Apollo Consolidated Limited (ASX: AOP) has announced further widespread gold mineralisation from new RC drilling at the Cleo discovery, and new shallow gold mineralisation from ongoing resource definition drilling at the Rebecca deposit, both part of the Lake Rebecca Gold Project in WA.
all nine RC holes at Cleo intersected significant shallow gold mineralisation
The company said that all nine RC holes at Cleo intersected significant shallow gold mineralisation including 10m @ 3.66g/t Au, 5m @ 1.25g/t Au, and 10m @ 0.88g/t Au. The latest assay results from Rebecca deposit included 27m @ 2.78g/t Au from 55m downhole.
The company said that the RC and diamond drilling is ongoing at the Lake Rebecca Gold Project.
Drilling at Lake Rebecca project
The company had recently commenced infill Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling at Cleo discovery, located 1.5km west of the main Rebecca deposit. The company said that a further nine exploration RC holes were drilled at the Cleo discovery. AOP said that the resource definition drilling at the Rebecca deposit has also been ongoing.
Apollo has now reported strong gold results from Cleo and Rebecca deposits.
High-grade gold hits at Cleo
The company reported that assay results at Cleo continued to locate multiple mineralised zones surrounded by a significant halo of gold anomalism. The company said that the drilling showed excellent evidence of a strong mineralised cell that remains lightly explored to strike and depth, and warrants further drilling.
AOP said that all nine RC holes at Cleo intersected significant shallow gold mineralisation.
Standout results include:
- 10m @ 3.66g/t Au from 95m, 5m @ 1.25g/t Au from 75m and 10m @ 0.88g/t Au from 45m in RCLR0806;
- 5m @ 6.75g/t Au from 65m and 5m @ 1.59g/t Au from 110m in RCLR0807;
- 10m @ 1.50g/t Au EOH from 85m, 5m @ 1.84g/t Au from 75m and 5m @ 1.56g/t Au from 40m in RCLR0811;
- 10m @ 1.10g/t Au from 50m in RCLR0808;
- 10m @ 1.09g/t Au from 35m in RCLR0802; and
- 5m @ 3.76g/t Au from 120m and 5m @ 1.34g/t Au from 70m in RCLR0803.
Apollo said that the intercepts evidence multiple mineralised zones within a 150m wide halo of gold anomalism that remains open to strike (currently ~300m) and depth. AOP said that the Anomalous Zones calculated at nominal >0.1g/t, and 2g/t Au top cut included 56m @ 0.88g/t Au EOH in RCLR0811 and 85m @ 0.44g/t Au in RCLR0804.
The company said that an immediate follow-up drilling will commence at Cleo to continue to build geological interpretation and expand known mineralised zones into untested areas.
AOP said that RCLR0809 and RCLR0811 were drilled as pre-collar holes and will be continued with diamond drill tails. The company said that diamond drilling will confirm the orientation of mineralised structures and is scheduled to start in the coming weeks.
New shallow gold mineralisation at Rebecca
The company reported that the ongoing resource definition drilling at the 840,000oz Rebecca deposit continues to find new shallow gold mineralisation in under-drilled areas of the optimised pit shell used to constrain the April 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) update.
The latest assay results included 27m @ 2.78g/t Au from 55m downhole in RCLR0801. The company said that this intercept, along with those reported in recent announcements, is expected to add more near-surface material at a higher grade than the pit constrained Rebecca MRE of 29.1 million tonnes at 1.2g/t Au for 1.105 million ounces1 of gold.
Significant assay results are as shown below:
Latest updates and further work
The company said that exploration drilling is continuing, with the current focus being targets that may provide additional near surface high-value mineralisation, including extensions of emerging footwall structures at the Rebecca deposit.
AOP said that infill and step-out RC drilling will continue at Cleo to bring this discovery toward Resource status, as well as resource definition drilling of unclassified and inferred in-pit Rebecca and Duchess mineralisation. The company announced that a series of compelling regional structural targets will also continue to be tested with initial exploratory drilling.
Apollo reported that diamond drilling is advancing well, with the second of six drill holes in progress
Diamond drilling
Apollo reported that diamond drilling is advancing well, with the second of six drill holes in progress. The current drilling is designed to deliver important resource definition data within the key mineralised structures at all deposits and provide material for ongoing metallurgical technical work.
The company said that the rig is currently at Rebecca, and will progress to Cleo, Duchess, and Duke as part of the technical work program. It will then begin testing a series of exciting open high-grade structural targets below the Rebecca deposit.
Technical activity
Apollo said that it has stepped-up technical evaluation work that is running separately and simultaneously to the exploration drilling activities. The company said that works have been commissioned to allow an engineering review of a range of options for the Project and then inform an appropriate mining study.
AOP said that hydrological, metallurgical, and permitting activities are underway, and environmental works will continue in the coming weeks.
Financials
The company said that it remains in an excellent financial position to continue the ongoing exploration and technical work at Lake Rebecca, with A$37.2M in consolidated cash as of 31 March 2021.
Apollo said that the next stage of exploration work will consist of follow-up RC pre-collars and diamond drilling to continue to scope lateral and plunge extensions of structures and to test new targets. The company said that additional surface geophysical surveys may be commissioned. AOP reported that a re-estimation of contained Mineral Resources will be carried out in due course.
Images: Apollo Consolidated Limited