Apollo Silver - Technical Analysis

Apollo Silver Corp. is a silver exploration and development company focused on its assets in the United States. The Calico Silver Project of the company is located in the southern region of the Calico Mountains of the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California. The project comprises the adjacent Waterloo and Langtry properties, with a total size of approximately 2,950 acres. The project is near the city of Barstow and within 5 km of commercial electricity.

Interview with Tom Peregoodoff, President & CEO, and Cathy Fitzgerald, VP Exploration & Resource Development of Apollo Silver.

Company Overview

Apollo Silver Corp. recently filed a NI 43-101 compliant report for the Calico Silver Project, which is based on the operations' maiden resource estimate (MRE). The MRE of the project was announced on the 9thof February 2022 and shows an inferred estimate of 166 million ounces of silver which comprises 58.1 million tons of ore with an average grade of 89 g/t silver with a cut-off grade of 50 g/t. The mineral resource includes a high-grade subset of mineralisation encompassing 71 million ounces of silver. The high-grade mineralisation of the mineral resource estimate consists of 15.9 million tons of ore at an average grade of 129 g/t silver. The Mineral resource is an optimised pit-constrained estimate which has been created through the analysis of 42,091 m of historical drilling data, which was conducted by previous operators of the project, and comprises 438 drill holes.

Apollo Silver Corp. plans on conducting 15,000 m of exploration drilling in the coming year which will form part of its multi-component technical program at the Calico Silver project. The exploration drilling program will consist of approximately 10,000 m of reverse circulation (RC) drilling and 5,000 m of diamond drilling. The planned exploration program is aimed at upgrading the confidence level of the project’s mineral resource estimate as well as expanding and quantifying high-grade areas in the mineralisation. The company plans on upgrading the confidence level of the mineral resource estimate through the attainment of geotechnical, geochemical and lithological information as well as expanding the metal inventory through the exploration of various targets including high-grade bonanza mineralisation deposits. The Technical Program is envisioned to also include metallurgical and historic sample testing.

Apollo Silver Corp. also plans on identifying targets at its Arizona Silver District Project in the coming year, with it aiming to commence drilling at the project in Q1 2023.

Management

The company is led by Tom Peregoodoff, the president, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and director of Apollo Silver Corp. Peregoodoff has over 30 years of experience encapsulating all stages of mineral exploration. He previously served as Vice President of early-stage exploration at BHP and was also the CEO of Peregrine Diamonds. Peregoodoff is currently a board member and independent director at American West Metals Limited as well.

Chris Cairns is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Apollo Silver Corp. Cairns is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) as well as a Chartered Accountant (CA) with more than 10 years of experience in the financial operation of companies within the mining sector. Cairns obtained his CPA and CA designations whilst working for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he was primarily involved with Canadian and US-listed mining and exploration companies operating in North America, South America and Mongolia. Cairns has previously held the positions of Controller and CFO of two publicly listed mining companies.

Cathy Fitzgerald is the Vice President of Exploration and Resource Development for the company. Fitzgerald is a professionally registered geologist with more than 20 years of experience in technical leadership roles. She has vast amounts of experience in the exploration and development of early-stage projects to the feasibility stage for various commodities.  Fitzgerald previously served as the director of resource evaluation for Ivanhoe Electric.

Rona Sellers is the Vice President of Commercial and Compliance and also serves as the company’s corporate secretary. Sellers has more than 10 years of experience in corporate and securities law. She previously served as the Vice President of Compliance as well as the Corporate Secretary for Maple Gold Mines Ltd.

Alan O’Connor is the General Manager for the Calico Silver project. O’Connor is a professionally registered geologist with more than 25 years of experience in the technical and operations aspects of mineral operations throughout the world. O’Connor previously held the position of operations superintendent for De Beers Canada, as well as various senior project management positions at Peregrine Diamonds and Stornoway Diamonds.

Isabelle Lépine and Ignacio Rosado serve as the director of mineral resources and strategic advisor respectively. Lépine has more than 20 years of experience in the leading of resource focused technical programs and teams. She has extensive knowledge in mineral resource management throughout the various lifecycle stages of a project. Rosado has vast amounts of technical, operational and financial experience in the mineral sector. He has served on the board of several TSX-listed companies and most recently was the CEO of Volcan Compania Minera S.A.A.

The management team is tasked with advancing the company’s US-based projects.

Calico silver project

The Calico Silver project of Apollo Silver Corp. is a district-scale mineral system, with a land package of approximately 2,950 acres. The project consists of the Waterloo and Langtry properties which are adjacent to one another and are located in the historic Calico Silver Mining District in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California. The project has a mineralized strike length of approximately 6,000 m.

The mineralisation of the project consists of a low-sulfidation epithermal-vein type and disseminated-style silver-barite mineralization. The mineralisation of the project is open to depth and as well as open along strike. The previous operators of the project, which include Pan American Minerals Inc. completed more than 42,000 m of exploration drilling in the past, which consisted of 438 drill holes.

