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DENVER: Apollo Gold Corporation (TSX: APG) (NYSE Amex: AGT) announced that the first gold bars produced at Black Fox Mine in Ontario were poured during the last week of May 2009.

R. David Russell, President and CEO of Apollo, stated: “On May 1, 2009, we announced that we would finalize the commissioning of the new ball mill and progressively increase ore throughput during the month with a goal of attaining a rate of 1,500 tonnes per day by the end of the month. We also announced at that time that the first gold pour was scheduled by month end. I am therefore happy to announce that, as at May 31, 2009, we had poured approximately 3,300 ounces of gold dore, which contained approximately 3,000 ounces of gold. Now that we have entered commercial production.”
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During the month of May the Black Fox mill averaged the following throughput rates: 800 tonnes per day during the first week of May, 1,400 tonnes per day during the second week of May and just over 1,500 tonnes per day for the rest of the month. In June, the mill is scheduled to operate in a steady state at a throughput rate of 1,500 tonnes per day. Having achieved our primary objective of processing 1,500 tonnes per day, we now await the completion of the new crushing circuit to be completed by an independent contractor and handed over to Apollo during the first part of July 2009. Once the new crushing circuit has been commissioned, we expect to increase ore throughput towards our objective of 1,800 tonnes per day by late September 2009.

The Black Fox open pit mine is now mining waste and ore at approximately 14,000 tonnes per day and the year-to-date strip ratio has averaged 4.0:1 compared to the planned ratio for 2009 of 7.25:1. (Courtesy: Businesswire)