St George Mining Limited (ASX: SGQ) has entered into a binding agreement for an option to acquire 100% of the Woolgangie Project, located in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.
The Woolgangie Project covers a large area within a prospective belt that has received only superficial previous exploration for lithium bearing pegmatites and limited exploration for other types of mineralization.
“St George believes that systematic exploration for lithium and other critical metals offers an excellent opportunity for a new discovery”, Executive Chairman, John Prineas, said.
“This acquisition expands our project portfolio in Western Australia into a highly prospective but largely overlooked region and stamps St George as a dominant player in this area.
“The option over Woolgangie provides a strategic and cost-effective pathway to grow St George’s already substantial lithium and critical metals opportunities in Western Australia, complementing our success at Mt Alexander and the potential of our other projects including Paterson, Ajana and Broadview Projects.
“We are excited by the potential for systematic exploration at Woolgangie to deliver a major discovery at this highly prospective but underexplored landholding.”
The tenements comprise nine exploration licences – two have been granted and seven are in application – covering a total area of approximately 1,200 sq km. The tenements cover two strategic areas.
One area, the western tenements, encompasses approximately 70km of strike along the highly prospective Ida Fault – a major crustal boundary that controls multiple major minerals deposits within WA. The other area, the eastern tenements, is proximal to an established lithium region that hosts several significant lithium deposits and operating mines.
Lithium Potential
The tenements along the Ida Fault are considered prospective for lithium as well as ionic clay-hosted rare earths and nickel-copper sulphides. Numerous pegmatites have been mapped for many kilometres within the western tenements along the Ida Fault and also within the eastern tenements along the margin of the known lithium province. No previous systematic exploration for lithium appears to have been conducted within the project area.
The geological setting of the western tenements has analogies to the Mt Ida district that includes Red Dirt Metals’ Mt Ida Project (MRE: 12.7 Mt @1.2% Li2O) and St George Mining’s Jailbreak lithium prospect. Liontown Resources’s Kathleen Valley (MRE: 156Mt @1.4% Li2O and 130ppm Ta2O5) is also located along the Ida Fault, to the north of Mt Alexander.
Rare Earth Elements (REE) Prospectivity
Historical drilling in 2010 by Mincor Resources identified several wide zones of rare earth anomalism while exploring for nickel sulphides. The preliminary interpretation is that the REE anomalism is more likely to relate to ionic clay-hosted rare earth mineralization rather than carbonatite hosted mineralization.
Copper Prospectivity
Historical drilling by Emu NL encountered extensive near-surface copper sulphide mineralization that warrants further follow-up exploration.
A review of historical data is ongoing and further announcements of previous results and work programmes planned at the Woolgangie Project will be made soon.
For further information please visit: https://stgm.com.au/
