Apollo’s Salanie gold project in Gabon is WhyAfrica’s Pick Of The Week

Apollo’s Salanie gold project in Gabon is WhyAfrica’s Pick Of The Week

By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica & editor of the WhyAfrica magazine

With geopolitical tensions, market volatility and surging gold prices expected to be with us for the next few years at least, more and more gold projects are starting to look attractive.

With gold prices surging this morning (surpassing USD3,100 per ounce) mostly due to concerns over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the economic repercussions of a trade war, it will be worth your time to have a look at some interesting gold exploration projects in Africa.

I paged through my notes of historic projects in Africa that might be worth having another look at and came across the Salanie project in Gabon where ASX listed Apollo Minerals is currently doing exploration work.

Readers interested in the history of gold projects in Africa will know that Salanie was a significant gold producer in the mid-1950s, producing more than 20,000 ounces of gold at 12g/t of Au from quartz veins and alluvial workings.

Reports indicate that 10g/t Au was sent to tailings during this period. The area has been untested by modern exploration for over 70 years.

Salanie: an exciting prospect

With highly regarded drilling operator Capital Drilling on site, I look forward to more news and updated drilling results at Salanie this year.

Salanie is located 16km from the major town of Lambarene, and less than 2km from the sealed N1 highway. It lies within Apollo’s 100% owned Keri Permit.

Drilling at Apollo’s A1 Prospect at Salanie has already returned good results, proving significant potential for the company to further develop in 2025.

According to Apollo’s website, A1 is a key defined prospect which forms part of the 1.5km long ‘Salanie Fault’ vein system identified in historical mapping from mid-1950’s with numerous gold occurrences noted along the trend.

Updated assay results

Apollo recently provided additional assay results from its latest exploration activities at Salanie and highlights include:

• Shallow, high grade gold interval of 5.8m @8.2g/t Au from 15.5m downholewithin a broader zone of 7m @ 4.3g/t Au from 9.6m downhole, intersected in hole SLDD004.
• Gold mineralisation in fresh rock within a 12m zone of quartz veining and shearing from 9.6m with visible gold noted locally from 19.0m to 19.4m :

• • Interpreted as extension to zone of mineralisation observed in trench SATR001 (10.3m @ 3.4g/t Au and separately 1.4m @ 15.7 g/t Au) (Figure 5); and
  • Anomalous gold up to 0.4g/t Au from surface to start of mineralisation at 9.6m.

• Mineralisation is open along strike and dip and will form a priority target in 2025. Assays from the remaining diamond hole at A1 are pending.

Apollo’s Salanie gold project in Gabon is WhyAfrica’s Pick Of The Week