Apollo advancing SA & WA exploration

Interviews

Transcription of Finance News Network Interview with Apollo Minerals Limited (ASX:AON) Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Dominic Tisdell.

Lelde Smits: Hello I’m Lelde Smits for the Finance News Network and joining me today from iron ore developer Apollo Minerals Limited (ASX:AON) is Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Dominic Tisdell. Dominic welcome to FNN.

Dominic Tisdell: Thank you very much for having me.

Lelde Smits: Could you begin by introducing Apollo Minerals and the Company’s goal?

Dominic Tisdell: Apollo Minerals is a junior Australian listed iron ore explorer and developer. We’ve got two main projects, Commonwealth Hill in South Australia and Mount Oscar in the Pilbara of Western Australia. Our goal is to fast track the South Australian asset into production as quickly as we can.

Lelde Smits: And could you detail who’s on the Board?

Dominic Tisdell: Sure, I’m on the Board as the Executive Director. Our other Executive Director, Richard Shemesian has a long background in investment banking with Macquarie Group Limited (ASX:MQG) and also blue chip corporate law. From a technical point of view, we’re very happy we’ve got Matthew Rimes ex Managing Director of Iron Ore Holdings Limited (ASX:IOH) on the Board as well.

Lelde Smits: Looking at your projects in more detail, starting with the Commonwealth Hill iron ore project in South Australia: You recently undertook an RC drilling program at the Sequoia prospect, what did the drilling reveal?

Dominic Tisdell: The drilling is showing us some very interesting and encouraging results. In particular, it’s telling us that we’ll probably end up with the JORC compliant resource much bigger than we originally expected and of a higher quality. The thing that’s really key for us is that it’s looking like there’s going to be quite a large fraction of the deposit that’s significantly higher grade than originally expected, which has great flow on effects in terms of lower capital and lower operating costs.

Lelde Smits: And what is the likelihood of a resource?

Dominic Tisdell: Likelihood is very high, that’s our main job this month during May in 2012, is to get the JORC compliant resource published and out there into the market. During the remainder of the year, we’ll be doing work on our other prospects in South Australia and hope to repeat that result.

Lelde Smits: So what are your plans for Commonwealth Hill?

Dominic Tisdell: Commonwealth Hill’s a very interesting and exciting project for us. We firmly believe it’s got a very real potential of being fast tracked into production. We’d like to see that asset in production within three years.

Lelde Smits: And has this changed following the investment of Jindal Steel and Power Australia?

Dominic Tisdell: It has. Essentially what it’s done, it’s reconfirmed Apollo’s view that we’ve got a real mine development opportunity there in South Australia. Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) is listed in India; it’s one of India’s largest companies and their third largest steel producer. They obviously see what we can see, that there’s real mine development opportunity there. Having a company like Jindal behind Apollo gives us the opportunity to scale up the development faster than we had originally thought.

Lelde Smits: So is there interest also as an off-take partner?

Dominic Tisdell: There is, they produce obviously their own steel. They’re busily building a new steel plant in the Middle East which they’re looking for product for to feed. Obviously Apollo would be a natural fit with their plans in the Middle East.

Lelde Smits: So Dominic, what’s the next key milestone for the project and when do you hope to be in production?

Dominic Tisdell: The next key milestone is getting that maiden JORC resource on Sequoia. Following on from that, we’ll be going straight into the technical reviews, the scoping study and prefeasibility study. We’re working at the moment on being in production within three years.

Lelde Smits: To your other project Mount Oscar, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. What do you know about the mineralisation in the three exploration licenses that make up the project?

Dominic Tisdell: Mount Oscar’s quite a different proposition in that the iron ore actually sticks out of the ground. It’s a large iron ore ridge, less than 30 kilometres from the coast. What we know is that we’ve got very large tonnages of iron ore as I said, very close to the coast. The key for that project is to wait for the port to be developed, so we can export that product to our customers. We’re viewing that as a midterm development proposition, although it must be noted that the Western Australian Government’s overdue to make a decision on that port, Port Anketell. It’s expected any day.

Lelde Smits: Now to your financials: Jindal Steel and Power Australia have recently invested in Apollo Minerals, could you detail the deal?

Dominic Tisdell: It was a very important investment for us, albeit a relatively modest one for a $16 billion company. Jindal for an investment - an initial investment of $1 million, has acquired 9.25 per cent of Apollo Minerals. That’s obviously giving them exposure to both projects, our South Australian project Commonwealth Hill and Mount Oscar in Western Australia. They’re obviously interested in seeing those projects developed as quickly as possible and we’re discussing that with them at the moment.

Lelde Smits: So what’s your cash position following the investment, and for how long do you expect it to fund operations at Commonwealth Hill?

Dominic Tisdell: The markets have been incredibly difficult as I’m sure many people would appreciate, over the last six months. What we’ve been able to demonstrate is that we can raise money even in difficult times, given the fact that we’ve got some high potential projects there. So our cash position is we’ve got cash in the bank just shy of $4 million after this recent raise. That’ll more than adequately fund our plans for the next 12 months in South Australia; potentially push us past the prefeasibility study, which is the first important technical document to get out of the way.

Lelde Smits: Finally Dominic, where would you like to see Apollo Minerals by year’s end?

Dominic Tisdell: By this year’s end I’d like to see the market generally understand Apollo and what our plans are, and obviously for that to be reflected in Apollo’s share price. I think Apollo is really one of the companies out there that has a great opportunity to exceed the market this year. So at the very least, I’d like to see us catch up with our peers.

Lelde Smits: Dominic Tisdell, thanks for introducing Apollo Minerals.

Dominic Tisdell: Thanks very much for having me.

Ends

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