St George Mining has acquired seven hard rock lithium projects to beef up its WA portfolio, further driving its strategic move into lithium exploration in addition to its flagship Mt Alexander nickel project.
Several of the company’s new projects are located along strike from high-grade spodumene lithium deposits and active mines. Its Split Rock project sits just 25km along strike from the massive Earl Grey lithium deposit, which has bulging resources of 189 million tonnes at 1.5 per cent lithium oxide.
The seven new projects feature 14 exploration licences covering 653 square kilometres. The acquisitions follow the company’s recent acquisition of the Woolgangie lithium project, after also signing an “Area of Influence” agreement with Cacique Resource for potential lithium and nickel rights at Mt Holland.
St George’s wholly-owned subsidiary Lithium Star acquired its seven new lithium projects from Chariot Corporation and Stallion Lithium. The deal was sealed by St George paying $300,000 along with passing on more than six million of its shares, which will be held in escrow for the next year.
Additionally, if an inferred JORC mineral resource of more than 10 million tonnes of lithium oxide with a minimum grade of 1 per cent is established within five years, the vendors will collect a further 15 million shares from St George. The payment will be mirrored at each project if the milestone can be replicated.
Chariot will retain a 2 per cent net smelter royalty, but St George has an option to pay $5 million to buy back half of it at each project.
St George Mining executive chairman John Prineas said: “This is a strategic move by St George to deliver a step-change in exploration opportunities in the world’s premier hard-rock lithium address of Western Australia. The acquisitions are in line with our strategy to build and explore a high-quality portfolio of lithium assets in Tier 1 jurisdictions.”
St George says several of the projects are in regions that already have high-grade lithium deposits being developed or which are underpinning mining operations. The company believes the projects are underexplored for lithium and it hopes to unlock the lithium resource potential with systematic exploration.
The Split Rock project covers 73 sq km within the Mt Holland pegmatite field near the Earl Grey Deposit, which is one of the biggest and highest-grade lithium deposits in Australia. Zenith Minerals’ Rio prospect is also just 3.5km east of St George’s new ground and recently returned impressive drill results of up to 26m at 1.2 per cent lithium oxide and at a considerable strike length.
St George says its magnetic survey data at Split Rock indicates greenstone rocks under surface cover and believes the ground could be prospective for pegmatite-hosted lithium mineralisation similar to that found at Mt Holland.
Its new Buningonia and Buningonia North projects are located within an established Eastern Goldfields lithium region that hosts the Bald Hill mine, which boasts resources of 26 million tonnes going 1 per cent lithium oxide. Also nearby is the Manna deposit with resources of 32.7 million tonnes grading 1 per cent lithium oxide and the Mt Marion mine, which has a pre-mining resource of 71.3 million tonnes at 1.37 per cent lithium oxide.
St George also says the 57 sq km of tenements at Buningonia and Buningonia North, which are scheduled for air-core drilling, may feature greenstone rocks at a favourable structural position at the intersection of two major faults, with the large Yardilla monzogranite intrusion sitting immediately to the west.
Management is also planning to search for concealed pegmatites at its three new Myuna Rocks exploration licences, which run over 273 sq km some 30km north of the Mt Cattlin lithium mine, after regional magnetic data revealed the potential for favourable lithologies and structures.
Another of the seven new acquisitions, known as the Carnamah project, is on the western margin of the Yilgarn Craton, about 500km north of Perth. There has been no systematic mineral exploration in the area that hosts greenstone rocks adjacent to a large granite and a major regional fault.
St George will no doubt be hoping to uncover its own answer to the Pilbara’s “Goldilocks lithium zone” adjacent to the granite.
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By Terry Bates
