St George Mining appears to onto a new high-grade nickel trend at its Mt Alexander project in Western Australia. Soil sampling over the Carnac trend, about 14 kilometres north of its nickel sulphide discoveries on the Cathedrals Belt, is producing anomalous nickel and copper along more than 1,600 metres of strike with drilling now scheduled to kick off in the weeks ahead.
A full set of results from the surface geochemical sampling are yet to be received, however, the assays on hand show nickel and copper values that are consistently higher than those over the recognised nickel sulphide discoveries on the Cathedrals Belt, hinting at a potential bounty of mineralisation lurking below the desert sands at Carnac.
Soil sampling has returned values of over 400 part per million chromium, confirming the presence of mafic-ultramafic rocks, whilst nickel and copper assays are tipping the scales at over 200 and 50 ppm respectively.
St Georges Mining Executive Chairman, John Prineas said:“The peak soil values at E29/1041 are coincident with the strong magnetic features and provide a compelling target for potential nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation.”
“These anomalous soil values are higher than anything we have seen at the Cathedrals Belt, where a number of high-grade nickel-copper sulphide discoveries have already been made. “
The company’s Mt Alexander nickel sulphide project is located in the mineral-rich Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia and lies approximately 100km west of Leonora. The project consists of a strategic tenement holding over the Cathedrals Belt and its surrounding terrane.
Previous exploration by St George has delineated a string of nickel sulphide discoveries on the Cathedrals Belt that stretch along more than 16km of strike.
Whilst St George’s 2020-21 exploration program primarily focused on exploration over the Stricklands, Investigators and Fairbridge prospects on the Cathedrals Belt, the specialist nickel explorer is now looking further afield. The company’s exploration program recently highlighted a second potential base-metals bearing trend at Carnac, in the north of its extensive tenure.
Interestingly, the Carnac trend was identified in the course of a regional geological review with the structure showing similar geophysical characteristics to the Cathedrals belt. Reconnaissance sampling returned rock chip results of up to 2,475ppm nickel associated with mafic intrusive stratigraphy.
The company is now undertaking systematic and detailed sampling over the newly minted Carnac trend, having already collected more than 465 samples on 200m spaced lines with a further 533 samples to be collected in the coming weeks.
With initial lab results coming up trumps and the company already planning its maiden drilling program across the emerging nickel sulphide target at Carnac, St George looks to be wasting no time in pushing forward with its new discovery.
Management says it expects to put an aircore rig on the Carnac trend in the coming weeks once it has finished drilling the company’s copper-gold targets in the Paterson province in the middle of August.
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