St George Mining Ltd (ASX:SGQ) will soon move to drilling at the Destiny Project in Western Australia, having leveraged a combination of magnetic and gravity surveys to identify the C1 niobium and rare earth elements (REE) target as the highest priority for further exploration.
SGQ believes the C1 target is a large circular magnetic feature of about 2.1 kilometres in diameter with a high gravity signature in the core of the feature, consistent with a dense body and likely to represent a late-stage carbonatite or mafic intrusion.
This type of carbonatite intrusion is associated with rare earth elements (REE), niobium and fluorspar among others, while mafic intrusions are known to host high-grade nickel, copper and platinum group elements.
Potential for large-scale discovery
“We are delighted that our systematic exploration at the Destiny Project has identified exciting targets for carbonatite-hosted mineralisation,” St George Mining executive chair John Prineas said.
“The C1 target, in particular, has a geophysical signature and geological setting that is consistent with a late-stage intrusion such as a carbonatite.
“We are prioritising exploration at C1 in light of its similarities to known mineralised carbonatites in Western Australia – such as Mt Weld and Luni.
“The large scale of C1 supports the potential for a significant greenfield discovery and we look forward to drilling this exciting target soon.”
The Mt Weld project holds a mineral resource estimate of 55.4 million tonnes at a grade of 5.4% total rare earth oxides (TREO) for a total of 3 million tonnes contained TREO.
Meanwhile drilling at the Luni target produced anomalous niobium, REE and phosphorous mineralisation in three holes up to 1.3 kilometres apart, with results of 28 metres at 0.9% niobium and 0.3% TREO from 28 metres of depth in early drilling.
The company says the C1 target has prominent magnetic and high gravity features and sits next to the Ida Fault, a regional-scale crustal structure, making for a highly prospective target.
SGQ will complete a close-spaced gravity survey over C1 next month before finalising drill targets at Destiny.