The mineral resource estimate (MRE) of the project is based on the previously conducted exploration drilling and boasts 166 million ounces of silver in the inferred category. The MRE comprises both the Waterloo and Langtry MREs, which each contribute 116 million ounces of silver and 50 million ounces of silver respectively. The MRE was calculated using a silver cut-off grade of 50 g/t silver.

The Waterloo property of the project is comprised of near-surface mineralisation over a 1.8 km strike distance. The deposit has a uniform high-grade mineralisation system across its entirety with the opportunity for bulk mining operations existing. The property’s 116 million ounce mineral resource estimate was created using historic drilling data from 255 drill holes, which amount to a total of 18,626 m of drilling.

The Langtry property of the project shows good mineralisation continuity in bedding controlled horizons over a strike length of 1.25 km. The property’s MRE was created using historic drilling data from 183 drill holes which amount to a total of 23,465 m of historic drilling.

Possible Gold and Barite Mineralisation at the Calico silver project

The Calico Silver project also hosts gold and Barite mineralisation, which is yet to be properly defined. Apollo Silver Corp. recently discovered the indication of a gold mineralized horizon of 25 m with a grade of 0.59 g/t gold. The horizon starts at a depth of 132.60 m below the surface. The intercept also includes 1.52 m at a grade of 5.52 g/t gold. The horizon is 60 m wide and has a length of 110 m, with its mineralisation being open in all directions. The company believes that the project has the potential to host replacement-style and vein hosted gold mineralization systems along the strike length. The project's mineralisation system also shows the presence of barite in high concentrations. Barite is a barium sulphate mineral, which is on the critical minerals list of the USA.

Apollo Silver Corp. has indicated that the barium content of the mineralisation systems may be as high as 30%. The company plans on better classifying the barium content of the mineralisation system through XRF analysis, which is aimed to indicate the possible economic advantages the element holds for the project.

Arizona silver district project

The Arizona silver district project of the company comprises a land package of more than 2,000 acres and contains three major epithermal vein structures. The project is located 48 km north of the city of Yuma in La Paz County Arizona and holds 3 patented claims, 85 unpatented lode mining claims and 23 unpatented mill sites.

Apollo Silver Corp. believes that the project has district-scale potential, with it being under-explored even though it has seen 19,162 m of historic drilling.

The project also hosts the past-producing Red Cloud mine, which produced high-grade silver ore at a grade of 600 g/t silver. The mine also has workings down to approximately 45 m below the surface.

Current drill program

Apollo Silver Corp. is currently underway with an infill drilling program at its Calico Silver project. The drilling program is planned to consist of 15,000 m of drilling in total, which will be comprised of approximately 10,000 m of reverse circulation (RC) drilling and 5,000 m of diamond drilling.  

The drilling program is firstly aimed at expanding and upgrading the project’s mineral resource estimate (MRE) and providing confidence regarding its validity.  The drilling program will then further aim to consolidate the mineralisation between the southeast side of the Waterloo property and the project’s main mineralisation system used in the mineral resource estimate. The southeast of the property was not included previously in the company’s MRE calculations due to the distance between the southeast area and the mineral system boundary defined by the company. The final aim of the drilling program is to expand the project’s high-grade deposits.

The drilling program was initiated at the project on the 5^th of April 2022 and has been able to complete 9 reverse circulation (RC) drill holes in its first three weeks. Apollo Silver Corp. has also dispatched 92 samples for assay analysis and is underway with the sourcing of a second drill rig to add to the drilling program.   

Future possibilities and milestones

Apollo Silver Corp. will investigate the possibility of supplying barium sulphate to the US oil sector in the future. Barium sulphate is primarily used in the creation of high-density drilling fluids, which are implemented for flotation purposes to keep drill holes free of any debris such as rock. The company believes that the oil industry, which prefers to source barite as close to its operations as possible, holds great potential.

The company notes that the Eagle Ford Shale operations in Texas, which import barite by cargo ship may be a potential offtake partner. The company also notes that the Calico Silver project is located 9 miles from the city of Barstow, which serves as an intersection for various transnational railways. The transnational railway may serve as an ideal transportation option for the possibly produced barium sulphate in the future.

The company further plans to complete phase one metallurgical testing at the Calico Silver project as well as to update the project’s mineral resource estimate. The metallurgical test work and MRE will enable the company to publish a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the project by Q4 2022.

Apollo Silver Corp. will also continue to focus on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects of the Calico Silver project. The company plans to implement an ESG reporting system as well as publish a maiden ESG report by December 2022, whilst continuing with its proactive stakeholder engagement and community investment.

The company will also continue to advance the Arizona Silver District project in parallel with its endeavours at the Calico Silver project. Apollo Silver Corp. aims to initiate a drilling program at the Arizona Silver District project by Q1 2023.

To find out more, go to the Apollo Silver website