St George expands its grip on prospective lithium corridor at Mt Alexander

St George has highlighted its belief in the lithium prospectivity of its flagship Mt Alexander project in Western Australia’s Mt Ida lithium province by expanding its landholding.

The company’s hold over the highly prospective pegmatite corridor parallel to the Copperfield Granite has been expanded by the acquisition of exploration licence E29/1143 and application for Prospecting Licence P29/2680.

St George Mining’s (ASX:SGQ) new ground is contiguous with existing Mt Alexander tenure, giving it near continuous coverage over 15km of the pegmatite corridor, plus the critical contact with the Copperfield Granite – the interpreted source of the mineralised pegmatites.

Extensive pegmatite outcrops have already been observed on the newly acquired ground with field mapping and sampling to commence within weeks.

It follows the company’s first drilling at the Jailbreak prospect intersecting lithium-bearing mineralisation below surface rock chips which had returned assays topping up at 3.25% Li2O, 225 parts per million (ppm) cesium oxide (Cs2O), 53ppm tantalum and 1.24% rubidium.

The company is paying $50,000 in cash, 4.48 million shares and a 1% net smelter royalty for any minerals produced from E29/1143 to the vendor for the two licences.

An emerging lithium province

“This tenement acquisition further strengthens our land position at Mt Alexander and stamps St George as a dominant player in this new lithium province,” executive chairman John Prineas said.

As an example of Mt Ida’s emergence as a new lithium province, he highlighted Red Dirt Metals’ recent definition of a significant lithium resource (12.7Mt at 1.2% Li2O) at their Mt Ida project to the southeast.

“With both junior and major mining companies looking to gain a foothold in the Mt Ida lithium province, we are delighted to have consolidated a large continuous tenement package that covers highly prospective areas of the pegmatite corridor and adjacent margin of the Copperfield Granite,” Prineas added.

“Our work has already identified pegmatite outcrops on the new ground, indicating expansion potential for the lithium mineral system at our existing tenements.

“We are keen to commence field mapping and rock chip sampling on the new tenements as we try to replicate the success that delivered the high-grade lithium results at our Jailbreak Prospect.”

Other companies operating in the area include Zenith Minerals (ASX:ZNC) (Mt Ida North) and Hawthorn Resources (ASX:HAW) in joint venture with Legacy Iron Ore (ASX:LCY) and Hancock Prospecting at the Mt Bevan project while Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) is developing its large Kathleen Valley deposit further to the north.