St George says it’s spotted pegmatite dykes east-west along strike from the Mt Ida lithium discovery announced by Red Dirt Metals. Pic via Getty Images.
Mining
Numerous outcropping pegmatite dykes have been identified occurring in swarms, after a program of initial field mapping and rock chip sampling in WA’s north-eastern Goldfields.
St George (ASX:SGQ) managing director John Prineas says the pegmatite dykes strike east-west within a regional corridor understood to host the major lithium discovery announced by Red Dirt Metals (ASX:RDT) at the Mt Ida Project, southeast of Mt Alexander.
“The results support a compelling case to accelerate exploration for lithium pegmatite mineralisation,” he explains.
“We will advance the lithium exploration in tandem with drill testing several very promising, recently identified nickel targets announced on September 1.”
Strong rubidium values could mean more lithium
Prineas adds the company is also excited by the strong rubidium values in sample assays received to date, which is a strong indicator of pegmatites favourable for lithium mineralisation in weathered environments.
Values for rubidium were as high as 0.6% with anomalous rubidium seen in initial sampling across the 15km project area in a strongly weathered pegmatite, a key feature for indicating the potential of the pegmatite to be lithium bearing.
Around 45 rock chips were collected during preliminary mapping in selective areas along strike from RDT’s Mt Ida with values for lithium up to 157ppm, 44ppm caesium and 125ppm tantalum.
“The pegmatites at Mt Alexander may be part of the same system that hosts the Mt Ida Project, which further underpins the lithium prospectivity at our project,” Prineas says.
“Mt Alexander has never been explored for lithium, providing St George with an outstanding opportunity to make a greenfields discovery in what has become a lithium exploration hotspot.”
A field exploration campaign is now underway to define targets for drill testing with activities including mapping and systematic sampling of the numerous outcropping pegmatite dykes along the belt.
The width at surface of the pegmatites mapped to date is up to 15m, though the true thickness is not yet known because of the uncertainty of the dip angle and will be further clarified by the current field mapping.
Most importantly, St George believes the prospective pegmatite outcrops have the width and strike that could provide scale to any potential discovery.
Targets for drill testing will be finalised once results of the field campaign are assessed with the maiden drilling program set to kick off in quarter four.
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.
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