Mount Oscar, new iron ore discovery in Western Australia

Background

Apollo has an 80% interest in the exploration rights of tenements ELA 47/1378 and ELA  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  Mount Oscar Iron Ore Project lies within tenement ELA 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 recently  sold to the China Metallurgical Group Corporation  for $400 million.  

Apollo's tenements  are well  located close to existing road, rail and port infrastructure and towns.  Importantly the Robe River railway line crosses  ELA 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 ELA 47/1378 and a number of major regional centers such as  Karratha and Roebourne are close by.

Recent Field Work and Surveys

Apollo  recently completed  a low level  airborne magnetic and radiometric survey over the tenements, carried out preliminary mapping work and have undertaken an analysis of rock chip samples collected from the Apollo's portion of the project area. Apollo are 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

The low level survey 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 ELA 47/1379.  The magnetic high  indicates a significant banded iron formation (BIF). The survey also outlined two additional magnetic anomalies within ELA 47/1378,  which is largely soil-covered.  These newly discovered magnetic highs could represent either iron-rich bodies similar to Mountt Oscar, or discrete ultramafic sills, similar to the nearby Radio Hill and Sherlock Bay, both of which contain significant nicket sulphide deposits.

Apollo is presently undertaking a detailed assessment of the airborne magnetic and radiometric survey to identify the best drill targets.

Recent Sampling and Mapping  

The recent 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  ELA 47/1379, which represents approximately 35% to 40% of all outcropping Magnetite-rich horizons present at Mount Oscar.

Apollo's Chairman, Sevag Chalabian said, "Apollo is highly encouraged by these recent results with rock chip samples returning up to 51.9% Fe.  The results of the airborne magnetic survey confirm that Apollo's Mt Oscar project may host a significant iron deposit".

Apollo will continue field work at the Mount Oscar project and plans to commence drilling later this year, subject to successful completion of Native Title negotiations.