Apollo Minerals

MOUNT OSCAR IRON ORE PROJECT (WA)

Background

Apollo has an 100% interest in the exploration rights of tenements EL 47/1378 and EL 47/1379, which cover an area of 212 km² and are  located within the West Pilbara region of Western Australia. A significant portion of the important newly discovered Global Mount Oscar Iron Ore Project lies within tenement EL 47/1379. The balance of the Project is held by Fox Resources.
Location

Apollo's tenements lie within the Cleaverville geological formation. This geological formation also hosts the Cape Lambert magnetite project which is located about 25 km north of Mount Oscar. The Cape Lambert project contains a JORC compliant resource of 1.56 billion tonnes grading 31.2% Fe and was sold to the China Metallurgical Group Corporation for $400 million in July 2008.

Apollo's tenements are well located, close to existing road, rail and port infrastructure and towns.  Importantly the Robe River railway line crosses  EL 47/1379. Under recent proposals announced by the Western Australian government, Apollo would have access to this railway line which would provide direct transportation to the port facilities at Cape Lambert, located 30 km north of Mount Oscar. Additionally the North West Highway crosses EL 47/1378 and a number of major regional centres such as Karratha and Roebourne are close by.

Mount Oscar Project Location Map

Recent Developments in Exploration - Initial Drilling Programme

An intial drilling programme was carried out in late 2009, designed to target the highest magnetic amplitudes as modelled by independent geophysical consultants of high resolution airborne magnetic data flown over the Mt Oscar project area. The drilling comprised five reverse circulation (RC) holes drilled on four approximately 200 metre-spaced sections, for a combined length of 1,440 metres. Downhole intercepts of magnetite mineralisation ranging from 16 to 168 metres having iron grades ranging from 31.9% to 36.9% have been encountered within the two principal horizons. The average iron grade for the intercepts reported is 35.2% Fe. The mineralisation remains open at depth and along strike for both horizons with the deepest holes extending to a vertical depth of 300 metres.

Shallow cumulative intercepts of 271 metres @ 34.8% iron and 192 metres @ 35.9% iron were returned from 14 metres in hole OSRC004 and 25 metres in hole OSRC001 respectively. Several individual composite assays exceeded 40% iron with the highest being 43.8% iron returned from the composite sample comprising between 74m and 79m down hole OSRC004. A total of 152 five metre composite samples have been submitted to an independent laboratory for further magnetite-specific metallurgical testwork including Davis Tube Recovery or DTR analysis. This work is being undertaken under the supervision of an independent specialist metallurgical consulting group.

Magnetic Modelling

In April 2009, independent consultants Southern Geoscience completed a geophysical interpretation of the Global Mount Oscar Project Area (the Apollo and Fox Resources tenements combined). Twenty six forward magnetic models and one 3D inversion model were generated from airborne magnetic data to obtain estimates for the volume/tonnage of the highly magnetic banded iron formation (“BIF”) in the Global Mount Oscar Project Area.

It was determined from this that the Global Mount Oscar Project Area down to the first 250 metres of vertical depth from surface is estimated to contain 800 million tonnes of iron ore. This estimate is considered possibly accurate to +/- 25%, however it should be considered accurate to +/- 50% for planning purposes, and to be broadly indicative at best.  Previously announced drill results from Fox Resources were utilised to confirm the accuracy of the model. 

Southern Geoscience believe that, overall, the comprehensive modelling has provided a reasonably good indication of the total volume for the significant BIF sequence at Mt Oscar

The higher areas of magnetic resonance on the Apollo tenement are shown circled in the image below and indicate the potential targets for higher grade ore. In order to test the accuracy of the modelled results, Apollo will implement a drilling programme comprising four drill holes for 680 metres, commencing August 2009.

White areas delineate higher intensity magnetic resonance

Field Work and Surveys

Apollo has completed a low level  airborne magnetic and radiometric survey over the tenements, carried out preliminary mapping work and undertaken an analysis of rock chip samples collected from Apollo's portion of the project area. Apollo is very encouraged by the results of the airborne survey, the preliminary mapping and the analysis of the rock chips which returned grades of up to 51.9% Fe.

Magnetic Survey

A low level survey was carried out at 50 metre line spacing over the Mt Oscar area and 100 metre line spacing over other parts of Apollo's tenements.  The survey confirmed the presence of a substantial portion of the highly magnetic Mount Oscar Project area within EL 47/1379.  The magnetic high indicates a significant banded iron formation (BIF). The survey also outlined two additional magnetic anomalies within EL 47/1378,  which is largely soil-covered.  These newly discovered magnetic highs could represent either iron-rich bodies similar to Mount Oscar, or discrete ultramafic sills, similar to the nearby Radio Hill and Sherlock Bay, both of which contain significant nickel sulphide deposits.

Sampling and Mapping 

The analysis of a small number of rock chip samples collected from the project area is also very positive, with the samples returning up to 51.9% Fe,

Preliminary mapping showed that over 6km of the magnetite-rich horizons are outcropping at  EL 47/1379, which represents approximately 35% to 40% of all outcropping magnetite-rich horizons present at Mount Oscar.

