Vancouver, British Columbia, Sept. 19, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apogee Minerals Ltd. (“Apogee” or the “Company”) (TSXV: APMI) is pleased to announce that the Company has completed field programs consisting of geophysical work at its Pine Channel and Shasko Bay Projects, located approximately 40 km west of Stony Rapids, Saskatchewan which is the logistics and business hub for northern Saskatchewan. Pine Channel and Shasko Bay are part of Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (“Eagle Plains”) 100% owned Pine Channel Property, in which Apogee holds the exclusive option to earn an 80% interest.
The northern part of the 8,878 hectare Pine Channel Property hosts numerous gold occurrences ranging from trace quantities to up to 870 g/t Au in grab samples. Shallow historical drilling has intercepted 0.6m of 63.50 g/t Au (Algold Bay, SMDI 1575), 1.75m of 5.27 g/t Au (ELA, SMDI 1574), and 0.5m of 407.96 g/t Au (North Norite Bay, SMDI 2183). The mineralization is interpreted to be closely related to northwest/southeast trending shear zones which are commonly identifiable in high resolution magnetic data.
The recently completed 2024 exploration program included a 267-line kilometre, helicopter-borne, magnetic survey at 75m line spacing over areas of the property without detailed magnetic coverage and geologic mapping in the vicinity of the Algold Bay occurrence. The geophysical contractor was Precision GeoSurveys of Langley, BC. Several structural trends important for Au have been identified, and ten new prospective trends have been located. Additional groundwork is recommended along several of the trends identified from the recently completed surveys at the Project.
Completed Field and Geophysical Work at Shasko Bay:
The Shasko Bay uranium target is located on the south shore of Lake Athabasca. Airborne EM surveys in 2005 and 2007 identified conductive features on the property considered prospective to host unconformity and basement style uranium mineralization. A 2007 drill hole (RL-07-01) intersected anomalous uranium at the unconformity in proximity to a modelled conductive plate, with additional plates untested by drilling. The recently completed exploration program at Shasko Bay included 148-line kilometres of infill, high-resolution, airborne EM and magnetic data. The geophysical contractor was Geotech Ltd. of Aurora, Ontario. In addition, an exploration permit had been received at the project and provides for exploration activities to be conducted up until March 1st, 2026. The recent data from the survey will be used to model conductive structures to aid in future drill hole planning.
Shasko Bay Project Map:
https://www.apogeemineralsltd.com/_resources/news/Shasko-Bay-September-2023.png
Pine Channel Gold Project Summary:
The Pine Channel project lies within the Tantato Domain which is composed of highly deformed gneisses which form the eastern margin of the Archean Rae Craton. Metamorphic rocks which have been subject to varying degrees of strain form the majority of the property area.
The main deposit type that is being explored for at Pine Channel is structurally controlled vein-quartz (lode) gold deposits. Mineral occurrences on the Pine Channel Project contain predominantly gold, with rare base metal occurrences. Within the Pine Channel tenures there are eighteen historical showings reported by the Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index (SMDI).
Highlights from documented historical work and previously reported results include: North Norite Bay historical drill hole of 407.96 g/t Au over 0.5 m (SMDI 2183); ELA drill hole of 39.96 g/t Au over 0.55 m (SMDI 1574); Holes G-1 and G-3 which returned 3.20 g/t Au over 1 m (SMDI 2329); Occurrence No. 6 / Occurrence No. 8 trench samples which returned 90.6 g/t Au over 0.2 m (SMDI 1581); and Cole Lake Ni-Cu trench samples which returned 6.2 g/t Au, 0.01% Ni and 0.06% Cu over 3.0 m (SMDI 1583).
Government mapping in the Pine Channel area dates from 1913, with the first industry work reported in 1950. A total of 51 assessment reports have been filed within the current Pine Channel tenure area. Past operators include Golden Rule Resources Ltd. and Colchis Resources Ltd. who were both active on the project during the 1980’s, the last sustained period of exploration in the area. The most recent work prior to Eagle Plains acquiring the claims in 2018 was in 2013 when the area was flown with an airborne Variable Time Domain Electromagnetic (“VTEM”) survey focused on locating targets for diamond exploration. There has been a total of 6,066 metres of diamond drilling in 115 historic holes completed within the current Pine Channel property claim boundaries with the majority of the holes completed less than 100 metres in length. Although the wide-spaced drilling did intersect significant gold mineralization in places, much of the drilling was completed using thin diameter core which is considered ineffective for assessing the high-grade “nuggety” gold shears and veins found at Pine Channel.
The first recorded systematic exploration work on the Pine Channel property was in 1950 by Goldfields Uranium Mines. The first significant program on the property was in 1980 by Golden Rule Resources who completed 246 line-km of airborne EM (INPUT) and magnetic surveying. Follow-up groundwork located 11 significant occurrences. From 1985-1988 Colchis Resources completed VLF-EM geophysics, biogeochemical surveys, prospecting, soil sampling and trenching followed by shallow diamond drill testing of selected targets.
