- 01Apollo-BRGM Couflens geophysics done; 180 km at 100 m.
- 02Data to sharpen geology and refine targets.
- 03Salau drilling planned; IRM data integration underway.
Apollo Minerals (ASX: AON) has completed a detailed airborne geophysical survey over its 100%-owned Couflens tungsten-gold project in France through a partnership with the French Geological Survey (BRGM).
The helicopter-borne magnetic and radiometric work covered key areas of Couflens, including the priority trend hosting the historical Salau tungsten mine, and was conducted within BRGM’s national mineral resources inventory.
The work formed part of the Inventaire des Ressources Minérales (IRM) project, which BRGM is carrying out on behalf of the French state to improve knowledge of domestic mineral resources and support access to critical raw materials.
Apollo expects the new dataset to strengthen geological interpretation, refine exploration targeting, and help identify potential extensions to mineralisation across the project.
Results are due to be processed and evaluated over the coming months as Apollo also advances plans for an initial low-impact underground drilling program at Salau.
Exploration Targets Sharpened
Apollo partnered with BRGM to acquire higher-resolution data across prospective geology associated with the tungsten mineralisation, completing about 180 kilometres of survey lines at 100-metre spacing within the focused area, compared with 500m spacing across the broader regional survey.
BRGM Explore managed field data acquisition for the survey, while BRGM is overseeing the wider IRM initiative under France’s 2030 investment plan and in the context of the European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act.
“This important program will enable the company to progress our understanding of the broader geological context of the deposit, as well as refining exploration targeting models,” managing director Neil Inwood said.
“We look forward to future collaboration opportunities with the BRGM as we advance technical work programs over the strategically important Couflens project.”
Geology Supports Broader Search
Salau operated from 1971 to 1986 and historically produced about 930,000 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1.5% tungsten trioxide, with roughly 24km of underground development completed across seven levels.
The deposit sits within a mineralised system associated with granodiorite intruding calcareous sediments of the Barregiennes Formation, creating skarn alteration and locally pyrrhotite-rich sulphides that may respond to airborne magnetic surveying.
That geological setting extends east-west for about 7km within the Couflens permit, giving Apollo a broader structural and geological corridor in which to assess potential repetitions or extensions of known mineralisation.
Tungsten mineralisation at Salau occurs both as disseminated scheelite within skarn and as massive sulphide mineralisation containing pyrrhotite and scheelite, with both styles occurring close to the granodiorite intrusion.
New Data Integration
Apollo will integrate the new magnetic and radiometric data with its existing exploration databases and geological knowledge to define anomalies and refine potential targets across Couflens.
The company is also planning an initial underground drilling program focused on the Véronique zone within the historical mine workings.
That work is intended to expand known mineralised areas, twin historical drilling and test the broader mineralised width of the deposit.
“As the national geological survey, BRGM is mandated for implementing the ambitious mineral resource national inventory program, a key initiative to secure the raw materials needed to face the ecological transition and for supporting the exploration of potential ore deposits under a contractual framework with the private companies that have been granted exploration licenses,” BRGM director general Catherine Lagneau said.
“In this framework, the Couflens tungsten-gold project is a strategic national asset, and we are pleased to support the exploration program of Apollo Minerals.”
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