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Apollo Minerals makes major zinc-lead discovery at Kroussou project in Gabon
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Apollo Minerals says a major zinc-lead discovery is emerging at the Dikaki prospect in its province scale Kroussou project after its maiden drilling program revealed shallow high grade intercepts.
Apollo Minerals (ASX:AON) has received the results from the first 11 drill holes at Dikaki, just one of 18 prospects identified at Kroussou in mining friendly Gabon, where Apollo is earning an 80% stake from Trek Metals.
Wide, shallow and strong intercepts from the Dikaki confirmed the presence of major mineralisation near unsampled historic exploration targets from the French Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières, including:
- 32m at 3.1% Zn and Pb from 4.0m, with an interval of:
- 5m @ 5.3% Zn+Pb from 12.8m
- 40m @ 2.2% Zn+Pb from 3.2m
- including 12m @ 4.0% Zn+Pb from 17.0m and 4m @ 3.1% Zn+Pb from 38.0m
- 33m @ 2.4% Zn+Pb from 34.0m
- including 14m @ 4.0% Zn+Pb from 34.0m
- 21.7m @ 2.3% Zn+Pb from 15.7m
- including 12.4m @ 3.4% Zn+Pb from 25.0m, and;
- 13.5m @ 2.1% Zn+Pb from 0.8m , on the embayment edge
- including 4.2m @ 4.4% Zn+Pb from 9.8m.
The results contain just the first 11 diamond drill holes reported from a 46-hole campaign, with a 100-hole program also under way at the previously untested Niamabimbou prospect.
They point to Kroussou’s potential to host a large-scale shallow, flat-lying, broadly mineralised system with possible continuity across multiple zones which could allow for simple open cut mining.
Apollo executive director Neil Inwood was understandably pleased with the results so early in the company’s drilling program, having secured its stake in Kroussou in late 2019.
“We are delighted our maiden drilling campaign is demonstrating grade and mineralisation continuity at Dikaki at very shallow depths which have the potential to be amenable to simple low-cost open pit mining,” he said.
“The results highlight a shallow, flat-lying, broadly mineralised system, with potential for mineralisation to link up across multiple areas; demonstrating that Kroussou has the potential to deliver a significant, large scale, base metal project.”
When it comes to scale there remains plenty of ground open to Apollo to test as well, with Kroussou hosting up to 80km of strike. Only four out of the 18 prospects identified have been drill tested to date, with all four channels intersecting zinc-lead mineralisation at very shallow depths.
The focus has now shifted to the initial drill testing of the highly prospective Niamabimbou Prospect (see all prospects below):
The rock chip sampling program at Niamabimbou identified widespread, high grade Zn-Pb mineralisation at Niamabimbou, with the best results including:
- 24.85% combined Zn-Pb from sample JBR651
- 20.16% combined Zn-Pb from sample JBR246
- 15.20% combined Zn-Pb from sample JBR244
- 13.87% combined Zn-Pb from sample JBR561
- 13.53% combined Zn-Pb from sample JBR946
- 10.71% combined Zn-Pb from sample JBR136
The project hosts 150 known occurrences of zinc-lead mineralisation and has only been tested to shallow depths.
Most historic drilling was only completed to 10-15m, with the current program drilling to 45m into the basement.
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.
