St George Mining has announced further high-grade intercepts at its Araxá rare earths and niobium project in Brazil, extending current mineralisation 150 metres west of its existing 40.6 million tonne resource.
One of the company’s diamond drill holes returned a finding of 87.7 metres at 2.95 per cent total rare earth oxide (TREO) at 0.41 per cent niobium pentoxide (Nb2O2) from just two metres in depth, including several other higher-grade intervals of up to 7.89 per cent TREO.
St George executive chairman John Prineas said that the results from hole AXDD002 “continue to support the potential for a substantial increase” in the scale of high-grade deposits at the Araxá project.
“On top of our first diamond hole, a large step-out 230 metres west of the mineral resource estimate (MRE) that intersected 98 metres of high-grade rare earths from surface, we are off to a great start in proving up more resources at Araxá,” he said.
“The combination of high grades and consistent continuity supports the potential for a large resource upgrade at the conclusion of the current drill campaign.”
St George also reported neodymium and praseodymium TREO (NdPr: TREO) as high as 31 per cent, highlighting Araxá’s concentration of magnet rare earths critical for permanent magnet manufacturing in electric vehicles and renewables.
Looking deeper into the findings, the intercept also includes 70 metres at 3.02 per cent TREO and 0.43 per cent Nb2O2 from two metres; 9.65 metres at 4.15 per cent TREO and 0.55 per cent Nb2O2 from two metres; and one metre at 7.89 per cent TREO and 0.95 per cent Nb2O2 from 56.6 metres.
St George operates three diamond rigs in the Araxá project in a continuous drilling campaign, with the company saying that more assays are expected in the coming weeks.
This project, located in the Minas Gerais region in Brazil, is the country’s largest and highest-grade carbonatite-hosted rare earth resource and ranks second in the Western world by grade.
“With a world-class resource already confirmed and our location in an established mining region that supports a potential expedited pathway to development, the Araxá project is emerging as a stand-out opportunity to support efforts by the Western world to fast-track the establishment of a new and secure supply of rare earths outside of China,” Prineas said.
Looking ahead, the company is working with the Brazil government’s MAGBRAS initiative to establish an integrated domestic supply chain for magnet and rare earth products.
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