Assays confirm further high-grade nickel and copper at St George Mining’s Stricklands prospect

Assays have confirmed high grade nickel and copper and the presence of cobalt and platinum group elements at St George Mining’s (ASX: SGQ) Stricklands prospect, which is part of the company’s Mt Alexander project in Western Australia.

Drilling at Stricklands returned a 17.45m intersection at 3.01% nickel, 1.31% copper, 0.13% cobalt, and 1.68 grams per tonne platinum group elements. This included a 5.3m interval with 4.39% nickel, 1.45% copper, 0.21% cobalt and 2.09g/t platinum group elements.

“We are very pleased to receive the laboratory assays for MAD71 which confirm this as an outstanding intersection of high-grade nickel-copper sulphides,” St George Mining executive chairman John Prineas said.

“The assays have also confirmed strong values for cobalt and platinum group elements, consistent with other high-grade mineralisation intersected at the Mt Alexander project,” Mr Prineas added.

Nine holes were completed at the Stricklands prospect with drilling continuing to test extensions to the high-grade nickel and copper mineralisation.

Previous exploration across the project has identified the Cathedrals and Investigators prospects with Cathedrals returning 7.5m grading 3.90% nickel, 1.74% copper, 0.12% cobalt and 3.3g/t platinum group metals, with a 3.15m interval grading 6.36% nickel, 2.92% copper, 0.20% cobalt and 5.03g/t platinum group elements.

High grade nickel was also found at Investigators with a 5.3m intersection revealing 4.95% nickel, 2.75% copper, 0.16% cobalt and 4.55g/t platinum group elements.

Preliminary test work on the ore has produced a high value concentrate with 18% nickel and 32% copper, with additional concentrates containing platinum group elements, gold and cobalt.

The project has access to nearby processing plants as well as existing infrastructure.

Mt Alexander includes four granted exploration licences, with the recent Strickland and Cathedrals Belt discoveries identified on the exploration licence held under a joint venture with Western Areas (ASX: WSA), where St George owns 75% and Western Areas retains a 25% non-contributing interest.

By early afternoon trade, St George’s stock had surged more than 40% to sit at A$0.30.