St George Mining has picked up seven new hard-rock lithium projects in Western Australia through its wholly-owned subsidiary Lithium Star, including five operations in the renowned southern Yilgarn Craton area.
The company has secured a total of 14 licenses covering a significant 653 square kilometres, with exploration programs already planned this year across each of its projects.
In the southern portion of the Yilgarn Craton, St George has obtained the Split Rock, Buningonia, Buningonia North, Myuna Rocks and the Ten Mile West projects.
Split Rock sits within the Mt Holland pegmatite field about 25km north-west of the Earl Grey deposit that is considered one of the biggest and highest-grade lithium deposits in Australia, with a mineral resource of 189 million tonnes at 1.5 per cent lithium oxide. The 73-sq-km operation takes in four exploration licences and St George believes the area is prospective for the thick lithium-bearing pegmatites found in the Mt Holland region.
Buningonia and Buningonia North are also in the Eastern Goldfields region in an area with an established lithium footprint, including the Bald Hill mine and Mineral Resources’ Mt Marion site. The company now holds one exploration license at Buningonia covering 38sq km, while it has added two granted licences and 19sq km at Buningonia North.
Myuna Rocks sits just 30km north of Allkem’s operating Mt Cattlin mine near Ravensthorpe. St George’s newly-acquired operation includes three exploration licenses covering 273sq km. Management says it plans to target concealed pegmatites with regional magnetics showing similar structures to Mt Cattlin.
Ten Mile West is south of Buningonia and covers 23sq km. It is close to Liontown Resources’ Buldania project and the site comprises a single exploration licence that is still under application.
St George Mining executive chairman John Prineas said: “Five of the new projects are located in the southern portion of the Yilgarn Craton, an area gaining a global reputation as a ‘super province’ for lithium with 3 spodumene-producing mines and 5 others in development. Exploration ground in this region is highly sought after.”
Outside of the southern Yilgarn Craton area, the company has also picked up the Carnamah and Lindiville projects.
Carnamah is about 500km north of Perth, with a single granted exploration licence of 11sq km. It sits on the western margin of the Yilgarn Craton in an area with no systematic mineral exploration. St George believes the area is favourable for hosting pegmatites.
Lindiville lies on the north-west edge of the Yilgarn Craton, with pegmatites already mapped in the region. The site takes in two granted exploration licences and covers 124sq km.
St George has flagged exploration at all seven sites in the coming weeks, subject to heritage approvals. It will include ground field-mapping, in addition to rock-chip and geochemical sampling. Drilling is also in the works for the more advanced projects, which are likely to focus on Split Rock and Buningonia.
The seven new acquisitions add to St George’s lithium portfolio that includes its Mt Alexander project, where recent drilling returned an impressive continuous 121m pegmatite hit in a single diamond drill hole. With exploration set to kick off in weeks, the market will be keeping a close eye on what it can unearth with its latest additions.
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By Michael Philipps
