APPIA ENERGY CORPORATION, a privately owned company, based in Toronto, Ontario,
Canada, is pleased to report the results of its fall diamond drilling program at its Elliot Lake, Ontario uranium property. APPIA’s property consists of 77 mining claims, 75 of which are contiguous, in six townships, north of the City of Elliot Lake, covering an extensive area, including the unmined extensions of the Quirke Ore Zone and the Nordic Ore Zone, which hosted twelve past producing uranium mines from 1955 to 1996.
From October to December 2008, two new holes and a short wedge cut from the second hole, totalling 3,109 meters (10,200 feet), were completed to the Archean basement rock in Bouck Township north and northeast of Banana Lake. This was the continuation of an APPIA program from November 2007 to March 2008, when two wedge cut diamond drill holes were completed from each of two holes drilled by Kerr McGee Corp. in the late 1960’s.
All holes intersected the up-channel, unmined, extension of the Nordic Ore Zone. The Nordic Ore Zone contains three uraniferous, pyritic, quartz pebble conglomerate “reefs”. In descending order these are: the Pardee Reef, the Nordic Reef and the Lacnor Reef. Below the reefs is an assemblage of larger quartz pebble beds named the Cobble Quartzite. Previous mining was principally in the Nordic and Lacnor Reefs.
The following tables list the principal intersections of uranium mineralization. The grades shown are lbs. per short (2,000 lb.) ton. Bedding dips in the core are very low so that the intersection widths are very close to true mining widths.
Drill Hole BL-08-03
| DDH No. | From (m) | To (m) | Width (m) | Width (ft.) | U3O8 (lbs./ton) | ThO2 (lbs./ton) |
| BL-08-03 | 1507.29 | 1510.50 | 3.21 | 10.53 | 0.600 | 0.09 |
Drill Hole BL-08-04
| DDH No. | From (m) | To (m) | Width (m) | Width (ft.) | U3O8 (lbs./ton) | ThO2 (lbs./ton) |
| BL-08-04 | 1466.96 | 1490.45 | 23.49 | 77.07 | 0.424 | 0.086 |
| Including | 1471.52 | 1480.02 | 8.50 | 27.89 | 0.852 | 0.14 |
| Including | 1471.72 | 1477.31 | 5.59 | 19.00 | 0.902 | 0.15 |
| Including | 1475.99 | 1477.31 | 1.32 | 4.33 | 1.300 | 0.16 |
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Appia Energy Corporation – Results of Fall 2008 Diamond Drilling at Elliot Lake, Ontario,
Canada, Uranium Property
Drill Hole BL-08-04-W1
| DDH No. | From (m) | To (m) | Width (m) | Width (ft.) | U3O8 (lbs./ton) | ThO2 (lbs./ton) |
| BL-08-04-W1 | 1467.87 | 1497.85 | 29.98 | 98.36 | 0.410 | 0.08 |
| Including | 1472.69 | 1481.01 | 8.32 | 27.29 | 1.028 | 0.14 |
The intersection in BL-08-03 is in the Cobble Quartzite. The other three reefs are not present at this location as they were probably removed by the deposition of overlying quartzite. The intersections in BL-08-04 and BL-08-04-W1 are the Lacnor Reef. The two intersections are approximately 6 meters (20 feet) apart.
The BL-08-04 and W1 intersections are within a 700 – 1000 meter (2,300 – 3,300 foot) radius north and east of APPIA’s two pairs of wedge holes completed from November 2007 to March
2008, previously reported in an Information Update dated July 23, 2008. All three reefs, the Pardee, Nordic and Lacnor, and the Cobble Quartzite were present in all four of these intersections.
Prior to the APPIA drilling programs, Doug Sprague, P.Eng., Chief Geologist, Rio Algom Ltd.,
Elliot Lake, estimated the potential resource of the Lacnor Reef in the Banana Lake area at 176,000,000 tons with a grade of 0.76 lbs. U3O8 /ton over 5.2 meters (17 feet). This estimate is based on a limited number of widely spaced Kerr McGee Corp. diamond drill holes. Although the historical resource is viewed as reliable and relevant based on the information and methods used at the time, they do not satisfy the requirements set out by NI 43-101. Neither APPIA nor its Qualified Person have done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as a current mineral resource and are not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resource. The historical resource should not be relied upon.
