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FINALIST: EXPLORER

Apollo shoots for the stars

by Dominic Piper

pollo Consolidated Ltd’s progress in 2019 has managing resource, it needs someone else for that” – he sees a clear path
Adirector Nick Castleden confident the company can start for Apollo in Rebecca’s development.
putting preliminary numbers around its Lake Rebecca gold “It is a hell of a discovery and at a low cut-off there will easily
discovery this year. be 1 moz,” he said. “That is a lot of gold looking for a home and
The company has drilled 33,000m of RC and 1,100m of we’ve been finding that if we went to a dig-and-truck scenario
diamond holes at Lake Rebecca – 150km east of Kalgoorlie, the low-grade material wouldn’t travel very far. So, it is probably
Western Australia – over the last 12 months, scoping out the more suited to a standalone operation; that’s how the grade
high-grade Jennifer lode and identifying several other lower- distribution looks best.”
grade positions along the mineralised trend. Apollo’s clean capital structure means it is also in charge of its
“We are making some good progress and we are at the point own destiny.
now where we are starting to look at potential scale,” Castleden “We are not obliged to talk to anyone because there is no
told GMJ. producer on the register, that gives us flexibility in planning.”
Identified via hits of 17.84m @ 15.95 g/t gold and 49m @ 4.57 Although resource estimation is the priority in 2020, Castleden
g/t during diamond drilling in late 2017, Lake Rebecca has been is keen to see step-out exploration continue.
Apollo’s sole focus for two years.
“We are starting to get into more conceptual targets and the RC
The first 12 months were devoted to understanding the Jennifer rig will test them in the next six months.” Depths extensions will
lode – a high-grade system which had produced further hits of also be tested according to Castleden.
42m @ 7.75 g/t gold, 50m @ 4.05 g/t, 25.8m @ 6.71 g/t, 25m @
“If we can find any high-grade material under the future pit it
7.88 g/t, 59m @ 3.22 g/t and 21m @ 5.56 g/t.
adds a huge amount of value and longevity to the project.”
Since then, the company has identified the Laura and Jennifer
NE zones and recently intercepted a new prospect to the west
of Jennifer through a hit of 29m @ 4.1 g/t gold. Castleden said
the recent intercepts suggested Apollo could add volume to
Jennifer’s high-grade potential.
“It is now about bolting on things to the Jennifer high-grade
RESOURCES
material,” he said. “There is a lot of volume sitting in that 0.5-
2 g/t range in many prospects, parallel to surface. We haven’t
wireframed these surfaces; we are just putting the effort in now.
There is a lot of the material in those plates.” Strategic 2,000km 2
landholding in
Castleden said the extensional work would continue but the
immediate focus would be on building a maiden resource for Northern Cote d’Ivoire ASX: ERX
West Africa
Rebecca.
Prolic, proven, gold region
“We have got to a point where the near-surface material is at a
density a resource geologist can work with,” he said. “And, it is Recent results at
the logical progression because we are at the point where the Antoinette Discovery Veronique Discovery
underfoot targets are beyond a RC rig’s capability.” 25m @ 6.87g/t gold 4m @ 76.31g/t gold
Prospects such as Laura, Duke and Duchess will add valuable 11m @ 12.79g/t gold 12m @ 7.00g/t gold
volume to a maiden resource, but the Jennifer lode will underpin 15m @ 9.96g/t gold 8m @ 4.30g/t gold
the commerciality of Rebecca.
Well Funded for Continued
“While the Jennifer lode will be swamped by volume it will be the
Drilling and Exploration Success
central focus of mine planning and scheduling,” Castleden said.
“As a matter of course, you would tack on the low-grade material
to the north, but we are certainly conscious of putting out
ounces that are no good [in a mining sense]. We will calculate
intersections and look at the mineability and whether we need
L2, 18 Kings Park Road West Perth WA 6005
to do more work to fill in the gaps.”
+61 8 6117 0446 PO BOX 71 l West Perth WA 6872
While Castleden is humble enough to admit mining engineering www.exoreresources.com.au l twitter @ExoreResources
is not his skillset – “I’m not the guy to take it beyond a robust

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