St George Mining to get busy exploring East Laverton, drilling to commence

Gold and nickel focused St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) has commenced its 2011 field exploration program at its East Laverton project in the North-Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia, which has potential to be a major, new nickel sulphide district.

BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) is sole funding the East Laverton project to a Bankable Feasibility Study.

After an extended wet season, the company said that ground conditions at the project are now manageable and drilling of high priority targets, such as the Desert Dragon and Balmoral gold prospects, are scheduled for the third and fourth quarters of 2011. The company believes these targets could host million ounce deposits.

The project represents a dominant landholding on the eastern fringe of the Yilgarn Craton which has attractive exploration prospects for gold, as well as nickel.

The East Laverton Property is located about 130 kilometres south-east of Laverton and 200 kilometres northeast of Kalgoorlie, and covers a contiguous area of 1,810 square kilometres.

St George Mining’s tenements cover the southern continuation of the Duketon Belt. The northern part of the Duketon Belt has already yielded several recent nickel sulphide discoveries, including the Rosie Prospect (70% Independence Group NL (ASX: IGO) and 30% South Boulder Mines Limited (ASX: STB)).

Geochemical soil sampling will be completed over further areas of interest and an airborne magnetic survey is being planned for the new Balmoral gold prospect.

In addition, test drilling is planned for the Red Dragon and Cambridge gold prospects.

There is 8,000 metres of air-core drilling scheduled for these prospects and site preparation will commence shortly. The drill results should start to filter through around late September.  The company will be drilling from late August/early September through to December, and will have a progressive flow of news on the drill results over the fouth quarter 2011. 

John Prineas, St. George's executive chairman, said, "our East Laverton is frontier ground and our regional neighbours include the Tropicana Joint Venture and the Yamarna Project of Gold Road Resources (ASX: GOR).

"This is where major new discoveries are being made. Our exploration in East Laverton to date is very encouraging and we will be keenly anticipating the results of the 2011 drilling program."

The company completed a large regional soil survey over 850 square kilometres in the 2010 field season that was followed by infill sampling in some key areas of interest.

Tim Hronsky, technical director, said " The MMI (mobile metal iron) work has provided us with a clear understanding of the geology, major structures and local controls on gold mineralisation in East Laverton."

"This has allowed us to select several very well defined drill targets for the 2011 field season. We are about to commence a very large drill program at East Laverton, which we believe will provide us with significant drill results."

On May 16 St George satisfied the remaining condition precedent under the Project Dragon farm-in agreement with BHP Billiton for the nickel rights attaching to tenements located at its 100% owned East Laverton Property.

Under the agreement, BHP Billiton will have the right to earn a 70% interest in the nickel rights at East Laverton by sole funding a Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS), with St George retaining a 30% stake.

This underlines the nickel potential at East Laverton and BHP's perception of the upside in the project and region.


Originally published at: http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/18301/st-george-mining-to-get-busy-exploring-east-laverton-drilling-to-commence-18301.html