St George Mining has commenced a major lithium exploration campaign at its Mount Alexander lithium project some 200km north of Kalgoorlie WA. 20,000m of drilling will target the 15km strike length of the lithium pegmatite belt parallel to the contact zone of the Copperfield granite with the company seeking to replicate Red Dirt Metal’s Mount Ida lithium resource of 12.7 million tonnes grading 1.2 per cent lithium oxide.
St George says assays from 18 holes drilled in a maiden program in 2022 confirmed lithium bearing pegmatites extending from surface to 220m at the Jailbreak prospect. The campaign’s best results include 14m at 0.32 per cent lithium from 69m and 5m grading 0.7 per cent lithium from 19m. Sixteen individual 1m sections also gave results up to 1.8 per cent lithium oxide from a variety of depths between 20m and 262m. Results from five further drill holes are still pending. The new drill program will aim to test down dip of confirmed lithium pegmatites looking for thicker zones and better grades at depth.
Drill results from the drilling also showed elevated values of lithium, tantalum, caesium and rubidium hosted in stacked pegmatite lenses. The company said the discovery further supports the interpretation of fractionated pegmatites that are fertile for lithium deposits. Visual identification of lithium minerals spodumene and lepidolite in the drilling will be confirmed with petrographic analysis.
St George believes the positive results from its earlier exploration bode well for the systematic drill testing across the majority of the 15km by 5km pegmatite belt in the current program.
The explorer is also buoyed by Red Dirt Metal’s Mount Ida project which sits just 15km south of St George’s ground. Red Dirt has shown the lithium pegmatites at Mount Ida get thicker and higher grade at depth with their best intersection at the project announced in January giving 45m at 1.45 per cent lithium oxide from 387.5m downhole. Importantly Red Dirt concluded that a 100 parts per million lithium oxide anomaly in greenstone could indicate a significant lithium bearing pegmatite in close proximity and that it warranted follow up drilling.
St George goes into the program with $9.2m in the saddlebags from raising in the last quarter and plenty of support from its alliance partners. The strategic partners are three world leading lithium-ion battery companies, Shanghai Jayson, SVOLT Energy Technology and Sunwoda Electronic.
St George Mining Executive Chairman, John Prineas, said: “The backing of our strategic partners means we also have the flexibility to add to the Mt Alexander drill program with further RC and diamond holes as results warrant. Mt Alexander is an exciting lithium opportunity and just one of several highly prospective battery minerals projects in St George’s expanding pipeline.”
Drill holes planned in the first phase of the 2023 work will be drilled towards the south to intersect pegmatites interpreted to dip to the north and strike east-west.
Assays are also pending for soil samples taken in an area of cover in the hope of generating lithium targets that do not outcrop at surface. Detailed field mapping and rock chip sampling is underway in advance of the drill coverage of the 15km long belt.
St George appear to have got plenty of lithium sniffs to encourage its hunt and undertake systematic drilling coverage across the 15km by 5km pegmatite belt adjacent to the Copperfield granite. It may prove a fascinating campaign to watch unfold.
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By Matt Birney
