St George Mining’s (ASX:SGQ) first hole at the Cambridge prospect of its under-explored East Laverton Nickel Project in Western Australia has confirmed the prospective high MgO zone at depth.
Significantly, a 132m interval (from 92m to 224m) had corresponding elevated nickel and MgO levels. The average values for this interval were 0.35% nickel and 35% MgO, with the highest value of 0.56% nickel at 133 metres.
The 500 metre hole was drilled to test at a deeper level the high MgO facies rocks that were first identified by St George and BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) on the eastern side of the body.
Drilling at East Laverton will test at least seven high value drill targets selected by geophysical advisors Newexco, which were instrumental in the discovery of some of Western Australia’s biggest nickel discoveries such as Nova, Spotted Quoll and Flying Fox.
The high MgO zone at Cambridge has similarities to the central dunite lens at the Perseverance nickel sulphide deposit at Leinster, which is hosted on the basal contact of a large ultramafic dunite body (3 kilometre by 1 kilometre).
Perseverance is one of the largest high grade nickel sulphide deposits in the world and contains more than 1.4 million tonnes of contained nickel.
Drilling of a second hole has begun to test for the southern extension of the prospective high MgO zone.
Both holes at Cambridge will be cased with PVC pipe so that downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) surveys to test for EM targets, laterally and at depth can be completed.
This will be important in identifying any EM conductors both laterally and at depth.
“The drilling at Cambridge is very valuable in setting up new targets for what could be a very large prize there,” executive chairman John Prineas said.
“The most exciting phase of our drilling program will start towards the end of this week.
“We will commence drilling a suite of EM conductors, any one of which could deliver an immediate and very high value outcome.”
Geological logging, processing and analysis of CAMDD001 is ongoing.
Drill Result
The CAMDD001 hole comprises 84 metres of reverse circulation drilling and 416 metres of NQ2 diamond core drilling on the eastern margin of the Cambridge prospect, a large northwest trending ultramafic dunite body with dimensions of 4 kilometres by 2 kilometres.
Provisional XRF analysis of the drill core from CAMDD001 indicates that extensive sequences of high MgO ultramafic have been encountered.
Of particular interest is a 132 metre interval from 92 metres with corresponding elevated nickel and MgO levels.
The average values for this interval were 0.35% Ni and 35% MgO, with the highest nickel value of 0.56% Ni at 133 metres.
These results led to the decision to immediately drill a second hole with a target depth of 350 metres.
Drilling of EM Conductors
The second hole at Cambridge is scheduled to be completed on Wednesday, 17th June 2015.
Following completion of that hole, drilling of the high value EM conductors at the Aphrodite and Desert Dragon nickel sulphide prospects will commence.
St George will be drilling EM conductors that have excellent potential to represent massive nickel sulphide deposits. The first EM conductor to be drilled will be the strong Aphrodite 4 EM conductor.
East Laverton Nickel Sulphide Project
St George Mining holds a dominant 2,000 square kilometre landholding in this frontier region of Western Australia.
While BHP withdrew from the farm-in for corporate reasons, it left the company with a 100% ownership of all nickel rights as well as a $3 million dataset.
The mining giant’s work also established the credentials of the project for large scale nickel sulphide mineralisation and interest from major mining companies continues.
Subsequent work by St George has proven the presence of geological criteria required to host multiple nickel deposits.
The Project has similar features to other highly mineralised komatiite nickel sulphide belts in the Yilgarn Craton.
Analysis
St George Mining’s drilling program at the East Laverton project has clocked up an early success with the first hole confirming the presence of a high MgO zone with similarities to the central dunite lens at the Perseverance nickel sulphide deposit.
While further analysis is required, the result has already led the company to immediately drill a second hole to test for a southern extension.
Looking ahead, the company will this week start drilling of high interest EM targets that were selected by geophysical advisors Newexco.
These are consistent with the response from massive nickel sulphides with favourable geological and structural features that cross-validate their potential to represent massive deposits.
Share Price Catalysts
- Results from diamond drilling program (from mid-July);
- Receipt of estimated $800,000 Research and Development tax rebate (September 2015);
- Signing up a cornerstone investor; and
- Identifying further targets at multiple prospects.
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