However, as can be seen in the above tables, and the following summary table listing the results of APPIA’s two drilling programs for the Lacnor Reef, only one of APPIA’s six Lacnor Reef intersections is less than 0.76 lbs U3O8 and only two of APPIA’s Lacnor Reef thicknesses are slightly less than the Sprague estimate.
Summary of APPIA results for the Lacnor Reef (November 2007 – March 2008 and October – December 2008)
| DDH No. | From (m) | To (m) | Width (m) | Width (ft.) | U3O8 (lbs./ton) | ThO2 (lbs./ton) |
| BL-07-01-W1 | 1444.09 | 1451.30 | 7.21 | 23.7 | 0.88 | 0.33 |
| BL-07-01-W2 | 1438.16 | 1444.56 | 6.40 | 21.0 | 0.56 | 0.18 |
| BL-08-02-W1 | 1464.56 | 1469.65 | 5.09 | 16.7 | 1.42 | 0.30 |
| BL-08-02-W2 | 1460.85 | 1465.90 | 5.05 | 16.6 | 1.09 | 0.28 |
| BL-08-04 | 1471.52 | 1480.02 | 8.50 | 27.9 | 0.85 | 0.14 |
| BL-08-04-W1 | 1472.69 | 1497.85 | 8.32 | 27.3 | 1.03 | 0.14 |
APPIA’s drilling has clearly indicated the strong probability of a considerable increase in tonnage, grade and thickness for the Lacnor Reef resource in the Banana Lake area as compared to the historical Sprague, Rio Algom Ltd. estimate.
In addition, four of APPIA’s drilling intersections have outlined the probability of a considerable resource grading 0.5 – 0.75 lbs. U3O8/ton in the Pardee and Nordic Reefs above the Lacnor Reef. This resource could be blasted down following primary mining of the Lacnor Reef and subjected to inexpensive bioleaching, as was the practice at the Denison mining operations.
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Appia Energy Corporation – Results of Fall 2008 Diamond Drilling at Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada, Uranium Property
Tom Drivas, President of APPIA ENERGY CORP., stated, ” We are pleased with the positive results obtained to date from APPIA’s diamond drilling in the Banana Lake section of our extensive Elliot Lake property. We have confirmed the presence of the up-channel extension of the Nordic Ore Zone, with mostly better grades and thicknesses than the historical resource estimate. The large tonnage, with low reef dip and favourable thickness of the Lacnor Reef, make it amenable to modern, cost efficient, high production, mechanized mining and bioleaching methods. The drilling to date is relatively widely spaced. We believe that further drilling will upgrade the resource outlined and very probably extend the boundary of the Nordic channel resource for a considerable distance to the northwest and to the southeast of Banana Lake.”
The core was logged and interpreted, the reef boundaries were delineated, and the reef grades and thicknesses were calculated by Alan D. MacEachern, B.Sc., formerly Chief Mine Geologist at Denison Mines Ltd., Elliot Lake, who has 39 years of experience with the Elliot Lake uraniferous conglomerate deposits.
Independent consulting geologist, Al Workman, P.Geo., Vice President, Watts, Griffis and McOuat Ltd., is the qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 who has reviewed this press release.
About Watts, Griffis and McOuat.
Since 1962, WGM has served the international mining community by completing projects in over 120 countries. Technical due diligence reviews, Mineral Resource/Reserve estimates and audits, valuations, mine planning, engineering and metallurgical investigations have each contributed to the firm’s worldwide reputation of excellence. These studies have been carried out for mining companies, governments, banks, law firms and international financial institutions. More information on the full range of WGM’s services and experience can be found on our website at www.wgm.ca.
About Appia Energy Corp.
Appia Energy Corp is a private Canadian energy company. Its main focus is to explore and advance the Elliott Lake uranium project to the development and production stages.
Tom Drivas, President: (tel) 416-876-3957, (fax) 416-218-9772 or (email) appia@appiaenergy.ca
Head Office:
25 Adelaide Street East, Suite 1010
Toronto, ON Canada, M5C 3A1
Tel: 416 876-3957, Fax: 416 218-9772
Contact: Tom Drivas, President Email Address: appia@appiaenergy.ca
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This Press Release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. When used in this document, the words “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to such risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the statements made. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties, such as actual results of current exploration programs, the general risks associated with the mining industry, the price of uranium and other metals, currency and interest rate fluctuations, increased competition and general economic and market factors, occur or should assumptions underlying the forward looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, or expected. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.
