St George Mining has returned from drilling with high-grade zinc, lead and silver hits from Ajana. Pic via Getty Images.
Maiden drilling by St George returns significant zinc, lead and silver hits from Ajana
Mining
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- St George has hit into near-surface, high-grade base metal mineralisation from its maiden drilling program at Ajana
- Zinc grades show up to 4.22%
- Initial drilling pegs Ajana as a potential “district-scale” mining opportunity
Maiden drilling at St George Mining’s Ajana base metals project in WA’s Yilgarn Craton has hit near-surface zinc grades up to 4.22%, as well as lead and silver mineralisation, “significantly enhancing the exploration opportunity” at the tenure.
While St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) is prioritising nickel-copper-PGE mineralisation, maiden drilling has unexpectedly, yet impressively, shown up high-grade zinc hits from first-pass drilling.
The Ajana project, north of Geraldton, is largely underexplored due to a thin sandstone formation blanketing the proterozoic base metal host sequence.
St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) says several Zn-Pb deposits “present as analogues to the style of mineralisation observed at the Ajana project to date”.
Unconformity-related, sediment-hosted deposits similar to Ajana within WA include Galena Mining’s (ASX: G1A) Abra deposit that has a resource of 33Mt @ 7.1% Pb, 17g/t Ag and Rumble Resources’ (ASX: RTR) Earaheedy deposit with a resource of 94Mt @ 3.1% Zn+Pb.
Results
After completing detailed airborne magnetic and ground gravity surveys, the explorer identified two large-scale targets that were interpreted to host potential significant mineralisation.
The team got the drill bit out for Target 1 – the Perseverant prospect – a 25km long magnetic feature, completing 11 RC holes and 3 diamond holes.
Target 2, the Catalina prospect, is a smaller, 2km-long ‘plug-like’ magnetic anomaly which is interpreted to be an intrusion. Two holes, one diamond and one RC, were completed.
St George says assays for maiden drilling at the prospects confirm locally high-grade zinc, lead and silver mineralisation in multiple drill holes including:
- AJRC002: 5m @ 1.23% Zn + Pb, 7.2g/t Ag from 57m, including 1m @ 2.06% Zn + Pb, 3.66g/t Ag from 61m
- AJRC002: 1m @ 4.22% Zn + Pb, 1.1 g/t Ag from 95m
- AJRC003: 1m @ 1.83% Zn + Pb, 1.34 g/t Ag from 99m
- AJRC004: 1m @ 2.01% Zn + Pb, 8.81 g/t Ag from 45m
- AJRC009: 11m @ 1.2% Zn + Pb, 2.65g/t Ag from 138m
- AJRC011: 1m @ 1.54 % Zn + Pb, 0.24g/t Ag from 180m
St George says the footprint of St George’s maiden drill program stretches 20km and has shown the depth of the cover sequence to be consistently less than 40m from surface.
With a total landholding of 1,750km2 – it could turn into a district-scale mining opportunity.
“The exciting initial drilling results at Ajana are located in a previously unexplored area, beneath shallow overburden. It is a blind discovery – a credit to our technical team and their use of modern geophysics and other exploration technologies,” St George exec chair John Prineas says.
“It is early days but the signs are there that this discovery could evolve and result in the definition of significant mineralisation.”
What’s next?
A number of work programs are underway, including detailed airborne magnetic survey of northern tenement E70/6142 to identify additional prospective magnetic targets.
St George is also completing a heritage assessment to provide drill rig access to the Catalina Prospect. Further assays from diamond drill holes are pending and expected in 4-6 weeks.
A review of drill assays and assessment of pathfinder elements is in progress to assist ongoing drill targeting, with a follow-up drill program to commence in Q4 this year.
This article was developed in collaboration with St George Mining, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
