VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 04/05/11 -- Apella Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: APA)(OTCQX: APAFF)(FRANKFURT: NWN) is pleased to announce that it has now commenced Phase 4 of diamond drilling on the Iron-T Vanadium-Iron-Titanium Project in Quebec, Canada. The program is a 2,300 metre (7,545 feet), 23-hole initial portion of Apella's planned overall 20,000 metre (65.616 feet) Phase 4 program, the balance of which will follow after review of the current results. This program follows the 39 holes of highly successful drilling previously carried out by Apella on the Genesis Zone on the Iron-T Project. The Phase 4 program will involve a series of in-fill drilling as well as a number of holes to test the 22.5 km strike of the Iron-T anomaly to the western-most boundary. Phase 4 will build on the very positive findings and drill results received during the Phase 1, 2 and 3 drill programs. Apella released its very positive results from Phase 1, 2 and 3 drill campaigns on the Genesis Zone in a series of news releases disseminated between December 15th, 2009 and August 2010.
Phase 4 drilling will include; 1) a number of in-fill drill holes on the Genesis Zone for the purpose of increasing the potential tonnage calculations and upgrade of the present inferred mineralization, 2) step-out drill holes to increase Apella's knowledge of some of the isolated mag anomalies, 3) step-out drilling along the entire strike of the project to the western-most boundary to identify the economic extensions of the identified, significantly mineralized body. For the majority of the planned Phase 4 drill-holes the azimuth will be 320 and at -50 degrees. The current portion of Phase 4 will bring the total number of holes drilled by Apella on the Iron-T to approximately 52 holes. Once Apella completes all of the holes it plans for the entire Phase 4 campaign the total number of holes drilled on the Iron-T by Apella should be in the range of 148.
Apella notes that unanticipated such a monopolistic or oligopolistic pricing (e.g. export quotas such as with China), geopolitics such as with South Africa and Russia, and natural disasters such as recent devastating earthquakes in Japan and China - all play a role in affecting physical and financial parameters for Vanadium in the marketplace. Apella anticipates that these issues are going to have a bullish affect on the demand-side economics for Vanadium supplies located elsewhere, like Quebec, in the near and mid-term.
Vanadium: is a strategic metal and is used in the production of high-quality metal alloys, like strengthened steel, because of its property as an active grain refiner and as a strong deoxidant and can impart strength, hardness and wear resistance to steels. The vanadium industry is relatively new and new uses are continually being discovered for the metal. Following are the a number of the main uses of vanadium by various industries: iron and steel, high-strength steels, full alloy steels, tool steels, carbon steels, stainless and heat resistant steels, cast irons, titanium alloys, superalloys and hard-facing alloys, aerospace engines and airframe materials. The above are addition to the new and potential applications for the Renewable and Clean Energy sectors, battery sectors, and the electric vehicle sectors.
Iron-T Project - Bell River Complex:
The Bell River Complex which hosts the Iron-t may be compared to the Lac Dore layered igneous complex (in part owned by Apella) in the Chibougamau district of Quebec, some 250 kms east, and to the Bushveld layered complex of South Africa, the world's most significant source of Vanadium at present. At the Iron-T the Vanadium rich horizons are well defined on the ground and in aeromagnetic surveys by their highly magnetic susceptibilities. Apella anticipates that at the Iron-T near Matagami the potential is excellent to substantially exceed the known mineralization of its Lac Dore deposit at Chibougamau.
Lac Dore Project - Lac Dore Complex:
'The Lake Dore Complex is a Bushveld-type Archean layered mafic intrusion (Allard, 1976) located some 250 km due east of Matagami in the Chibougamau mining camp. The Lake Dore Complex is the most advanced project and the largest vanadium deposit in North America. It shows a geological setting and vanadiferous mineralization similar to the Bell River Complex. The Lake Dore Complex is 5 to 7 km in thickness and has been subdivided into three main units from base to top: The Lower Serie including the Anorthosite Zone; the Layered Serie; and the Upper Serie which includes the Granophyre and the Border Zone (Daigneault and Allard, 1990). The mineralized zones form a 50 to 200 m thick sequence within the Layered Serie. The sequence comprises ferrogabbro, ferropyroxenite and magnetite and hosts the highest grades of vanadium mineralization. Mineralized oxide horizons are also characterized by heterogeneous and rhythmic distribution within the Layered Serie (Taner, Ercit and Gault, 1998) and a gradual upward decrease of vanadium content and gradual upward increase of ilmenite (Daigneault and Allard, 1990). The magnetite horizons vary from 50 to 200 m in thickness and extend for 16 km along strike as inferred from airborne magnetic data. The Lake Dore Vanadium deposit is estimated to 100.0 Mt grading 0.49% V2O5 including 32.2 Mt of measured resources at 0.65% V2O5 (Girard and Allard, 1998).'
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF APELLA RESOURCES INC.
Patrick D. O'Brien, ICD.D - Chairman
S.E.C. Exemption 12(g) 3-2(b) File No. 82-3822, Standard & Poors Listed, Dun & Bradstreet Listed.
Apella invites the public to visit its website at http://www.Apellaresources.com or e-mail us at apella@apellaresources.com to be added to the Company's e-mail list for press releases and updates.
'Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.'
Contacts:
Apella Resources Inc.
W. Adrian Bakker
Vice President of Corporate Communications
604-683-8990 or Toll Free: 1-800-663-8990
604-683-8903 (FAX)
apella@apellaresources.com
www.apellaresources.com
