Growth-focused West Australian nickel stock St George Mining Limited (ASX: SGQ) has made a new high-grade nickel-copper sulphide discovery at its flagship Mt Alexander Project, located near Leonora in the north-eastern Goldfields. The discovery at the Radar Prospect comes amid a soaring global nickel price and confirms St George as the most advanced high-grade nickel sulphide explorer on the ASX.
The first hole to be drilled at Radar intersected nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation between 44.2m and 51.7m downhole including intervals of massive nickel-copper sulphides. The core delivered XRF readings of up to 6% nickel and 1.9% copper. Follow-up drilling is being fast-tracked. The Radar discovery comes as the three-month London Metal Exchange nickel price hit a five-year high of $US17,780/t, or about $US8 a pound.
HIGHLIGHTS
· Thick Zone of High-Grade Nickel-Copper Sulphides intersected in first hole at a new target area of the Cathedrals Belt
· Massive nickel-copper sulphides discovered at shallow depth in first ever drilling at the recently named Radar Prospect
· 7.5m thick mineralised interval from 44.2m downhole in drill hole MAD152
· The Radar Prospect area is concealed by 10m of sand cover, highlighting the effectiveness of EM techniques in detecting sulphide mineralisation (including ‘blind’ targets) in the Cathedrals Belt
· Follow-up drilling to be prioritised as soon as the downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) survey in MAD152 is completed
· The new discovery is located in an area that has never before been drilled, and more than 1km east of the nearest known sulphide mineralisation at the Cathedrals Prospect
· The east-west strike of mineralisation on the Cathedrals Belt is now extended to 5.5km with potential for significant further extensions at the West End Prospect and Fish Hook Prospect, where new EM anomalies have been identified by ongoing EM surveys
MAD152 is the first drill hole at the newly named Radar Prospect and intersected nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation between 44.2m and 51.7m downhole including intervals of massive nickel-copper sulphides.
The hole was drilled to test a new EM conductor identified by EM surveys completed by St George earlier this month. The conductor was initially detected by a Moving Loop EM (MLEM) survey. An optimised follow-up Fixed Loop EM (FLEM) survey confirmed a late-time anomaly, which was modelled with a conductivity of 35,000 Siemens and at a depth of approximately 50m.
A DHEM survey will be completed in MAD152 next week to identify extensions of mineralisation around the hole and to plan follow-up drilling.
The significant intersection in MAD152 represents a new discovery in an unexplored section of the Cathedrals Belt and is important for a number of reasons:
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 substantial volumes of 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:
a) The east-west strike of known high-grade nickel-copper sulphides along the Cathedrals Belt is extended by this discovery to 5.5km, with another 10.5km of the Cathedrals Belt remaining as unexplored or underexplored.
b) In particular, 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 significantly elevated by the latest success at Radar.
3. It supports the effectiveness of 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.
John Prineas, St George Mining’s Executive Chairman, said: “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 1km from the nearest known mineralisation on the Cathedrals Belt is an excellent exploration result and a credit to our technical team.
“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 5.5km.
“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.”