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drilling programmes and you need a
real amount of money if you are going to
conduct proper, modern exploration pro-
grammes,” he said. “It was a good time
for the market and a few other ASX-listed
companies are operating there so it was
a good time to get Gabon on the map as
well.”
Apollo Minerals Ltd is the other junior
attempting to put Gabon on the map. Like
Armada, Apollo was attracted by the belt-
scale opportunity on offer in the underex-
plored country.
The company has been steadily ad-
vancing the Kroussou base metals pro-
ject for three years with most of its work
focused on the Dikaki prospect.
In June, the company announced drill-
ing had doubled the high-grade zone at
Eastern Dikaki to more than 500m follow-
ing hits of 19.8m @ 4% zinc-lead from
51.2m, 10.1m @ 5.7% zinc-lead from
15.3m and 13.5m @ 4% zinc-lead from
20m. A new zone was also identified in
the central portion of Dikaki via an inter- Apollo is one of a handful of ASX-listed explorers looking to put Gabon on the radar of
cept of 3.3m @ 5.4% zinc-lead from 20m. international investors
Apollo managing director Neil Inwood
told Paydirt the drilling results, as well as the Kroussou district. that big picture story and believe that the
recent airborne EM, had provided further “We have to get the results from this province-scale opportunity is the prize.
evidence Kroussou was a province-scale year’s drilling but Dikaki’s potential for It is also meaningful that this is shallow
opportunity for Apollo. standalone operations is good,” he said. sulphide mineralisation from surface.
“This work is showing indications that “But we only started there because it had Typically, that has the best recoveries and
the whole belt is mineralised,” Inwood the easiest access. Other areas simply mining styles.”
said. “We know Gabon is underexplored. haven’t had the attention so there could Assisting Apollo’s marketing push is the
The French BGRM in the 60s focused on be other targets which should be a key proactive approach of the Government.
lead but we’re finding significantly more focus.” “Minister Massinge is energetic and
mineralised zinc zones. We will continue The combination of Mississippi Valley- keen to talk,” Inwood said. “As well as the
drilling regionally to shore up our targeting type mineralisation and the shallow na- VAT exemptions on exploration, the Gov-
and then next year will be about cement- ture of the hits has generated plenty of ernment is very positive towards foreign
ing the discovery and moving towards a interest in the Apollo investment case. investment and has been very helpful.”
resource and development studies.” “We are definitely talking to a lot of McGowan agrees the country is in-
While further assay results are needed people, including majors, and the story is creasingly viewed positively by interna-
to confirm the enthusiasm, Inwood is be- that a zinc deficit is definitely coming as tional investors.
coming convinced Dikaki is the first of the world runs out of mineable reserves,” “I’ve never received any negative com-
what could be several distinct projects in Inwood said. “Investors are coming in for ments from investors around operating in
Gabon, only positive. I’ve been operating
there for 10 years and have always been
dealt with professionally both in Libreville
and locally. It is easy to communicate, we
have been treated fairly and it is an open
and transparent system with a good min-
ing code.”
With Fortescue Metals Group Ltd al-
ready active in the country and Anglo
American joining up with Genmin, it ap-
pears majors are beginning to share
McGowan’s enthusiasm.
“It is probably a bit early for them to say
too much, but we keep in touch with the
majors and Gabon is definitely on their
radar.”

– Dominic Piper

Apollo is chasing a province-scale base metals opportunity at Kroussou

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