St George Mining encouraged by latest Cambridge drilling results
THE DRILL SERGEANT: St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) is convinced it has achieved an important breakthrough in exploration at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Cambridge nickel project, located at its East Laverton Property in the North Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia.
The first phase of St George’s 2013 drilling campaign has provided new information the company believes suggests Cambridge is a large structurally modified extrusive ultramafic body.
This assertion stems from assay results, which demonstrate the magnesium content within ultramafic areas of Cambridge to be high at greater than 35 per cent magnesium oxide.
St George said this implies ultramafic areas at Cambridge are geologically consistent with the remainder of the Stella Range komatiites and that all ultramafic rocks along the Stella Range Belt – including Cambridge areas – are similarly prospective for nickel sulphides.
“Our investment in the extensive drilling at Cambridge has provided an exploration breakthrough for St George, resulting in a substantial enhancement to the exploration model for Cambridge,” St George Mining technical director Tim Hronsky said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“This will allow us to narrow the search for nickel sulphides at the main Cambridge body, and to develop priority drill targets for the untested areas of the ultramafic belt to the north and south.
“The best nickel intersection was at the bottom of CAMRC-11 and in 40 per cent magnesium oxide ultramafics, and seems to be the top of something really interesting.
“We are very excited about taking this project to the next step.”
2013 drill hole locations across the Cambridge ultramafic body.
CAMRC001 and 002 were drilled by the company in 2012. DRAC32, 33 and 34
were completed in 2012 as part of project Dragon. Source: Company
announcement
St George said its exploration model for Cambridge had been substantially improved with the additional data from the seven new drill holes it has completed over the core Cambridge area.
The seven holes traversed the entire two kilometre width of the ultramafic body encountering metasediments at both the eastern and western edges.
The company has interpreted the new data to suggest the large ovoid shape of the Cambridge body may be the result of initial subvertical folding followed by shearing-out in a westward direction, associated with moderate east-dipping reverse and/or thrust faulting.
St George considers its refined geological model for Cambridge highlights the prospectivity of the central part of the body rather than the margins, which in turn strengthens the likelihood of high-grade nickel sulphides below the currently explored levels.
Disclaimer: The Roadhouse holds shares in St George Mining