Thick pegmatites, including one stretching more than 120m, have boosted St George Mining’s lithium search at the Manta prospect within its Mt Alexander project in Western Australia, as it attempts to define a bigger lithium system.
The company believes analysis from pegmatites intersected in its recent exploration indicates a wide, multi-phase and locally-fractionated pegmatite system. It says it has the potential to host lithium mineralisation where the pegmatites are intruded into more prospective host lithologies within the adjacent greenstone sequence at Mt Alexander.
St George’s seismic data modelling defined the thick, flat-lying pegmatite as a strong, 1000m-diameter circular feature and the company is now planning additional geophysics testing and drilling to probe the area around the prospect for lithium-bearing pegmatites.
The Manta prospect sits on a granted exploration licence and is covered by a joint venture between St George, which manages the project and holds 75 per cent, and IGO, which has taken up the remaining share in a non-contributing interest until there is a decision to mine.
St George Mining executive chairman John Prineas said: “Our understanding of the lithium prospectivity continues to grow at Mt Alexander with recent drill results confirming high-grade and anomalous lithium across a wide area. Most encouraging is the very thick 120.8m, flat-lying and locally fractionated zone of pegmatites intersected in hole MAD213 at the Manta prospect, approximately 9km north of the Jailbreak lithium prospect. These types of pegmatites are what is required for large mineral deposits and we will continue to test for potential extensions of the Manta pegmatites within and below the adjacent greenstone belt.”
Management says its project confidence is growing after assay results from its recent drilling program at its Jailbreak prospect also confirmed multiple lithium-bearing pegmatites, with a peak value of 1.28 per cent lithium.
The healthy portfolio of results for St George comes despite exploration to date occurring across only a 2km strike of the pegmatite corridor. There is a further 13km extension that houses an extensive network of mapped pegmatites, but it is yet to feel the bite of the drillbit.
The company is particularly interested in the southern extension of the corridor and believes it could continue for at least another 1.5km. It butts up against the Mt Bevan project, which is the subject of a three-way lithium joint venture between Hancock Prospecting, Legacy Iron Ore and Hawthorn Resources.
The area’s booming lithium credentials were also boosted recently by the interest in the David Flanagan-led Delta Lithium’s Mt Ida project, which sits in the same corridor. Formerly known as Red Dirt Metals, the outfit announced last month that it had secured a $46.4 million investment from Japanese petroleum giant Idemitsu Kosan through a strategic placement.
With some seriously heavy hitters also poking around in an area gaining plenty of attention, expectations are building for St George as it continues tp spin the drillbit.
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By Steve Kaless
