ASX-listed emerging nickel producer St George Mining announced last month that it had started second-phase drilling at the Desert Dragon Central prospect at the company’s wholly owned East Laverton property, in Western Australia.

The drill rig has been moved to the prospecting site and drilling has started at the DDRDD0004 hole, which will test for an extension of the thick interval of the disseminated nickel sulphides intersected in DRAC35, which was drilled westwards.

DDRDD0004 will be drilled from the same collar as DRAC35, but to the east. The latest interpretation of the recent and historical drilling at Desert Dragon Central has provided a vector to the east for potential higher-grade mineralisation, suggesting that the nickel sulphide zone intersected in DRAC35 may extend to the east with potential increases in grade.

St George Mining executive chairperson John Prineas notes that the second-phase drilling at Desert Dragon Central is taking place at the same time as the completion of the downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) survey of the Desert Dragon North prospect.

The company also announced in July that drilling at the DDNDD0001 hole at Desert Dragon North has reached a depth of 225 m, intersecting two distinct ultramafic units between 72 m and 82 m and 187 m and 200 m in the hole. The ultramafic is in contact with sulphidic sediments that include sulphide stringers and some anomalous nickel, copper and zinc values. These provisional results are based on visual logging and spot X-ray fluorescence analysis. Laboratory assays will provide a more definitive assessment of the metal content of these zones.

The geology intersected at DDNDD0001 indicates a major shear zone, which is particularly evident from rock fabric and related geochemistry.

DDNDD0001 was drilled underneath the significant nickel sulphide stringers encountered in hole DDNRC002, which intersected 2 m at a nickel content of 1.08% from 55 m and 2 m at a nickel content of 0.43% from 59 m. This mineralisation is interpreted to be a fragment that has been dislocated from a larger body of ultramafic that is hosts massive nickel sulphides.

The strong shear zone encountered by DDNDD0001 provides further support to this geological model of structural remobilisation of the nickel sulphides by the shear zone.

The primary source of the nickel sulphide mineralisation is interpreted to be locally situated, probably no more than a few hundred metres either laterally and/or vertically, from the massive nickel sulphide stringers encountered in DDNRC002.

A DHEM survey will be completed shortly at DDNDD0001 to test for any electromagnetic anomalies, located either laterally and/or at depth. Any DHEM anomaly has the potential to represent the primary source of the nickel sulphide mineralisation in DDNRC002.

Further drilling of DDNDD0001 has been suspended until the results of the DHEM survey are received and a decision can be made to either extend the hole or to drill a new hole to target a DHEM conductor.