- August 12, 2024.
New project in Pasco with Zinc reserves for 21 years
Ayawilca has an indicated zinc resource of 28.3 million tons at a grade of 5.82%.
Lima, August 12, 2024. In the second edition of Heading to proEXPLO, entitled “Current overview of skarn deposits and CRDs in Peru and around the world”, Luis Giraldo, Exploration Manager of Tinka Resources, presented the Ayawilca project.
Ayawilca is a carbonate replacement deposit or CRD. This project is located in Pasco, over 4,200 m.a.s.l. and has high grade zinc, as well as tin and silver.
According to Giraldo, the company has figures for the indicated resources, those evaluated after mining exploration, and also for the inferred or estimated resources. To date, the indicated zinc resource in the southern and western zones is 28.3 million tons at a grade of 5.82%. Inferred zinc resources in the south, west, central and east total 31.2 million tons at a grade of 4.21%.
Regarding the silver zone, he said that they still have an inferred resource and will focus on the next drilling campaign to increase in size and grade. At the moment, they consider 1 million tons with 1.5% zinc and 111 grams of silver.
He also stated that, for the first time, they have an indicated tin resource: 1.4 million tons and a tin grade of 0.72%. And an inferred resource of 12.7 million tons with 0.76% tin.
Investment
On the other hand, Giraldo explained the investment costs and the expected rate of return on this project, which estimates a useful life of 21 years for zinc production and 17 years for tin production, as well as an annual production of 2 million tons in the zinc zone and 0.3 million tons in the tin zone.
“The latest Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) 2024 shows us an after-tax NPV of US$434 million, with a rate of return of 25.9%. We believe that the initial capex for production is US$ 382 million and we expect to recover the investment in less than three years,” he said.
Geology
He also commented on certain relevant aspects of the geology of this deposit. "Ayawilca is a carbonate replacement deposit (CRD), hosted in limestones of the Pucará group of Triassic-Jurassic age. The pyrrhotite and tin mantles formed in the early paragenesis event. The zinc bodies occur after and at the edges of the pyrrhotite bodies," he detailed.
He also stated that the mineralization is controlled by NNW trending structures along the anticline axis of the same direction; that structural and stratigraphic knowledge is key to the discovery of new ore bodies, as well as the use of geophysical tools (magnetometry and gravimetry).
