Apella Resources Inc.

VANCOUVER, Oct. 23 /CNW/ - Novawest Resources Inc. (TSXV - "NVE"; Frankfurt - "NWN"), is pleased to announce the Company has staked 57 very important mineral claims located approximately 70 kms east-southeast of Chibougamau,Quebec . A number of the staked claims cover the Lac Dore Vanadium-Titanium (Fe-Ti) Deposit, the second largest vanadium deposit in the world, reported to contain approximately 2.27 million metric tons (MT) (5 billion pounds) of reserves.

Novawest cautions that all of the numbers and quotes pertaining to reserves, grades and other data contained in this news release regarding the Lac Dore deposit are historical and pre NI 43-101 in nature and are derived from sources outside of Novawest. They are presented to provide the reader with as much information as possible about this endeavour. These quotes and figures presented in this release are from sources thought to be reliable, but the reader must be cautioned that each and every one of these details will have to checked and verified by Novawest once the Ministry of Mines for the Province of Quebec confirms Novawest's title to these mineral claims. Once this confirmation has been received by Novawest the Company will set out a series of milestones for further development, production and sales contracts for the exploitation of the vanadium products derived from operations.

Novawest is not aware of any reason why these key claims came open; but had been aware of the possibility for some time and had been carefully monitoring the situation for several months. It appears that at one point the previous owner had been in some form of an agreement with SOQUEM INC, a division of SGF Mineral Inc, which is a subsidiary of Societe generale de financement duQuebec "SGF" (Ministry of Finance, province of Quebec ) whereby SOQUEM INC had a 20% interest. It is understood that SOQUEM subsequently converted its interest into a share equity position in the recent owner's common shares. From public 10Q documents filed in 2002 on EDGAR in theUnited States , Novawest has learned that the previous owner received a Feasibility Study prepared by engineering firm SNC-Lavalin Group, Inc. ("SNC") recommending continued development of a mine, refinery and product manufacturing facility for the Lac Dore Deposit. The documentation filed states: "the Study indicates Lac Dore is capable of producing large quantities of high purity Vanadium products. Capital investment is estimated at US$229 ($364 Cdn.) million including all equipment, infrastructure costs and C$39 million for contingencies proving for initial production capacity of 25 million pounds for all Vanadium products combined. Total employment is estimated at 300." At the time of the report, SNC's financial analysis indicated a very good Internal Rate of Return of 29.6% based on 30% Equity. It further states that "a new process technology is expected to enable Lac Dore to become the lowest cost producer in the world of various high purity Vanadium oxides." Novawest will look into all of these assertions prior to making its own decisions on how to proceed with the Lac Dore operations on a go-forward basis. First and foremost, Novawest will undertake to bring all details regarding the Lac Dore deposit up to NI 43-101 specifications.

The Lac Dore Vanadium-Titanium Deposit is hosted in the Lac Dore Complex (Allard, 1776; Girard & Allard, 1998) located about 250 km east of Matagami,Quebec . The Deposit area is sixteen (16) kilometers (10 miles) long, fifty to two hundred (50-200) meters (165-660 feet) wide, extending Northeast to the Southwest located in Rinfret and Lemoine Townships, approximately twenty-six (26) kilometers (16 miles) east-southeast of Chibougamau,Quebec.

According to Allard (1976) the Lac Dore Complex is a Bushveld-type layered complex, folded like the enclosing volcanic rocks, with which it is coeval and comagmatic. From top to bottom, the Complex has been divided into the following zones: Anorthosite Zone (Main Zone), Layered Zone, and Upper Border Zone (including Soda-granophyre and Ferrodiorite Zones). The vanadium mineralization in the Lac Dore Complex (Allard, 1976) is contained in the lower-most part of the Layered Zone in Rinfret and Lamoine Townships and in the Cache Lake -David Lake area. The vanadium horizon consists of rhythmically layered units (50 to 200 meter-thick layered zones) rich in ferroaugite, magnetite and ilmenite, intercalated with layers of leuco-gabbro. The Fe-Ti oxides at Lac Dore are heterogeneously and rhythmically distributed, with Fe-Ti-oxide-rich horizons intercalated with oxide-free horizons.

Vanadium is a strategic metal having many important industrial applications. Most vanadium is consumed as ferrovanadium (FeV), which is used to introduce vanadium into steel, improving the steel's strength and toughness. Production of carbon, full-alloy and high-strength low-alloy steels, in nearly equal amounts, accounts for more than 90 percent of domestic vanadium consumption. Vanadium foil is used as a bonding agent in cladding titanium to steel and generally by the aerospace industry. Medical implants often contain vanadium alloys because of their excellent stability. Nonmetallurgical applications such as catalysts, ceramics and vanadium batteries are produced from vanadium pentoxide.China, Russia and South Africa are the leading vanadium-producing nations, where the mining and processing of magnetite-bearing ores is the predominant source of vanadium production.

The Qualified Person ("QP") for the purposes of this news release is Dr. Christian G. Derosier M.Sc., D.Sc., Geology.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF NOVAWEST RESOURCES INC.

"Patrick D. O'Brien"

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Patrick D. O'Brien - Chairman

Novawest invites the public to visit its website at http://www.novawest.com or e-mail the company at novawest@novawest.com to be added to the company's e-mail list for press releases and updates.

S.E.C.Exemption12(g)3-2(b) File No. 82-3822, Standard & Poors Listed,

Dun & Bradstreet Listed

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For further information: Novawest Resources Inc., Suite 1000, The Marine Building, 355 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, V6C 2G8, Phone: (604) 683-8990 or Toll Free: 1-800-663-8990, Fax: (604) 683-8903