Apollo Minerals Ltd (ASX:AON) has kicked off its planned 2022 drilling campaign and exploration field work program at the province-scale Kroussou Zinc-Lead Project in Gabon, central Africa.
Kroussou is shaping as a globally significant large-scale, shallow, flat-lying, broadly mineralised zinc-lead system with possible continuity across multiple zones.
Discoveries to date indicate near-surface mineralisation that could allow simple open-pit mining extraction, heralding the potential for high recoveries and high-quality zinc and lead concentrates.
“Drilling has commenced at Dikaki and our field team is on site and active at Kroussou," Apollo Minerals’ executive director Neil Inwood said.
“During the January-March dry season we will be concentrating on step out drilling at the developing Dikaki discovery and establishing clear access to other regional prospects.
“A regional-scale airborne electromagnetic survey is scheduled to commence in April and will allow for additional regional exploration targeting along Kroussou’s 80 kilometres of prospective strike length.”
2022 work program
Apollo has a busy schedule ahead for the 2022 works program, and is focused on:
- Identifying high grade mineralisation at the Dikaki prospect to help define the resource;
- Undertaking ground exploration and drilling to scope out new areas of mineralisation at other regional targets to understand the scale potential of the asset;
- Conducting metallurgical test-work to confirm positive high-recovery high-quality concentrate production; and
- Analysing regional infrastructure options for materials transport.
Dikaki prospect
The campaign will start by targeting the newly defined near-surface, eastern high-grade trend at the Dikaki prospect, which was discovered last year. Two diamond drill rigs are on site and have started with 200 to 400-metre step-out extension drilling.
It’ll be a busy quarter at the prospect, with 20 diamond holes planned over 1,500 metres.
Previous high-grade, shallow intersections at Dikaki include 5 metres at 5.0% zinc + lead from 1.2 metres, 9.5 metres at 4.6% zinc+lead from 8 metres and 7.8 metres at 4.1% zinc+lead from 11.5 metres.
Metallurgical samples from Dikaki have arrived in Perth for flotation and variability testing.
Apollo expects a steady flow of news to come out of the works program, with drilling results and exploration programs expected to confirm the scale and quality potential at Kroussou.
Passive seismic geophysics surveys
The company is preparing for an expansion of its current drilling and exploration activities with a concurrent program of regional passive seismic surveys.
Apollo has conducted passive seismic surveys across the Dikaki and Niamabimbou embayment systems at Kroussou, with a total of 40 lines of passive seismic surveys for approximately 45 line-kilometres already in the can.
Results so far indicate potential for a broad and deep channel system to exist to the east of the currently defined high-grade mineralisation at Dikaki.
These surveys use ambient seismic energy to measure the natural vibrations caused by wind, waves and microtremors.
The resulting information allows geologists to develop a cross-section of the area that depicts the high frequency response of the acoustic impedance between lithological interfaces, providing the data to pinpoint mineralised horizons in the early stages of prospecting.
During the 2022 field season, Apollo will progress passive seismic surveys over the previously untested channel targets with a view to further defining drill-ready targets.