Collective’s Apollo extension in Colombia: bulk-mining and resource lens for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Collective Mining has extended the Apollo system at its Guayabales project in Colombia by about 100 metres north after drill hole APC172-D2 cut 141.4 metres grading 4.75 g/t gold, 5 g/t silver, 0.02% copper and 0.04% zinc from ~924 metres depth, including 38 metres at 15.25 g/t gold and 8 g/t silver. The new breccia body, intersected roughly 1,000 metres below surface and about 170 metres below previous northern drilling, lies close to a planned underground access tunnel, supporting potential bulk-mining scenarios. Thirteen rigs are active at Guayabales in a programme of up to 90,000 metres this year, with Apollo’s initial resource estimate due this month.
Technical Brief
- New breccia body sits 100 m north of previous Apollo limit between 910–1,040 mRL.
- Directional holes APC172-D1/D2 were aimed at the deeper Ramp zone but hit this breccia en route.
- APC172-D1 returned 97.15 m at 0.95 g/t Au, 4 g/t Ag, from ~929 m depth (1.06 g/t AuEq).
- Follow-up hole APC180-D1 intersected up to 100 m of visually mineralised breccia 100 m west of APC172-D2.
- Northern extension remains open east, west and at depth, with another hole testing below the discovery intercepts.
- Earlier Ramp west drilling included 23.1 m at 4.61 g/t Au, 11 g/t Ag and 5.3 m at 37.04 g/t Au, 28 g/t Ag.
- Shallow step-out at Apollo previously cut 165.75 m at 4.39 g/t Au, 42 g/t Ag, 0.13% Cu, 0.09% WO₃ from 8.85 m.
- Infill hole APC160-D3 returned 171.65 m at 1.77 g/t Au, 15 g/t Ag, 0.05% Cu, 0.09% Zn from 575 m.
- APC160-D4 delivered 83 m at 1.66 g/t Au, 16 g/t Ag, 0.04% Cu, 0.21% Zn from 528 m, including 15.3 m at 3.64 g/t Au.
Our Take
Grades running about 40% above Collective’s internal model, combined with 13 rigs turning at Guayabales, suggest that any initial resource for Apollo is likely to be framed as a growth platform rather than a ‘base case’ endpoint, which is important for engineers scoping plant size and underground access in a district with multiple permitted mines within 3 km.
National Bank Financial also features in our coverage of Vizsla Silver’s Panuco project in Mexico, and its supportive stance on high-grade gold-silver systems there indicates that the firm is consistently backing epithermal and breccia-style plays such as Apollo that can deliver both bulk-tonnage and narrow high-grade underground mining options.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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