St George Mining Limited (ASX: SGQ) says an expanded drill program is underway at its flagship Mt Alexander Lithium Project in WA’s Goldfields, with confidence underpinned by the return of encouraging first assays from the maiden lithium drilling campaign carried out in 2022.
Reverse circulation (RC) drilling is underway at Mt Alexander, with 20,000m of exploration drilling expected in H1 2023 and additional RC and diamond drilling to be scheduled throughout 2023.
New Programs of Work for drilling have been approved and include several areas not previously drilled for lithium, including the highly prospective contact adjacent to the Copperfield Granite, which is directly along strike from the significant lithium discoveries by Red Dirt Metals (ASX: RDT) at its Mt Ida Project.
Drilling will test numerous pegmatites mapped across the 15km pegmatite corridor at Mt Alexander as well as testing the down-dip continuity and potential for thickening of the lithium pegmatites intersected in the 2022 drilling.
St George is well-funded and has the support of its strategic partners to expand drilling and ramp up exploration activities based on results.
In addition, the first batch of laboratory assays from the 2022 reconnaissance drilling have returned anomalous lithium values in every pegmatite tested with a number of intersections of greater than 1% Li2O and intervals of anomalous lithium up to 14m thick. Assays also contain elevated values for tantalum, caesium and rubidium, providing further evidence of the fertility of the pegmatites for lithium mineralisation.
“I am pleased to report that the St George team is on the ground at Mt Alexander and has kicked off the 2023 drill program, in line with our promise to shareholders,” executive chairman John Prineas said.
“This expanded drill program is built on the maiden campaign we undertook in late 2022 and which is now delivering the first batch of highly encouraging assays.
“Those initial results from the 2022 program demonstrate that the lithium-mineralised pegmatite outcrops identified from rock chip sampling continue below surface with mineralisation open at depth.
“This is an important exploration milestone for Mt Alexander and provides strong encouragement for the potential of systematic exploration of the extensive pegmatites at Mt Alexander to delineate significant lithium mineralisation.
“We are excited to be ramping up our drill program which is designed as a step-out and discovery campaign of drilling across our 15km-long pegmatite corridor.
“The backing of our strategic partners – leading lithium-ion battery companies Shanghai Jayson, SVOLT Energy and Sunwoda Electronic – means we also have the flexibility to add to the Mt Alexander drill program with further RC and diamond holes as results warrant.
“Mt Alexander is an exciting lithium opportunity and just one of several highly prospective battery minerals projects in St George’s expanding pipeline.
“Investors can expect steady news flow over the coming months, with drilling updates and assay results from Mt Alexander to be released as available while we progress exploration activities at our other exciting projects across Western Australia.”
