Growth focused Western Australian nickel company St George Mining Limited (ASX: SGQ) has commenced 24/7 drilling at its flagship high-grade Mt Alexander nickel-copper sulphide project, located in the north-eastern Goldfields.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Resource definition at Stricklands progresses:
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Reverse circulation (RC) drill-out of the shallow, high-grade nickel-copper sulphide deposit at the Stricklands Prospect is continuing.
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Metallurgical diamond core holes are underway with 505m of planned diamond drilling scheduled for completion this week.
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Entech, external geological consultant for the maiden resource estimate for Stricklands, will be at site this week.
Magnetotelluric (MT) and Audio-magnetotelluric (AMT) surveys continue to deliver encouraging results:
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3D modelling of the east-west survey line at the Cathedrals Belt confirms prominent conductive features at the Investigators, Fairbridge/Cathedrals and Fish Hook Prospects.
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These large conductive targets are below the extent of current drilling and have been prioritised for testing in the current drilling campaign.
Diamond drilling of new, conductive targets to commence this week:
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Diamond drilling of the new nickel-copper sulphide targets generated by the recent MT and AMT surveys will start once the Stricklands metallurgical holes are completed.
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Second diamond rig scheduled to arrive at site shortly.
Application for WA Government co-funded exploration drilling is successful:
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St George secures up to $150,000 for deep drilling at the Cathedrals Belt.
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Funding is provided under the Western Australian Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS).
Drilling 24/7 at Mt Alexander:
Both diamond drilling and RC drilling are now underway at Mt Alexander. Diamond drilling is being carried out continuously in two 12-hour shifts per day and RC drilling is conducted in one 12-hour shift per day. A second diamond rig is scheduled to arrive at site shortly and will also operate 24/7.
Drilling activity is currently focused at the Stricklands Prospect. The resource drill-out of the shallow, highgrade nickel-copper sulphide deposit at Stricklands is being carried out with RC drilling. More than 1,500m of drilling has already been completed.
St George is also well advanced with a programme of six diamond core holes, with an average depth of 80m, at Stricklands. Three of these metallurgical holes have already been completed with the remaining holes due to finish later this week. Samples from these drill holes will be used for metallurgical test work being carried out in Canada.
Once drilling of the Stricklands metallurgical holes is completed this week, diamond drilling of the new MT/AMT conductive targets will commence.
More Encouraging Results from the MT and AMT Surveys:
The initial MT/AMT surveys carried out in March 2020 included an east-west oriented survey line across the strike of the Cathedrals Belt that extended for approximately 10km from the West End Prospect in the west to the Bullets Prospect in the east.
Last month, additional MT/AMT surveys were carried out including an east-west survey line over the eastern portion of the Cathedrals Belt. The additional line extended from the Bullets Prospect in the west to the Fish Hook Prospect in the east.
The combined east-west survey line covers approximately 16km strike of the Cathedrals Belt. Detailed 3D inversion modelling of the data for the combined survey line has identified prominent conductive features across the Belt with the strongest conductive zones at the Investigators, Fairbridge/Cathedrals and Fish Hook Prospects.
The conductive area at Investigators is located down-dip of the known shallow nickel-copper sulphides at Investigators. This is a compelling target for the discovery of additional nickel-copper sulphides and was discussed in detail in our ASX Release dated 22 May 2020 St George Starts Major Drilling Campaign at Mt Alexander.
John Prineas, St George Mining’s Executive Chairman, said: “Mt Alexander is a hive of activity with both diamond and RC drilling progressing smoothly.
“The modelling of the MT survey data continues to deliver high-quality targets for the potential discovery of nickel-copper sulphides, and we are excited to be starting the drilling of these targets this week.
“The scoping study for a mining operation at Mt Alexander is also advancing with important milestones being delivered by the RC drilling and metallurgical holes at Stricklands.”
