The latest assay results from Apollo Minerals Ltd (ASX:AON, OTC:APOMF) at the A1 Prospect within the Salanie Gold Project in Gabon have confirmed shallow high-grade gold.
The company described the results as “exceptional” in an area that has seen no exploration or modern drilling in 70 years, providing significant untapped potential to further develop.
Drilling intersected shallow, high-grade gold at the A1 Prospect, returning 11.7 metres at 4.3 g/t gold from 9.6 metres, including 5.8 metres at 8.2 g/t from 15.5 metres in drill hole SLDD004.
Drill section displaying SLDD004 at A1 Prospect.
The gold mineralisation was hosted in fresh rock within a 12-metre zone of quartz veining and shearing starting from 9.6 metres, with visible gold noted locally from 19 metres to 19.4 metres.
“The results of hole SLDD004, the first drilling at Salanie in 70 years, are very encouraging as they demonstrate shallow high-grade gold mineralisation to the north of outcropping, mineralisation in trenching and confirm the presence of a mineralised system at the A1 Prospect that is open along strike and dip,” Apollo Minerals managing director Neil Inwood said.
“These results highlight the potential of A1 and the Salanie Gold Project as a whole, as an emerging high-grade gold discovery.”
Vein styles hosting identified visible gold in SLDD004.
The results align with and extend trends observed in trench SATR001, which returned 10.3 metres at 3.4 g/t gold and 1.4 metres at 15.7 g/t. It also highlights the potential for a broader mineralised area with anomalous gold up to 0.4 g/t gold from surface to start of mineralisation at 9.6 metres.
The A1 mineralised trend is open along strike and dip, forming a priority target for the 2025 drilling program, while assays from the remaining diamond hole at A1 are pending.
A1 Prospect – drill hole locations.
Drilling continues
Apollo has engaged highly regarded drilling operator Capital Drilling to undertake drilling at Salanie, with planning now underway to commence early in the new year.
“With Capital Drilling onboard for 2025; we look forward to a highly productive start to the year as we test four key target prospects as well as our developing greenfield targets,” Inwood said.
The drilling campaign will focus on untested targets at four key prospects — A1, A2, A3 and P6 — in addition to extensions to the current A1 mineralisation.
The prospectivity of the P6 Prospect system was demonstrated with Photon (WA:PENP) Assay gold results from SLDD002, which showed gold anomalism along trend of historical underground workings (5.3 metres at 0.3 g/t gold).
Recent surface trench mapping identified an interpreted shear system at the A1 prospect with insitu mineralisation of 10.3 metres at 3.4 g/t in trenching as well as a separate interval of 1.4 metres at 15.7 g/t gold. Surface soil samples 80 metres uphill of the trenching have also shown results of up to 429 g/t gold.
At the P6 Prospect, selected samples from drill hole SLDD002 were reanalysed, with prospectivity demonstrated via Photon Assay gold results displaying anomalous gold mineralisation of 5.3 metres at 0.3 g/t gold from 61.2 metres.
This indicates that the Salanie system is subject to nuggety gold. Accordingly, future assaying will continue to incorporate the Photon Assay method.
Salanie soil sampling results and gold occurrences.