Pic: Tyler Stableford / Stone via Getty Images
Rebecca giving cashed-up Apollo strong signals from deep
Mining
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Special Report: One of Western Australia’s most promising recent gold discoveries looks like taking on a new dimension as owner Apollo Consolidated (ASX: AOP) pursues the project’s deeper potential.
The Lake Rebecca Gold Project, 150km east-north-east of Kalgoorlie, is showing sure signs of being developed into a mine, not least because of its prime location in the WA goldfields and an impressive maiden resource announced in February that topped the million-ounce mark.
The case for development will become even stronger if Apollo can demonstrate that high grade gold mineralisation at the project’s main deposit, Rebecca, continues below the current resource.
The company today indicated it had made an excellent start towards this objective, announcing the first assay from deeper drilling – a hit of 4.73m grading 19.10 g/t gold from 338m including 1m at 79.8 g/t gold from 441m.
“This is very encouraging for Rebecca and the broader project,” managing director Nick Castleden told Stockhead.
“The intercept demonstrates the potential for higher grade positions to be delineated below current Mineral Resources.”
Apollo is awaiting assays from another three “diamond tails”, extensions to shallower reverse circulation (RC) holes, drilled at Rebecca, while a more extensive program of RC and diamond drilling has been designed and will get underway shortly.
Further success at depth could see an underground component added to what is likely to be an open pit mining scenario at Rebecca, potentially supplemented by feed from satellite pits at Duke and Duchess.
Rebecca, which emerged as a genuine discovery for Apollo in mid-2017, currently contains inferred and indicated resources of 19.1 million tonnes grading 1.3 g/t gold for 775,000 ounces.
The Duchess and Duke deposits, around 4km to the south of Rebecca, contain inferred resources of 5.7 million tonnes at 1.0 g/t gold for 180,000 ounces and 2.3 million tonnes at 1.1 g/t golf for 80,000 ounces respectively.
If there’s one thing that’s not an issue for Apollo going forward, it’s funding to continue its aggressive exploration plans.
The company finished 2019 with $7.5 million in the bank and had the prescience to raise another $10 million through a share placement in late February, just weeks before capital markets were rocked by the coronavirus threat.
The placement saw several international and domestic institutions join the register and has put Apollo in an enviable position, with funding for exploration expected to be harder to come by.
While WA is its prime focus, the company also retains a 20% interest (free-carried to decision to mine) in ASX-listed Exore Resources’ Bagoe and Liberty gold projects in northern Cote d’Ivoire and a 1.2% net smelter royalty over TSX-listed Roxgold’s Seguela gold project in southern Cote d’Ivoire.
