St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) has reported further exceptional assay results from diamond drilling at its 100%-owned Araxá rare earths and niobium project in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
The latest diamond drilling results have successfully expanded the footprint of the Araxá mineralisation, confirming the three-dimensional continuity of the high-grade rare earths and niobium deposit. The results demonstrate that Araxá’s mineralised system is open-ended, with ongoing drilling expected to deliver further expansions to the volume of the deposit.
Assays for a further six diamond drill holes have been received and confirm consistent high-grade mineralisation:
- 80.55m @ 5.44% TREO and 0.60% Nb₂O₅ from surface in AXDD009 including:
- 32.3m @ 9.13% TREO and 0.75% Nb₂O₅ from surface
- 80.45m @ 5.19% TREO and 0.58% Nb₂O₅ from surface in AXDD008 including:
- 20.4m @ 7.13% TREO and 0.77% Nb₂O₅ from 56.6m
- 100.8m @ 3.53% TREO and 0.43% Nb₂O₅ from surface in AXDD011 including:
- 27m @ 4.66% TREO and 0.41% Nb₂O₅ from 17m
- 101.75m @ 2.72% TREO and 0.49% Nb₂O₅ from surface in AXDD005 including:
- 23m @ 3.62% TREO and 0.70% Nb₂O₅ from 34m
- 81.4m @ 3.23% TREO and 0.49% Nb₂O₅ from surface in AXDD006 including:
- 17.15m @ 3.68% TREO and 0.50% Nb₂O₅ from 30m
- 105m @ 3.27% TREO and 0.51% Nb₂O₅ from surface in AXDD010 including:
- 67m @ 3.98% TREO and 0.59% Nb₂O₅ from surface
Araxá’s Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 40.6Mt @ 4.13% TREO is already world class. Drill holes AXDD005, AXDD010 and AXDD011 were step-out holes drilled outside the envelope of the existing MRE. The results support a potential large expansion of the MRE – already the largest and highest-grade carbonatite-hosted REE resource in South America and second-highest grade REE resource in the Western world.
AXDD006, AXDD008 and AXDD009 were resource definition holes and support a potential high level of conversion of Inferred resources in the MRE to the Indicated category.
A further 29 drill holes are in the ALS laboratory awaiting assay analysis and another 40 drill holes are planned to be completed by the three drill rigs at site.
“These drilling results are exceptional and highlight the unrivalled quality of the thick, high-grade mineralisation at our Araxá project,” executive chairman John Prineas said.
“Significantly, the mineralisation remains open laterally in all directions and at depth.
“All resource expansion holes and resource definition holes have demonstrated consistent continuity and grade, giving us confidence that this drill campaign will transform the scale of the MRE, redefine the value of our company and further position St George as one of the leaders in the rare earths and niobium sectors.
“With three drill rigs continuously drilling and many drill samples already in the lab, we look forward to reporting more exciting drill results over the coming weeks.”
