Apollo is unlocking a zinc and lead giant in Gabon

The Kroussou project in Gabon is an emerging, province-scale lead-zinc project and Apollo is pulling out all the stops to unlock its full potential.

Work to date has already hinted at this potential with the company identifying 18 prospects that are open and underexplored while broader, deeper parts of the basin remain completely untested.

Initial metallurgical testwork by Apollo Minerals (ASX:AON) using samples from the Dikaki prospect has indicated high recoveries and produced separate, high grade and high-quality zinc and lead concentrates.

Drilling is currently underway at two prospects with the company planning to drill all remaining prospects over the next 12 to 18 months.

There’s good reason for its ambition. Assays from the first 11 holes at the Dikaki prospect – where most historical exploration was focused on – have already returned shallow, high-grade intercepts.

Notable results are 32m grading 3.1% zinc and lead from a depth of just 4m including a higher grade interval of 13.5m at 5.3% zinc+lead from 12.8m and 40m at 2.2% zinc+lead from 3.2m including 12m at 4% zinc+lead from 17m and 4m at 3.1% zinc+lead from 38m.

Kroussou project

The Kroussou project covers about 1,000sqkm of highly prospective geology that includes a +80km trend of mineralisation.

Just four of the 18 identified prospects have been drill-tested to date with shallow zinc-lead mineralisation intersected at each of the tested prospects.

Adding interest, while Dikaki has received the lion’s share of exploration to date, it still remains relatively underexplored with just 1.5km of the roughly 4km of strike drill tested to date.

Significant potential has also been identified at the Bimbome, Bouambo South, Bouambo East, Niambokamba and newly discovered Niamabimbou prospect, where rock chip sampling has returned up to 24.85% zinc+lead.

Drilling has also started at the previously undrilled Niamabimbou prospect, which contains multiple mineralised outcrops that extend over wide areas and more than 7km of trend.

Work program

Over the rest of this year, the company will report on pending assays from Dikaki and completed drilling at Niamabimbou.

It will also carry out geophysical surveys and interpretation to identify and classify exploration targets along the entire +80km strike at the project, carry out metallurgical testwork to confirm and advance the potential for high recovery clean concentrates, and investigate regional business development opportunities.

In 2022, Apollo will drill all the untested prospects before carrying out targeted drill programs aimed at turning exploration targets into JORC resources.

The company aims to carry out technical studies, including a conceptual mining study, to assess the viability of a future mining operation.

This article was developed in collaboration with Apollo Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.