St George Mining has identified five new nickel copper targets at its Mt Alexander project. The company said the conceptual targets for nickel-copper-platinum group elements, or PGEs, are large and compelling, with minimal previous drilling.
Infill and extensional diamond drilling is also aiming at known, high-grade mineralisation in a bid to expand the Investigators and Stricklands deposits.
Seismic surveys will be expanded after recent drilling at three of the new zones confirmed they can successfully locate potentially mineralised structures.
No sulphide mineralisation was found and drilling of the final two areas has been suspended until additional seismic survey lines are completed and analysed.
St George identified the new conceptual targets after completing a detailed review of the Mt Alexander project. The company said the nickel-copper-PGE targets have favourable structural and geological settings warranting prioritised follow-up exploration, that is scheduled to begin in the June quarter.
The Ida Fault target is described as a structurally-complex area where the Cathedrals Belt is truncated by the craton-scale Ida Fault. The company interprets the Ida Fault as being a possible pathway for shallow westerly plunging high-grade mineralisation.
St George has identified regions within the Radar and Fish Hook as possible eastern extensions to the Cathedrals Belt. At Radar a previous drill intersection returned 4.0m at 3.0 per cent nickel, 1.1 per cent copper and 2.2 grams per tonne PGEs from 48m downhole.
Another area of potential identified by the company is the contact zone between the Mt Alexander greenstone belt and granite on its northern side.
St George believes an untested gravity and magnetic anomaly, in an east-west structure 1km north of the Stricklands deposit, has similarities to Stricklands and is a “walk-up” drill target.
Two strong downhole electromagentic conductors of 22,800 and 9825 Siemens have been identified north-west of the main Stricklands Deposit.
Their location is near the western end of known mineralisation and St George believes they represent massive nickel-copper sulphides. The stronger conductor is located at a depth of 600m.
St George Mining Executive Chairman, John Prineas, said: “We are energised by these new exploration initiatives which could help to add to the four shallow high-grade nickel-copper discoveries we have already made across the Cathedrals Belt.”
St George identifies the high-grade nickel-copper-PGE mineralisation at Mt Alexander as being structurally controlled, therefore driving the company to test the newly-identified potential targets. Only time will tell if the new targets deliver the “step change” in the scale of the Mt Alexander project that St George believes they can.
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