In 2019-2020, Eagle Plains completed field programs focused on prospecting and mapping in areas of known mineral occurrences. The work confirmed the widespread occurrences of auriferous quartz veins and associated shear systems in the Pine Channel property. Analytical results from the seventy-two rock samples collected in 2020 range from 6 ppb Au to 68,400 ppb Au. Twenty-three of the samples returned greater than 1 g/t Au, and eight returned greater than 10 g/t Au. The most encouraging of the known showings are the ELA Shaft showing (SMDI 1574) and Occurrence No. 6 and No. 8 (SMDI 1581), which both demonstrate anomalous gold geochemical results and potential for extension of known mineralization along strike.
Shasko Bay Project Summary:
The Shasko Bay Project is located along the southeast shore of Lake Athabasca in Northern Saskatchewan, 20 km southeast of Fond-du-Lac, and proximal to the Company’s Pine Channel Project. The claims are accessible by boat, barge, winter road or float equipped aircraft from the village of Stony Rapids, which has all season road access to it. The Project is currently owned 100% by Eagle Plains Resources Ltd., with an underlying 2% NSR in favour of Eagle Royalties Ltd.
The Project was staked by Eagle Plains in early 2023 in recognition of both the gold potential (with basement-hosted auriferous quartz veins and associated shears that strike onto the property from the Pine Channel Project); and for the unconformity uranium potential that is so well known in the district, in close proximity to basal contacts of the Athabasca Formation.
Between the late 1960’s to the early 2000’s the region was explored for uranium and gold by various companies. The Fond Du Lac Uranium deposit is the most significant discovery in the region to date and is located 24 km to the NW-W. Work in the area consisted of seismic reflection studies, multiple types of airborne and ground-based geophysical surveys, geochemical surveys, prospecting, mapping, trenching and four separate drill programs which intersected multi gram-per-tonne gold assays (up to 6.8 g/t Au over 2.1m) from quartz stringers in the Athabasca sediments. The underlying basement metasedimentary rocks, starting at 226m depth, also recorded mineralization in the form of disseminated pyrrhotite, pyrite, chalcopyrite and rare sphalerite, galena and molybdenite. The last drill program intersected anomalous uranium in the Athabasca sandstone (up to 18.4 ppm) concluding with recommendations to drill test several additional targets.
The above results were summarized from SMDI descriptions and assessment reports filed with the Saskatchewan government. Management cautions that historical results were collected and reported by past operators and have not been verified nor confirmed by a Qualified Person, but form a basis for ongoing work in the Pine Channel Project area.
The Option Agreement:
In May 2021, Apogee entered into an option agreement (the “Agreement”) with Eagle Plains. The Agreement, as amended, gives Apogee the exclusive right to earn an 80% interest in the Pine Channel Property. Eagle Royalties Ltd. holds a 2% NSR on the majority of claims comprising the Pine Channel Property, which may be bought down to 1% for $CDN 1,000,000, while an arms-length party holds an underlying 2% royalty (with buy down to 1%) on specific dispositions comprising the Pine Channel property. Royal Uranium Inc. holds a 2% NSR on specific dispositions comprising the Shasko Bay Project, which falls under the Pine Channel option agreement.
Qualified Person:
Charles C. Downie, P.Geo., a “qualified person” for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and a Director of Eagle Plains Resources Ltd., has prepared, reviewed, and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release.
About Apogee Minerals Ltd.:
Apogee Minerals Ltd. is a mineral exploration company. Our goal is to build shareholder value through mineral project acquisitions and advancement, as well as new mineral discoveries.
To find out more about Apogee Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V: APMI) visit the Company’s website:
www.apogeemineralsltd.com
Apogee Minerals Ltd.
“Tim Fernback”
Tim Fernback
Interim CEO and Director
For further information, please contact:
Apogee Minerals Ltd.
Nicholas Coltura, Director
Email: ncoltura@sentinelmarket.com
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Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Such information includes, without limitation, information regarding the structure of the Proposed Transaction, the terms and conditions of the Proposed Transaction, the Consolidation, the Name Change, the terms of the Financing. the composition of the board of directors and officers of the Resulting Issuer upon completion of the Proposed Transaction, the intention of the parties to seek a sponsorship exemption or waiver, the issuance of subsequent news releases, and Alto Verde’s future exploration plans. Although the Company believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.
Forward looking information is typically identified by words such as: “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “estimate”, “postulate” and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to: the Company’s ability to complete the Proposed Transaction; the expected timing and terms of the Proposed Transaction and the Financing; the state of the financial markets for the Company’s securities; the state of the natural resources sector in the event the Proposed Transaction is completed; recent market volatility and potentially negative capital raising conditions resulting from the continued COVID-19 pandemic and risks relating to the extent and duration of such pandemic and its impact on global markets; the Company’s ability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies; and other risks and factors that the Company is unaware of at this time.
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