St George Mining has fired up the drill rig in its maiden nickel-copper hunt at its Ajana project east of Geraldton in Western Australia’s Mid West region.
Up to 3000m of reverse-circulation (RC) drilling is set to be plunged into a duo of intriguing geophysical anomalies etched out from recent high-resolution aeromagnetic and gravity geophysical surveys.
The first target to feel the bite of the drillbit includes an elliptical magnetic anomalous body that stretches through a 25km strike. Interestingly, the large magnetic feature exhibits several concentric magnetic horizons indicative of a layered mafic intrusion, drawing stark parallels to IGO’s Nova-Bollinger deposit that holds 14.3 million tonnes averaging 2.3 per cent nickel and 0.9 per cent copper.
A second target, nearly 20km to the south-east, is a “plug-like” irregular magnetic feature that is coincident with a strong gravity anomaly. The company believes the feature may be a late-stage mafic intrusion that represents a potentially different mineralised system given its distinct geophysical signature.
Both targets lie adjacent to large, regional-scale fault systems, which St George says bodes well for the style of mineralisation being pursued. Management has its mitts on two exploration licences covering 330 square kilometres of the under-explored Northampton mineral field, 70km north of Geraldton.
The area houses a medley of small-scale, high-grade copper, lead and zinc deposits that were mined intermittently from 1850 through to the mid-1970s. Given the size of the discoveries and a blanket of transported cover, the area has been largely overlooked as a mineral province.
The company believes it has significant potential to host other styles of mineralisation, including the lauded intrusive-related nickel-copper-platinum group style of deposits. Following its recent success in lighting up multiple high-priority geophysical anomalies, it has applied for an additional five exploration licences to bring its total landholding to a mammoth 1750sq km.
St George Mining executive chairman John Prineas said: “The Ajana Project was secured by St George shortly after the major nickel-copper-PGE discovery by Chalice Mining at its Julimar Project in the West Yilgarn. Our review of overlooked greenfield opportunities in the West Yilgarn identified an area in the Northampton Mineral Field with very prominent magnetic features but virtually no prior exploration.”
Pegging out tenure in terrains previously considered largely devoid of economic mineralisation is a strategy that has paid handsome dividends for the likes of Chalice Mining, with its Julimar discovery sending its market capitalisation soaring to about $2.4 billion, and Sirius Resources, which was the focus of IGO’s $2.7 billion takeover in 2015 on the back of its Nova-Bollinger discovery.
St George is on the front foot in a first-mover strategy with a district-scale exploration opportunity in a historic mineral field that is giving off more than just a few hints of significant mineralisation below a blanket of cover. As the rods gather momentum over a collection of interesting geophysical anomalies, time will be the telling factor to see if the company is on the trail of a new discovery.
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By Helen Barling
