St George Mining Ltd (ASX:SGQ) is making excellent progress at its flagship high-grade Mt Alexander Project in Western Australia's north-eastern Goldfields.
Mt Alexander Project is 120 kilometres south-southwest of the Agnew-Wiluna Belt, which hosts numerous world-class nickel deposits.
The project comprises six granted exploration licences – E29/638, E29/548, E29/962, E29/954, E29/972 and E29/1041 – which are a contiguous package. A seventh granted exploration licence – E29/1093 – is to the southeast of the core tenement package.
The growth-focused Western Australian nickel company has so far delivered promising RC drilling results, uncovering multiple prospects.
- Firstly, maiden RC drilling at the new Carnac prospect has intersected several mafic-ultramafic horizons up to 85 metres thick. The mafic-ultramafic rocks are analogous to the intrusive-host unit at the Cathedrals Belt where significant nickel-copper sulphides have been discovered.
- Secondly, maiden RC drilling at the 100% owned Jailbreak Prospect has intersected komatiite ultramafics up to 270 metres thick. All completed drill holes intersected the ultramafic horizon, establishing a large search area that is prospective for nickel sulphides.
- Thirdly, the first-ever seismic survey at Cathedrals Belt has started and will focus on mapping the intrusive horizon at the West End Prospect and the western section of the Investigators Prospect up to depths of 1.5 kilometres. Survey data here will assist to generate additional targets for the upcoming diamond drill program.
Plenty of newsflow to come
Given the amount of work underway, and with new exploration targets in hand, St George is expected to be busy over the coming months.
St George Mining’s executive chairman John Prineas said of the Mt Alexander program: “Early results from the RC drilling at Mt Alexander are very promising with multiple prospects emerging that look highly prospective for more significant nickel discoveries.
“The geology encountered in the drilling at the Carnac and Jailbreak prospects fits the respective geological models that we are targeting in these areas.
“The thickness of the prospective units intersected at both Carnac and Jailbreak is very impressive and provide a significant search horizon for potential nickel sulphide mineralisation.
“We look forward to progressing our systematic exploration of these prospects which are located within our 100%-owned tenements at Mt Alexander.
“The multiple new exploration targets established across our project tenure – in addition to the high-grade discoveries already made at the Cathedrals Belt – support the potential for Mt Alexander to develop into a major nickel camp with multiple high-grade nickel-copper sulphide deposits.
“We will keenly await the data from the seismic survey at the Cathedrals Belt ahead of resuming our deep diamond drilling at Mt Alexander.
“The seismic survey will provide crucial information regarding the orientation and behaviour of the intrusive-host structure at depths of up to 1.5 kilometres, to give us more accurate modelling of current drill targets and provide further targets beyond the scope of current EM surveys.
“With diamond drilling at both Mt Alexander and our Paterson Project due to kick off again shortly, we expect a very busy and important period of newsflow at a time when the market is looking for exciting exploration news.”
What’s next
Carnac
Further exploration activity will be planned for the Carnac prospect once laboratory assays from the current drilling and soil survey are reviewed. The encouraging results from the drilling warrant a broadening of the soil survey over the remainder of the trend towards the east.
Jailbreak
Four drill holes were completed at the Jailbreak Prospect. The first-ever drilling at Jailbreak was designed to follow up historical geochemical anomalies and confirm the presence of komatiites that are prospective for nickel sulphides. Downhole EM (DHEM) surveys are planned for Jailbreak, followed by further drilling.
Cathedrals
A diamond drill rig is scheduled to arrive at Mt Alexander later this month to drill nickel-copper sulphide targets at West End and Investigators.
Note, drill targets for Mt Alexander will be finalised once the results of the seismic survey are reviewed. It is expected that the drilling will focus on the deeper EM conductors identified at West End and Investigators.
Paterson Project
Separate to Mt Alexander, St George will also send a second diamond drill rig to its 100%-owned Paterson Project in early October to undertake deep drilling of priority copper-gold targets. The diamond rig will be used to follow up on a highly successful maiden RC program.