St George Mining has seen its biggest volume of share trading in nearly two months after recording a continuous 121m pegmatite hit in a single diamond drill hole at its Mt Alexander project, 200km north of Kalgoorlie.
The company has reported 225m of pegmatites intersected in the same hole as part of its investigation into a wider target, known as Manta, which it identified with a large seismic reflector. Manta was one of three significant anomalies it detected through a combination of seismic and electromagnetic surveys last year.
The news saw St George’s share price spike more than 15 per cent to an intraday high of 6.1 cents after closing at 5.3c yesterday. It was the first time more than 11 million shares in the company had been traded since it revealed in early February that its exploration had recommenced at Mt Alexander.
St George says Manta is modelled as a discrete bedrock conductor and is about 320m below surface in an area of the central greenstone belt at Mt Alexander. The conductor sits near a large reflector and has a strike of about 1000m with varying thickness and the company says it features a geophysical signature consistent with massive sulphides.
The pegmatites have been identified in a 15km corridor at the Mt Alexander greenstone belt that includes lithium-mineralised pegmatites at the Jailbreak prospect about 9km south of Manta.
St George says its initial interpretation of Manta suggests it could be a viable target for nickel sulphides, similar to the high-grade mineralisation intersected at its Cathedrals Belt prospect some 3km north of Manta. Last month, the company embarked on a major lithium exploration campaign at Mt Alexander, where 20,000m of drilling will target the 15km strike length of the lithium pegmatite belt.
St George Mining executive chairman John Prineas said: “This is an exciting development in our lithium exploration at Mt Alexander. The early results from MAD213 are very encouraging with a large intersection of pegmatite that may be associated with significant structural activity. We are looking forward to further drill testing this very large pegmatite unit.”
The company says assays from 18 holes drilled in a maiden program at its Jailbreak prospect last year confirmed lithium-bearing pegmatites extending from surface to 220m. Results from the campaign include 14m at 0.32 per cent lithium from 69m and 5m grading 0.7 per cent lithium from 19m. There were also 16 individual 1m sections that gave results up to 1.8 per cent lithium oxide from a variety of depths between 20m and 262m.
Red Dirt Metals’ Mount Ida project, which sits just 15km south of St George’s ground, has shown its lithium pegmatites to get thicker and produce higher grade at depth. The best intersection at the project, announced in January, gave 45m at 1.45 per cent lithium oxide from 387.5m downhole.
Mt Alexander also sits 100km south of Liontown’s Kathleen Valley lithium project that has a mineral resource of 156 million tonnes at 1.4 per cent lithium oxide and 130 parts per million tantalum oxide, with an expected mine life of around 23 years. Earlier this week, Liontown’s shares jumped around 70 per cent after it knocked back a $5.5 billion takeover bid from US lithium giant Albemarle.
St George recently acquired seven hard-rock lithium projects to beef up its WA portfolio as part of a strategic move into lithium exploration. Several of the company’s new projects are located along strike from high-grade spodumene lithium deposits and active mines.
The 121m intercept at Manta sits on a tenement that forms part of a joint venture with IGO, with St George as the manager with a 75 per cent interest.
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By Michael Philipps
