Avrupa Acquires Selac Property in Kosovo

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - March 22, 2011) - Avrupa Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:AVU) -

• Selac License – 36.9 km²: Ag-Pb-Zn targets
• Adjacent to Glavej license
• Product of prospect generation program
• Extension of Pogledalo anomaly and drill target

Avrupa Minerals Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has received another new exploration license in the well-mineralized Vardar Mineral Trend of Kosovo. Avrupa now has five exploration licenses totaling 185.5 square kilometers in Kosovo. The Selac (pronounced "Se-lahtch") license covers 36.9 square kilometers of highly prospective land in the Central Vardar Subzone in northern Kosovo. The new license is located north of and adjacent to Avrupa's Glavej license. The Selac license is valid for three years under Kosovo's new mining law. The acquisition of this highly prospective property is a direct result of Avrupa's prospect generation program in Kosovo and geological/geochemical follow-up at the Pogledalo target which trends onto Selac from the Glavej license. In addition to northward continuity of the Pogledalo target zone, the Selac license application was made based on a review of publicly available geophysical, geochemical, and geological information from the district, as well as proprietary structural and alteration data generated by the Avrupa team. Avrupa is not aware of any sort of previous systematic exploration, modern or otherwise, on the Selac property.

Selac Property

The Selac Ag-Pb-Zn property is located 45-50 kilometers NNW of the capital Prishtine. The license lies 5-10 kilometers north of the historic, and presently producing, Stan Terg¹ base metal mine, which has operated intermittently for more than 1,000 years, and has reportedly produced more than 25 million metric tonnes of +10% lead and zinc, and 80 g/t silver. The property covers an area with high potential for discovery of new base and precious metal targets. Of immediate interest on the Selac license is the northerly extension of the Pogledalo geological-geochemical-geophysical anomaly, first observed on the Glavej license. Pogledalo is an 800-meter-long lead-zinc soil anomaly with outcropping iron-manganese gossan that trends onto the Selac license from Glavej. The anomaly is open to the north, south, and southeast. Avrupa geologists collected a total of 245 soil samples over the Pogledalo target area, with results from 15 of the samples exceeding 1,000 ppm zinc to a maximum of 1,520 ppm, and 13 samples exceeding 500 ppm lead to a maximum of 1,375 ppm. Other geochemical anomalies included silver to 560 ppb, copper to 299 ppm, molybdenum to 22.4 ppm, antimony to 599 ppm, mercury to 61.2 ppm, manganese to 5,890 ppm, and arsenic to 2,460 ppm. The geochemical signature is similar to that of Stan Terg. As at Stan Terg, there are also outcropping breccias pipes, and projected mineralization lies at and around the intersection of Vardar Trend faulting and an Oligocene age volcanic center.

Work Plan

As the weather and access conditions improve in Kosovo, Avrupa's exploration team will cover the new property with a first-pass stream sediment sampling program, in addition to further detailed work on the Pogledalo extension. The Company expects to drill one or two scout core holes, totaling up to 400 meters, at Pogledalo towards the end of Q2. Prior to the drilling, the Company will collect approximately 100-125 stream sediment samples on the overall Selac property. Subsequent identification of significant anomalous target areas will be followed by detailed sampling and mapping of the extent and potential of the new target areas. The emphasis of the first and second pass exploration work will be to upgrade new targets to drill-ready status as quickly as possible.

Paul W. Kuhn, CEO of Avrupa Minerals, noted that the acquisition of the Selac license, closely following the acquisition of the Bajgora and Rezhanc properties and the recent renewal of the Glavej and Kamenica licenses, is an important further milestone in bringing Avrupa to "critical mass" in Kosovo. The Company now holds five licenses, all with documented surface mineralization. Avrupa has begun a search for a strong partner to participate in a strategic alliance to more efficiently upgrade and develop the base metal targets to potential new discoveries.

The highly mineralized Vardar Mineral Trend passes through Kosovo from north to southeast. Historically, the Vardar has been one of Europe's most significant silver-lead-zinc producing districts, with mining known from at least as far back as Roman times. All of Avrupa's properties lie along or close to the main Vardar Trend, and the Company's prospect generation program is mostly targeting the Vardar Trend, for now.

Kosovo is a small country which has been independent for about two years now. The government is democratically elected, and enjoys continued in-country support from the European Union and the United Nations. The government recently instituted a new European-styled mining law, and Avrupa's subsidiary is one of the first companies to go through the renewal and acquisition processes under the new mining law.

Avrupa Minerals Ltd. is a growth-oriented junior exploration and development company focused on aggressive exploration, using a prospect generator model, for valuable mineral deposits in politically stable and prospective regions of Europe, including Portugal and Kosovo.

Avrupa has an exciting portfolio of exploration projects consisting of:

• Copper and Zinc in Portugal at Marateca, Alvalade, Canal Caveira, and Ferreira do Alentejo in the Iberian Pyrite Belt, where Europe's richest active copper mine is located;
• Tungsten in Portugal at the Covas prospect;
• Silver, Lead and Zinc in Kosovo at the Glavej, Kamenica, Bajgora, and Selac properties in the Trepça Mineral Belt of the Vardar Zone, historically, Europe's most productive district for lead and zinc;
• Copper in Kosovo at the Rezhanc property in the Macedonian porphyry belt.

On behalf of the Board,

Paul W. Kuhn, President & Director

1. The historic production information for the Stan Trg Mine is non - NI 43-101 – compliant, though Avrupa Minerals is of the opinion that the information is accurate with respect to available production records. Production information was compiled during UNMIK (United Nations Mission in Kosovo) administration of Trepça Mines after the war in Kosovo.

This news release was prepared by Company management, who take full responsibility for its content. Paul W. Kuhn, President and CEO of Avrupa Minerals, a Licensed Professional Geologist in the State of Washington, USA, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators. He has reviewed the technical disclosure in this release.