Apella Defeats SOQUEM Inc.'s Declaration of Intervention re Lac Dore Claims
Sep. 23, 2010 (Marketwire) --
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 09/23/10 -- Apella Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: APA)(OTCQX: APAFF)(FRANKFURT: NWN) is very pleased to announce that the Company has defeated staker Rejean Picard and SOQUEM Inc. ("SOQUEM"), a wholly owned subsidiary of la Societe generale de financement du Quebec, a Crown Corporation of the Province of Quebec, on a Declaration of Intervention filed in the Quebec Court. The case was heard on August 23rd, 2010 and the decision now rendered.
Patrick D O'Brien, ICD.D, Apella's Chief Executive Officer commented, "This is precisely the outcome we anticipated. Judge Francois Godbout, J.c.Q. made a fair and appropriate decision which now allows for Apella to focus on "its appeal" regarding entitlement to some of the Lac Dore claims not already awarded Apella to date. Apella looks forward to presenting its compelling arguments in the upcoming final step, November 29th, 30th, and December 1st, 2nd, and 3rd; which should conclude this lengthy multi-year process where upon Apella wishes to rightfully gain the ownership to the near entirety of the Lac Dore, the world's second largest vanadium deposit."
As outlined in Apella's news release of April 29th, 2010, these parties which filed the Declaration of Intervention asked that they be joined as a party in the Apella's appeal of the decision of the Ministere des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune du Quebec (herein referred to as the "Quebec Ministry") regarding certain Lac Dore claims. Unlike Apella which filed its own appeal to the Ministry's earlier claim award, these parties did not appeal the decision of the Quebec Ministry and attempted to utilize this intervention procedure to become parties to Apella's appeal.
The 9 claims that Apella is slated to receive under the Quebec Ministry's earlier decision provide Apella with a majority interest in the key mineralization making up the original Lac Dore Deposit. Apella's management is well aware that the asset at stake in this matter is the world's second largest Vanadium deposit and feels that the reasons set forth in the Quebec Ministry's earlier decision denying 9 of the other claims Apella staked are not justified. Apella is confident in its position and with the full 18 claims Apella's interest is expected to cover approximately 95-97% of the original Lac Dore Vanadium Deposit.
Apella will now be able to attend to its upcoming appeal when its arguments will be heard November 29th and 30th and December 1st, 2nd, and 3rd without the unwarranted interference of non-entitled third parties. Apella, the Attorney General for the Province of Quebec and the Courts of Quebec have agreed upon these specific court dates to be set aside to hear Apella's Appeal of the Lac Dore decision handed down by the Quebec Ministry wherein Apella was awarded 9 of the 21 Lac Dore claims staked by it, but refused on 9 others. Apella is of the opinion that not only did it stake the 9 claims it has been awarded in the Quebec Ministry's decision appropriately, but it also staked the additional 9 claims it wants awarded to it in accordance with the long established spirit as set out under section 17 of the Quebec Mining Act. Apella commented on the filing of its appeal in its April 8th, 2010 Corporate Update news release.
"The Lac Dore claims in this matter form a very important and integral part of the well known Lac Dore Vanadium Deposit in Chibougamau, Quebec. The geological setting and mineralization encountered in the Lac Dore Deposit has many similarities to that of Apella's 100% owned Iron-T Vanadium-Titanium-Iron project located in the Bell River Complex to the west, and with typical world-class magmatic Fe-Ti-V oxide deposits associated with a layered intrusive complex. Most of these deposits world-wide are associated with mafic-ultramafic layered complexes such as the Lake Dore Complex; the Windimurra Complex in Australia; the Panzhihua layered intrusion in China and the Bushveld Complex in South Africa. About 39.5% of total world vanadium production (55 700 t in 2006 (USGS, 2006)) is said to come from the Bushveld Complex, in particular the Rhovan Mine. The V-Fe-Ti oxide ores at Bushveld form concordant layers varying from 0.1 to only 10 m in thickness within the Upper Zone but most of these layers are relatively thin and less than 30 cm in thickness.
"The economically important Main Magnetite Layer varies from 1.0 to 2.5 m in thickness and covers a strike length of 200 km in the western Bushveld Complex and 120 km in the Eastern Bushveld Complex (Reynolds, 1985)." The Rhovan mine is the primary vanadium producer situated within the Western Lobe of the Bushveld Complex. The mine is located some 35 km ENE of Rustenburg, South Africa. The vanadium mineral resource and ore reserve of Rhovan mine reported by Xstrata Alloys as of September 2007 (Xstrata Alloys, 2008) are:
Proved Ore Reserves - 39.2 Mt @ 0.51% V2O5
Probable Ore Reserves - 10.5 Mt @ 0.53% V2O5
Measured Mineral Resources - 64.4 Mt @ 0.51% V2O5
Indicated Mineral Resources - 13.7 Mt @ 0.53% V2O5
Inferred Mineral Resources - 124.9 Mt @ 0.51% V2O5"
The Lac 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 Lac Dore is advanced Vanadium project; currently the largest vanadium deposit in North America, and the second largest in the world. It shows a geological setting and vanadiferous mineralization similar to Apella's Iron-T vanadium project. Unlike the Bushveld, the Lake Dore Complex itself is 5 to 7 km in thickness. The magnetite horizons vary from 50 to 200 m in thickness and extend several km along strike as inferred from airborne magnetic data. "The Lac Dore Vanadium deposit at Chibougamau is estimated to host 100.0 Mt grading 0.49% V2O5 including 32.2 Mt of measured resources at 0.65% V2O5 (Girard and Allard, 1998). Apella derived these details from the public domain and they are noted to be pre NI 43-101.
Apella has concluded that with the ownership of the aforementioned 18 Lac Dore Vanadium deposit claims, coupled together with Apella's present 100% owned Iron-T and Lac Dore projects, the Company has the potential to quite rapidly control enough mineralization to propel Apella into the position of having the most extensive Vanadium assets in the world.
Additional information is contained on the Company's website at www.apellaresources.com.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF APELLA RESOURCES INC.
Patrick D. O'Brien, ICD.D - Director
SEC Exemption 12(g)3-2(b) File no. 82-3822, Standard & Poors Listed, Dun & Bradstreet Listed
Neither 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
Business Development
604-683-8990 or Toll Free: 1-800-663-8990
604-683-8903 (FAX)
apella@apellaresources.com
www.apellaresources.com
Source: Marketwire (September 23, 2010 - 10:00 AM EDT)
News by QuoteMedia
www.quotemedia.com
