St George adds to WA portfolio with seven new lithium projects

St George has expanded its lithium portfolio with the acquisition of seven new hard-rock lithium projects comprising 14 exploration licences – 13 granted and 1 in application – covering a total of 653km2 in WA.

Notably, several of the projects are along strike from high-grade lithium deposits and established spodumene producing lithium mines, including:

The Split Rock Project ~25km north-west of the Earl Grey lithium deposit, which has a resource of 189Mt at 1.50% Li2O 1, owned by Covalent Lithium – a joint venture between Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) and SQM (NYSE:SQM);
The Buningonia and Buningonia North Projects, located in the same lithium province as Global Lithium’s (ASX:GL1) Manna Project and the Bald Hill Mine;
The Ten Mile West Project which is east of Liontown Resources’ (ASX:LTR) Buldania Deposit; and
The Myuna Rocks Project near Allkem’s (ASX:AKE) operating Mt Cattlin Mine.

Consideration payable is $300,000 (plus GST) in cash and $400,000 (plus GST) worth of St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) upon completion – along with a resource milestone payment of 15,000,000 shares for each project if the company announces a JORC 2012 compliant Inferred Mineral Resource of not less than 10,000,000 tonnes of Li20 with a minimum grade of 1% Li20 prior to the date which is five years from completion of the acquisition.

Consideration also includes a 2% net smelter royalty which the company can buy back half of by paying $5,000,000 cash to Chariot at any time prior to first commercial production from that project.

Highly sought after lithium region

These acquisitions follow the company’s acquisition of the Woolgangie Project and the signing of the Mt Holland area of influence agreement, as St George establishes a high-quality portfolio of hard-rock lithium assets in the state.

“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,” executive chairman John Prineas said.

“Several of the projects being acquired are located in regions that have delivered very significant results for other explorers and led to the confirmation of high-grade deposits being developed or already underpinning mining operations.

“Exploration ground in these regions is highly sought after.”

St George Mining asx sgq — Map showing the location of the new projects acquired by St George as well as the existing Mt Alexander and Woolgangie Projects. Pic: Suppled (SGQ)

Systematic exploration planned

The projects being acquired by St George are underexplored for lithium, with the company planning exploration programs for each new project.

“Our focus will be on unlocking any resource potential through systematic exploration,” Prineas said.

Planned exploration activities will likely include, but not be limited to:

Ground field mapping where amenable;
Geochem sampling through soils or auger drilling;
Airborne magnetics where historic or no previous magnetics are available; and
Aircore and reverse circulation drilling for the more advanced projects, such as the Buningonia Project.

This article was developed in collaboration with St George Mining Limited (ASX:SGQ), 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.