St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) today reported that the maiden diamond drilling program at the Paterson project in the Paterson Province, WA, is complete. The company said it will now shift its focus to the Mt Alexander nickel-copper-PGE project and Ajana project.
Drill core samples from the program have been submitted for petrographic analysis with laboratory assays underway, St George said it expected assays in six-to-eight weeks. Follow-up drilling is planned once assays and petrography are assessed.
Initial geological observations of the drill core indicated a structural and alteration environment with potassic rich granites intruding host sediments through brittle deformed faults and vein structures.
The maiden diamond drill program represented a major escalation of St George’s greenfields exploration at the Paterson project and tested priority structural targets for the potential to host large copper-gold systems. The company completed a further three drill holes – PDD006, PDD007 and PDD008 – since its last ASX Release dated 13 July 2022 titled Drilling Update for the Paterson Project.
John Prineas, St George Mining’s Executive Chairman, said:
“Eight drill holes have been completed in the current programme. These very broad spaced holes tested several large conceptual targets zones across the 35km strike of the Paterson Project area.
“Significantly, all completed drill holes have confirmed the presence of a favourable geological setting to potentially host copper and gold systems. This is an important milestone for exploration and a big step forward in confirming the prospectivity of the Paterson Project.
“We will plan further drilling at the Paterson once assays are reviewed and areas of interest are prioritised.
“While we await assays for the Paterson, we are ramping up field work at our Mt Alexander and Ajana Projects in Western Australia.
“Both the seismic and EM surveys at Mt Alexander have now been completed with interpretation and modelling of data underway. Early indications are that anomalies prospective for Ni-Cu-PGEs are emerging. Drilling will be scheduled once targets are finalised.
“We will also continue our field-mapping and rock chip sampling of the extensive pegmatite outcrops at Mt Alexander. These pegmatites may be part of the same system that hosts the nearby major lithium discovery announced by Red Dirt Metals (ASX: RDT) – see ASX Releases by RDT dated 21 September 2021 Mt Ida – A New Lithium Province and 8 February 2022 Maiden RC Lithium Results from Mt Ida.
“At the Ajana Project, we are engaging with the local farmers regarding land access arrangements as we also progress target generation in advance of a maiden drill programme planned later this year. Drilling will focus on testing a large interpreted mafic intrusion within the Northampton Block, located near the western margin of the Yilgarn Craton and proximal to historic base metal mines. We are excited by the potential for Ni-Cu-PGE mineralisation at this greenfields project.
“We look forward to reporting on these exciting developments in the coming weeks.”