COMMONWEALTH HILL IOCGU PROJECT (SA)

Overview & Exploration

Apollo has a 100% interest in Commonwealth Hill located in the Gawler Craton in South Australia. The project comprises five tenements covering an area of 1,793km squared.  
In December 2009 Western Plains Resources Limited announced its withdrawal from the farm-in joint venture agreement with Apollo in respect of iron ore on Apollo’s Commonwealth Hill tenements. As a result, Apollo retains 100% of the right to iron ore and all other mineralisation at Commonwealth Hill.

Commonwealth Hill Project Location Map 1

The local area is highly prospective for iron ore, copper, gold and uranium. Olympic Dam (largest uranium mine in the world), Prominent Hill and Challenger Gold mines are all close to the project area as are a large number of iron ore exploration projects including projects held by Western Plains, Ironclad Mining, Stellar Resources and IMX Resources.

A programme of ground reconnaissance geophysical surveys was completed over the Wirrida and Ibis magnetic anomalies in April 2009. At Wirrida a total of eight north-south and two east-west traverses for a total of 19.1 km were surveyed with ground magnetics and gravity. The data shows a broad gravity anomaly which is semi-coincident with the magnetics. The depth of the anomaly appears to be about 50m and possibly less in places. The magnetite-rich horizons extend over a combined strike length of about 7-8 km on the western side of the Wirrida anomaly.

Following the completion in 2009 of ground magnetic surveys and subsequent modelling, the Company is now in a position, with some minor additional modelling, to accurately target drill holes in the most prospective anomalies.

There are eight anomalies which can be classified into two types:

•   Linear anomalies that may represent banded iron formation and/or magnetite in schist or gneiss; and
•   Circular, more discrete anomalies that may represent small basic intrusions or pipelike bodies containing magnetite that are less likely to have significant iron ore potential but may have base metal-gold potential

Tony Ho (Chairman)

Mr Ho has had more than 30 years' experience as a senior executive and director mainly as a director of listed companies. Mr Ho's background is in finance and positions that he has held during his career include Chief Financial Officer of Volante Group Ltd, one of the largest Australian-owned ASX-listed computer services companies; Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of Arthur Yates & Co Limited; Executive Finance Director of Downtown Duty Free Pty Limited; and Chief Financial Officer of ASX-listed M.S. McLeod Holdings Limited.

Currently Mr Ho is a non-executive director and chairman of the Audit and Compliance Committee of Dolomatrix International Limited, a non-executive director and chairman of the Audit Committee of Greenland Minerals & Energy Limited. Mr Ho is also the Deputy Chairman of Quality Improvements Council Limited which is the company that provides accreditation audit services to the Community Health and Community Services sectors in Australia and New Zealand.

Richard Shemesian  (Executive Director)

Mr Shemesian brings more than 15 years experience in the resources sector to Apollo providing corporate and strategic advice for a number of resources companies, with a particular focus on companies listed on either the Australian Securities Exchange or the Alternative Investment Market of
London.

Mr Shemesian has played an active role in a number of companies that have transformed into producers or have been acquired by way of takeover, including ASX listed Redport which was succesfully taken over by Canadian listed Mega Uranium for A$125m in 2006.

Wang Jianguang (Non-Executive Director)

Mr Wang has eight years of experience in the mining and iron-making industry in China.  Benefitting from extensive working and studying experiences in China and abroad, Mr Wang has gained unique perspective into the economics and politics of both China and Australia, which has become increasingly critical for advising on and facilitating business negotiation and cooperation with international counterparties. In 2007, Mr Wang, along with other shareholders, established Hugo Natural Enterprises Ltd.
As a director, he has been in charge of business development in mining industry overseas. Mr Wang holds a bachelor's degree in Economics Law.

Wayne Wu (Non-Executive Director)

Mr Wu has a background in banking and finance. Positions that he has held include Project Manager of Firsttrusrt Chima Ltd, a US based investment bank. Currently Mr Wu is head of Investor Relations department and Board of directory Secretary at Armco Metals.

Mr Wu has a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours in Accounting and Finance and Master of Science from Liverpool University.

David Nolan (Non-Executive Director)

Mr Nolan is a corporate lawyer and heads the Sydney corporate advisory practice of law firm Mills Oakley Lawyers. Mr Nolan's expertise and skills will complement the board as the company moves towards further developments of its Mt Oscar Magnetite Project in Western Australia.

Guy Robertson (Secretary)

Mr Robertson has over 25 years' experience in both public and private companies in Australia and Hong Kong. For 16 years he was a Finance Director/CFO of various companies within the Jardine Matheson Group.

Peter McNally (Manager of Operations)

Mr McNally brings more than 35 years experience in the resource sector to Apollo and has extensive experience in leading project teams in the development of new mining projects. He has held directorships in a number of successful mining companies and held executive and managerial positions with the North Limited Group of Companies.

John Bridson (Consulting Geologist)

John Bridson is a geologist with a Masters of Science from the University of Waikato in New Zealand. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the Financial Services Institute of Australia.

John has more than 25 years' experience in exploration, predominantly in iron ore, gold and base metals. He has a particularly strong background in iron ore, having worked with iron ore developers and producers Mt Gibson Iron Limited, Portman Limited and, most recently, Sinosteel Midwest.

He also has international exposure in Indonesia with Herald Resources as their Exploration Manager in the 1990s and was responsible for management of gold and base metal exploration programmes which included the successful discovery of a high-grade sedex lead zinc deposit in North Sumatra.

No info available.