Apella Resources says Lac Dore exploration work on schedule

Apella Resources (CVE:APA) saw its shares rise almost 12 percent Wednesday afternoon, as it announced that exploration work at its Lac Dore iron-titanium and vanadium property is progressing right on schedule.
The Lac Dore project consists of 42 contiguous mineral claims covering an area of 1.6 million acres located in the Rinfret and Lemoine townships, 70 kilometres south-east of the town of Chibougamau, Quebec.
Apella and its subsidiary, Prestige Mining Corp, said that exploration work at the property includes the delineation of old stripping and the establishment of three permanent benchmarks – all proceeding on plan.
In early March, Apella began the first phase of exploration work on Lac Dore to re-establish and extend the previous grid, establish a minimum of three permanent benchmarks that will be used for future infrastructure and mine construction, and survey the previous historic drill holes, trenches and stripping utilized in the earlier, pre-NI 43-101, feasibility study.
The Apella geological and prospecting team assisted the surveyor in the field and searched for the historic diamond drill hole locations, which it hopes to twin in efforts to qualify the previous non-compliant NI 43-101 resources.
The company noted that each historic drill-hole identified has now been accurately recorded with a GPS and the coordinates will be used to update its Lac Dore database.
Several of the historic drill-hole casings have been found in place, though Apella said that some of them were partially destroyed during a 1989 timber cutting operation.
The company reported that two casings left by SNC Lavalin during the course of its feasibility study for McKenzie Bay Resources have been located intact.
The casings correspond to holes 2001-05 and 06, which Apella said were drilled along the northeast extension of the main deposit.
The company said it has been reported that historic drill-hole 2001-05 returned two mineralized intersections of 1.13 percent vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), 9.54 percent titanium dioxide (TiO2) and 25.11 percent oxides over 6.70 metres as well as 1.21 percent V2O5, 9.81 percent TiO2 and 35.93 percent oxides over 29.35 metres.
The company reported that historic drill-hole 2001-06 returned several mineralized zones that have been grouped in a composite intersection. Results showed 1.26 percent V2O5, 7.52 percent TiO2 and 24.34 percent oxides over 148 metres.
Apella said that V2O5 and TiO2, at the time of the drilling, were assessed on a concentrate obtained from a Davis Tube concentrator and that the historic results do not conform to the requirements of NI 43-101.
The company said that to date, drill sites of historic drill-holes S-21, S-22, S-23, S-24, S-31 and S-33 have been found and precisely located.
Casings of holes S-25 and S-32 bored in 1979 have been found and rehabilitated. Apella said the 1979 diamond drill records do not mention if the casings were left or removed, and snow in the field masked the location of the historic drill-hole collars.
Last month, the company said it is looking 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.
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.
The Lac Dore Vanadium-Iron-Titanium deposit was a crown asset of the Province of Quebec for more than 40 years.
Apella’s shares were trading at $0.095 on Wednesday afternoon.