St George Mining Limited (ASX: SGQ) has commenced a maiden drill programme at its wholly-owned Ajana Project in the state of Western Australia. Drilling is underway with 17 drill holes planned for 3,000m of drilling.
The project is in the Northampton Mineral Field, near the Yilgarn Craton. Many base metal deposits dominated by high-grade lead, zinc, and copper sulphides were mined at Northampton between 1850 to 1973. The deposits were small, controlled, and discovered outcropping where surface cover was eroded.
“Our review of overlooked greenfields opportunities in the West Yilgarn identified an area in the Northampton Mineral Field with very prominent magnetic features but virtually no prior exploration,” John Prineas, St George Mining’s Executive Chairman said.
“St George completed its own high-resolution magnetic survey at Ajana followed by detailed gravity surveys over two priority targets – the results of which strongly enhanced our initial interpretation that the large magnetic features may be indicative of late-stage, potentially layered mafic intrusions which are prospective to host significant nickel-copper-PGEs.”
The Northampton Mineral Field has been largely overlooked as a mineral province with significant potential for other mineral deposits. Two priority target areas have been identified in this area and will be tested in the initial phase of drilling. Both lie adjacent to major structures and present as co-incident magnetic and gravity anomalies that are interpreted to be mafic intrusions with potential to be associated with significant nickel-copper-PGE mineralization.
The first target is a 25km-long magnetic anomaly with structural features that support the interpretation of a layered mafic intrusion. The second target is a 2km-long magnetic anomaly with a ‘plug-like’ feature that is also interpreted to be a late-stage mafic intrusion.
The very encouraging results from the surveys prompted St George to increase its landholding at Ajana from two to seven exploration licences (four pending) covering an increased area of 1,750km2 St George has 100% ownership of this expanded area.
Exploration analogues include the West Musgrave Nebo-Babel deposits (390Mt @0.30% Ni and 0.33% Cu for contained metal of 1.2Mt Ni and 1.3Mt Cu) and the Nova-Bollinger deposit (14.3Mt @2.3% Ni and 0.9% Cu for contained metal of 325,000t Ni and 134,000t Cu).
For further information, please visit: www.stgm.com.au
