THE DRILL SERGEANT: St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) announced a new discovery of high-grade nickel-copper sulphides at its flagship Mt Alexander project, located in the north-eastern Goldfields.
St George Mining said the first drill hole – MAD152 – at the newly named Radar prospect intersected nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation between 44.2 meyres and 51.7m downhole including intervals of massive nickel-copper sulphides.
The company explained that the hole was drilled to test a new EM conductor it had identified by way of EM surveys completed earlier this month.
The conductor was initially detected by a Moving Loop EM (MLEM) survey that was followed by an optimised Fixed Loop EM (FLEM) survey that confirmed a late-time anomaly, which was modelled with a conductivity of 35,000 Siemens and at a depth of approximately 50m.
St George will carry out a DHEM survey in MAD152 to identify extensions of mineralisation around the hole and to plan follow-up drilling.
The company declared the intersection in MAD152 to be representative of a new discovery in an unexplored section of the Cathedrals Belt.
This, St George said, is important for a number of reasons, including:
1. It opens up an opportunity to drill out a new high-grade prospect, which along with the advanced Investigators, Stricklands and Cathedrals prospects, could add mineralisation to a potential resource at Mt Alexander.
2. It confirms the prospectivity of unexplored areas of the Cathedrals Belt for further high-grade mineralisation: such as the east-west strike of known high-grade nickel-copper sulphides along the Cathedrals Belt is extended by this discovery to 5.5 kilometres, with another 10.5km of the Cathedrals Belt remaining as unexplored or underexplored and the prospectivity of newly identified EM anomalies at the largely unexplored West End and Fish Hook prospects – located on the western and eastern extensions of the Cathedrals Belt, respectively – is elevated by the latest results at Radar.
3. It supports the effectiveness of St George’s exploration techniques being used at the Cathedrals Belt, particularly the critical role of EM surveys in identifying nickel-copper sulphide targets.
4. The increased strike of high-grade mineralisation along the Cathedrals Belt is indicative of a large mineral system. This not only increases the potential to discover more mineralisation along the east-west strike of the Belt but also at depth, in the down-dip direction and associated with the structures that are interpreted to be the likely source through which mafic/ultramafic intrusions hosting nickel-copper sulphides have passed upwards from the Earth’s mantle.
“The discovery of high-grade nickel-copper sulphides with the first ever drill hole in an area with about 10m of transported overburden and more than one kilometre from the nearest known mineralisation on the Cathedrals Belt is an excellent exploration result and a credit to our technical team,” St George Mining executive chairman John Prineas said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“The occurrence of high-grade nickel and copper sulphide mineralisation at shallow depths is rare and we are delighted to have further extended the strike of this type of mineralisation along the Cathedrals Belt to an impressive 5.5 kilometres.
“With multiple EM conductors still to be drilled, including targets at the unexplored West End and Fish Hook prospects, we believe there is strong potential for more high-grade nickel-copper sulphide discoveries.”
Web: www.stgm.com.au
