite deposits.

IFO acquired the licence in fourth quarter 2024, ostensibly to follow up untested gravity anomalies discovered during an extensive internal review of all historic exploration data by company geologists. IFO tested one of the gravity anomalies during first quarter 2025 with a single 500-metre drill hole. The drill hole cut two mineralized horizons of intensely altered felsic volcanics with anomalous zinc and copper content in an area which had been previously believed to contain sterile mafic volcanics that overlie the Pyhasalmi deposit. The source of the gravity anomaly remains unclear, and the results point to increased possibility for a blind satellite deposit(s) in the Lippikyla area.

Managing director of AFOy Jan Akkerman is currently on site at the Pyhasalmi mine reviewing core and data related to historic work in the new Lippikyla permit area and in the recently acquired Lehto permit area (see Avrupa news release dated Jan. 27, 2025: Avrupa acquires Lehto exploration permit, Finland). After consolidation and review of the historic data, AFOy will plan for follow-up drilling on both permits. Details of program will be based on consideration of the data, drill core observations, discussions with PMO and overall internal AFOy interpretations.

Paul W. Kuhn, president and chief executive officer of Avrupa Minerals, commented: "We have assembled an attractive land position in the Vihanti-Pyhasalmi district, particularly close in to the Pyhasalmi mine. We have massive sulphide mineralization and/or drill targets on all of these permits. During the coming months, we expect to prioritize certain of these projects for first-pass drilling and others for further geological/geophysical enhancement to upgrade potential drill targets. At this point in the Avrupa project generation business cycle, we are stepping up our efforts to attract a potential JV partner to join us in moving the projects forward. We have high-quality copper and zinc targets in a long-lived mining district, and expect to be able to significantly upgrade these targets with new partner involvement at this stage."

On a further note, Avrupa recently initiated an internally generated company awareness campaign on the social media platforms at LinkedIn and Twitter/X. The company will periodically post already publicly disclosed information about projects, its business model, progress with applications, JV partners and other noteworthy Avrupa topics. It monitors both platforms and will attempt to answer pertinent questions about the company.

Avrupa is a growth-oriented junior exploration and development company directed to discovery of mineral deposits, using a hybrid project generator business model. The company holds one 100-per-cent-owned licence in Portugal, the Alvalade volcanogenic massive sulphide project, and has submitted an application for a mining licence covering the Sesmarias massive sulphide showing within the project area. The company holds one 49-per-cent-owned exploration licence covering the Slivova gold project in Kosovo, optioned to Western Tethyan Resources, and is actively advancing six copper-zinc prospects and one gold prospect in central Finland through its partnership with Akkerman Exploration in the Finnish exploration company Akkerman Finland. Avrupa focuses its project generation work in politically stable and prospective regions of Europe, currently including Portugal, Finland and Kosovo. The company continues to seek and develop other opportunities around Europe, and is actively looking for new JV partnerships in Finland and Portugal.

This news release was prepared by company management, which takes full responsibility for its content. Paul W. Kuhn, president and chief executive officer of Avrupa Minerals, a licensed professional geologist and a registered member of the Society of Mining Engineers, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators. He has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this release.

Information concerning the historic mine production at the Vihanti and Pyhasalmi mines was collected from publicly available sources, including "Mineral Deposits of Finland," 2015, pages 507 to 530, and a presentation made by Pyhasalmi Mine Oy in 2018, "Pyhasalmi Area Presentation -- Pyhasalmi-Vihanti VMS Camp." The QP has not been able to verify the information, but believes that the information provided by the owners of Pyhasalmi Mine, First Quantum Minerals, is accurate and properly reports historic mine information.