Apogee cuts wide silver-zinc at Pulacayo

Vancouver – Shares of Bolivian-focused junior Apogee Minerals (APE-V, AGEEF-O) jumped as much as 67% on strong volume in January 11th trading following a pair of drill holes returning wide, high-grade silver values from its Pulacayo-Paca project.

Hole PUD-045 cut 61 metres (from 254 metres downhole depth) grading 262.5 grams silver per tonne, 2.9% zinc and 0.8% lead, including a 31-metre interval of 472.9 grams silver, 4.2% zinc and 0.9% lead.

Another hole, PUD-043, intersected 31 metres (from 371 metres downhole) averaging 146.9 grams silver and 1% zinc along with a higher-grade section of 483.7 grams silver over 6 metres.

Core lengths are estimated at about 80% of true thickness of the mineralized zone. Results are the initial assays from a 14-hole drill program totaling 3,745 metres completed in late-2007.

Apogee is testing a near-surface, silver-rich portion of the Upper Tajo Vein system that extends laterally for at least 1 km and to a depth of more than 700 metres. It has also identified other sub-parallel mineralized systems on the project.

The Tajo system is a roughly 200-metre thick, east-west trending sequence of epithermal veins, stockwork and disseminated sulphides – associated with a large dacitic intrusive and has a higher-grade core (the Main zone) up to 60 metres thick. Mineralization is comprised of a vertically zoned sequence of sphalerite, galena and tetrahedrite in massive sulphide veins (ranging from a few centimetres to more than a meter thick) and as strongly disseminated sphalerite, galena and tetrahedrite between the veins.

The company will resume its resource drilling program in mid-January and anticipates generating a resource estimate by mid-2008.

The historic Pulacayo mine – that operated on the Tajo Vein system from 1883-1958 – produced about 678 million oz. silver, 400 million lbs. lead and 400 million lbs. zinc over its life making it Bolivia’s second largest silver mine after Cerro Rico de Potosi.

In late-2005 Apogee entered into an agreement to earn a 60% interest in Pulacayo-Paca from Apex Silver Mines (SIL-X) by spending US$1 million and completing a bankable feasibility study within three years. Once Apogee vests its interest Apex holds a back-in right to reacquire 60% by taking the property to production.

Besides its exploration effort at Pulacayo-Paca, Apogee operates its La Solucion zinc-lead-silver mine in western Bolivia. An expansion program is underway to boost the operation’s milling capacity from 120 to 200 tonnes per day as well as adding further flotation cells to the zinc circuit to increase recoveries.

Shares of Apogee closed up a dime on the January 11th drill results to 36 apiece on volume of over 2.6 million. Based on its 53.3-million shares outstanding the company posts a $19-million market capitalization with the stock having a 52-week trading range of 21-69.