Apollo Gold Corporation Reports on Montana Tunnels Mine Pit Expansion Project Update.

Business Editors

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 19, 2004

Apollo Gold Corporation's ("Apollo Gold") (AMEX:AGT) (TSX:APG)President & CEO R. David Russell is pleased to provide the following update of the progress of the expansion at its Montana Tunnels operation. Montana Tunnels produces gold, silver, lead, and zinc in concentrates and dore from its open pit mine and flotation mill located near Helena, Montana.

Completion of East Wall Stripping Project

In early 2003, Montana Tunnels completed Phase I of the open pit redevelopment when the "K-Pit or East Wall" waste stripping project was completed. During the East Wall Project, additional mining equipment was purchased and over 23.5 million tons of waste rock was stripped with a total capital cost of US$20.5 million. The mine was placed back into "commercial production" in April, 2003. After the return to production, the mine and mill averaged 407,000 tons per month of processed ore.

West Wall Stripping Project Update

In October, 2003, a second waste stripping phase (Phase II) known as the "L-Pit or West Wall" project was initiated. The objective of this Phase II expansion is to pre-strip approximately 17 million tons of waste from the south and west high walls of the open pit after which the facility will have another 3-4 years of mine life without additional stripping. The "west wall" stripping also stabilizes a failure zone which has hampered production planning since the summer of 2002. In preparation for the second phase of stripping, six (6) additional 150-ton haul trucks were acquired and the workforce was expanded by 90 personnel to a total workforce of 260. The Phase II stripping has progressed according to plan with over 9.0 million tons of waste moved of the planned 20.0 million tons. The overall mining rate in the open pit has increased nearly threefold from 1.2 million tons per month at mid-year to about 3.3 million tons per month at year's end. Of the total mine tonnage, over 2 million tons per month are waste tons from the "West Wall" stripping project. "We are achieving the targeted development rates for the 'West Wall' and are pleased with the overall progress and development of the open pit," said Wade W. Bristol, VP - Operations. "The upper 'West Wall' has been stabilized which allows us to continue productively mining in the bottom of the K-Pit. We are anxious to hit the ore fields on the west side of the pit which are easier to mill and are higher grade. By mid-year 2004, the majority of mill feed will be from the higher grade 'West Wall' ores." The total capital cost to complete the L-Pit stripping is projected to be US$10 million.

Milling Facility

The milling facilities at the operation have also been upgraded during the year. A new primary jaw crusher was installed and commissioned during July, 2003. The fine grinding circuit was converted from an autogenous (AG) grinding process to semi-autogenous (SAG) process. This conversion was completed by years end, however, some minor screen and wear material changes, expected to be completed in April 2004, will be required before the mill expansion reaches its full production capacity. Upon completing a full testing and commissioning period, the mill throughput is expected to increase from 13,500 tons per day to around 15,000 tons per day by mid 2004. "The mill conversions have taken us longer to de-bug than we expected," said Bristol, "but we're confident that with some final engineering changes coupled with softer ores from the West Wall expansion, the mill production will be expanded significantly." Total capital spent on the processing facility was US$1.9 million.

Apollo Gold is a gold mining company with operating mines in Nevada and Montana and an advanced stage development project, Black Fox, along the productive Destor-Porcupine Fault east of the Timmins Gold Camp in Ontario, Canada.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding potential mineralization, reserves, exploration results, construction and production dates, and future plans and objectives of Apollo Gold, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include: the results of independent Canadian NI 43-101 reports, the outcome of assays and additional exploration sampling and drilling efforts, the availability of funding for the future exploration and development of Apollo Gold mines and projects, and other factors disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in Apollo Gold documents filed from time to time with the Toronto Stock Exchange, The American Stock Exchange, The United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities.