Apex Minerals Ltd (ASX: AXM)

Apex Minerals (ASX:AXM) is pleased to announce that it set to start mining at the historically-rich Golden Age orebody at Wiluna after receiving more high-grade drilling results which have continued to demonstrate extensions to the mineralisation.

The latest results from the drilling program include:

·         7.15m at 16.3g/t (estimated 1.3m true width)

·         6.2m at 56.3g/t (estimated 1.1m true width)

The gold-bearing reef at Golden Age has now been intersected in all 16 holes drilled so far, confirming the continuation up-dip of a high-grade shoot within the mineralised reef previously mined (see figures 1 and 2).

This zone currently measures 80m long by 40m high with an average true width of between 1.2m and 1.5m.

Apex Managing Director Mark Ashley said work on accessing the ore at Golden Age had started, with first ore expected in April. At the same time, drilling would continue to outline the extent of the mineralisation.

“The drilling program at Golden Age is still in its relative infancy and we have a significant way to go before we know the full magnitude of what may exist there,” Mr Ashley said.

“But the results so far are very promising and warrant immediate development.”

Although the deposit is currently relatively small, it is expected to generate significant margins as a result of it being high grade, free milling (non-refractory) and close to existing underground infrastructure (approx 50m of capital development off the Bulletin decline is required to access the ore body).

The Wiluna processing facility has recently been reconfigured to enable the processing of refractory (i.e. the traditional Wiluna underground deposits requiring BIOX) and non-refractory ores separately. This was completed to enable the assessment of treating the mostly non- refractory heap leach material at Wiluna.

The Golden Age deposit has previously produced from underground 547,000 tonnes of ore at a head grade of over 9gpt for 160,000 ounces of gold contained with 150,000 ounces of gold recovered for a 95% recovery. Mining ceased in about 2005.

TABLE 1 Golden Age - Phase 1 drill results

KEY: DW = Downhole width (metres), TW = estimated true width (metres), AP = Assays Pending

True widths are estimate based of average dip and dip direction of the reef in this area -40dip to 185azi

No top cut applied

#Previously announced

Note. All previously quoted intersections have a revised estimate for True width based on better geometric control of the overall dip and dip direction of the reef as a result of the increased drill density. All intersections are now quoted from hanging wall to footwall of the quartz reef inclusive of any barren zones.

As a result of the success of this Phase 1 drill campaign, exploration has been extended to further assess the reef system to the east, up-dip and down-dip with the objective of scoping out the extent and continuity of the known mineralization and to add to the mineral resource at Golden Age.

Wiluna Update

Apex would also like to provide an update on development elsewhere at the mine, particularly regarding the status of its two newest mining areas, Burgundy and East Lode North

The improved underground development rates seen in the last quarter have continued and enabled the developed stocks inventory to increase by approximately 35% as shown in the table below:

Stoping is continuing on two levels in Calais (650 and 575) and on one level at Henry V North (712).

East Lode North

Progress has been made in the East Lode North (“ELN”), the third independent mining area at Wiluna, with underground development completed, providing access to the deposit. Most of the first level of ore development has been completed, which has identified several pods of ore not previously included in the reserves. ELN is scheduled to begin stoping in April.

Burgundy

The Burgundy deposit represents the fourth independent mining area at Wiluna. Activities to date have focused on providing access to the deposit. This was achieved in January. Development on ore has commenced on one level (650), with a second level (625) due to be intersected prior to the end of the quarter. As a result of geotechnical advice, mining at Burgundy will be a bottom-up approach, which has required an increase in the initial capital development compared with the original plan. However, stoping is scheduled to commence during the June quarter as previously indicated.  Recent grade control drilling has established the existence of a previously unidentified high-grade zone (see figures 3 and 4) with significant results including:

·         4.3 metres @ 32.5g/t in hole AWD0390

·         4.1 metres @ 15.8g/t in hole AWD0391

·         5.9 metres @ 11.3g/t in hole AWD0347

·         4.9 metres @ 9.2g/t in hole AWD0389

All widths are estimated true widths. See Appendix 1 for further drilling info.

“Our objective is to have a highly diversified mining centre at Wiluna which will underpin reliable, consistent and flexible production with healthy margins and respectable mine life,” Mr Ashley said.

“The Golden Age drilling intersections are the result of the first exploration program since 2008 and highlight the enormous potential of the area.

“We are pushing ahead with exploration at Golden Age from underground headings to establish whether this could form the basis of a new long term ore source for the Wiluna operations.” Mr Ashley said.

Mark Ashley

Managing Director

Contact: Office  +61 (0)8 6311 5555           Mobile  +61 (0)411470104

Important Notice

This press release is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States. No security of Apex has been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”), and no such security may be offered or sold in the United States absent registration under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act and such laws.

Competent Person’s statement

The information in this report that relates to Exploration Results and Mineral Resources is based on information compiled by Mr. Andrew Thompson who is an  employee of the company, Mr. Thompson is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and has sufficient experience of relevance to the styles of mineralisation and the types of deposits under consideration, and to the activities undertaken, to qualify as Competent Persons as defined in the 2004 Edition of the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. Mr. Thompson consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on information in the form and context in which it appears.

Assay results are obtained from Intertek (formerly known as Genalysis) in Perth. Samples are prepared using single stage pulverization of the entire sample. Gold assays are obtained using either a 30g or 50g lead collection fire assay digest and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) analysis techniques or, in the case of reef quartz such as the core of the Golden Age Reef, large volume leachWELL digest and atomic absorbtion spectrometery (AAS). The LeachWELL technique is a strong accelerated cyanide leach of a 1Kg sample, designed to minimize the analytical variability in samples containing coarse nuggety gold.

Full analytical quality assurance - quality control (QAQC) is achieved using a suite of certified standards, laboratory standards, field duplicates, laboratory duplicates, repeats, blanks and grind size analysis. Assays quoted in announcements may be of a preliminary nature. Assays used in resource estimates have undergone full QAQC.

The spatial location of samples from underground holes is derived using surveyed rig setups and Reflex multi-shot downhole surveys. True widths are calculated using the mean dip and strike of the mineralization from 3D wireframe models and downhole surveys.

Quoted drill intersections are based on situation specific criteria, which include using a lower cutoff of 1g/t or 2g/t gold and acceptable levels of internal dilution.

Mineral Resources have been estimated using standard accepted industry practices. All Resources have been estimated via Block Ordinary Kriging using 2m composite samples.  Top cuts have been applied to the composites and are considered appropriate for the nature and style of mineralization in all cases.  Directional grade variography was modeled for all zones based on 2m composites. Geological and mineralization modeling has been achieved by 3D modeling of footwall and hangingwall.  Grade interpolation (via Block Ordinary Kriging) was then undertaken using a multiple estimation pass strategy.

Mineral Resources are quoted on the basis of a 4.5g/t Au lower cutoff (LCOG) for underground resources. Where quoted, Mineral Resource tonnes and ounces are rounded to appropriate levels of precision, causing minor computational errors.

Mineral Resources are classified on the basis of drillhole spacing, geological continuity and predictability, geostatistical analysis of grade variability, sampling, analytical, spatial and density QAQC criteria and demonstrated amenability of mineralization style to proposed processing methods.

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