Apella's Prestige Mining unit starts work at Lac Dore Deposit

Apella Resources (CVE:APA)(OTCQX:APAFF) said Tuesday that its subsidiary Prestige Mining has approved the commencement of a pre-drill field program on the 100% owned Lac Dore Vanadium-Iron-Titanium Project.

The program will entail the opening of winter roads to and on the site, establishment of the historic McKenzie Bay grid, and the surveying of historic and newly planned diamond drill locations.

This first phase of exploration work on Lac Dore will re-establish and extend the previous grid, establish a minimum of three permanent bench marks which will be used for future infrastructure and mine construction; and survey the previous drill holes, trenches and stripping utilized in the earlier, pre-NI 43-101, feasibility study in 2002-03.

Following this program, the company is planning to carry out a magnetometer survey, a stripping program and a diamond drilling campaign aimed at twinning a number of the historic holes.

Apella's planned follow-up 2012 diamond drilling programs will be designed to address a number of desirable outcomes.

The company wants to confirm the geological and mineralogical context as well as the thickness and grade of the mineralization intersected historically within the known deposit by twinning a number of the historic drill holes.

This twinning would permit Prestige/Apella to qualify the previous non-compliant NI 43-101 resources calculated by Allard and Girard (in 1998) and SNC-Lavalin (in 2003) to Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources.

It also wants to confirm the extension at depth of the known mineralized zones and to fill some gaps in the historic drilling patterns.

Apella also said that a number of drill holes are planned for sections of the known horizon which have yet to have been drilled historically. The holes will test the extension at depth of the apparent mineralized layers.

In addition, the company may drill a number of additional drill holes which would be targeted at a significant geophysical target identified on the horizon that does appear to have drill tested in the historic campaigns.

This would verify the NE extension of the deposit, between the main previously drilled areas and the eastern boundary of the   property. These holes could add substantial NI 43-101 compliant resources to the Lac Dore Project.

It is anticipated that the first phase or two of diamond drilling, upon completion, would bring the Lac Dore Project to pre-feasibility study level. Additional drilling will be necessary to bring to project to the feasibility study level, calculate and establish the Probable and Proven Mineral Reserves and commence mine planning where feasible.

The Lac Dore Project is comprised of 42 mineral claims, including the 18 key claims previously owned by the Province of Quebec, encompasses 672 hectares. It is situated approximately 40 km south-east of the mining centre of Chibougamau, Quebec.

It covers most of the well-known historic Lac Dore Vanadium-Iron-Titanium deposit, which for more than 40 years was a crown asset of the Province of Quebec. The Lac Dore deposit, in 2002-03, was the subject of a positive non-compliant NI 43-101 Feasibility Study by SNC-Lavalin, with regard to the production of vanadium.