St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) has commenced drilling at the company’s 100%-owned Araxá niobium-REE project in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
It marks St George’s first drill program at Araxá since securing ownership of this world-class project in February 2025. Three drill rigs will be active at the project. Samples from drilling activities will be submitted to ALS Brazil for laboratory assay on a regular basis, with assay results expected on a four-week rolling basis.
More than 10,000m of drilling is planned, comprising auger, reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling over a 12 to 16-week campaign.
The clear purpose of the drilling is to grow the Araxá resource. With mineralisation open in all directions and significant mineralisation below 100m from surface not yet included in the current Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), there is potential for a substantial increase in the already globally significant resource defined by St George of 40.64Mt @ 4.13% TREO and 41.2 Mt @ 0.68% Nb₂O₅.
Drilling will aim to expand high-grade zones of mineralisation identified by past drill results at Araxá that included more than 500 intercepts of high-grade mineralisation starting from surface, with grades up to 8% (80,000ppm) Nb₂O₅, 33% (330,000ppm) TREO and 32% P₂O₅.
A project-wide airborne magnetic survey is scheduled to commence at Araxá next week with results expected to identify and prioritise further rare earths and niobium targets for drilling.
“We are delighted to have started our first phase of drilling at the Araxá project,” executive chairman John Prineas, who is on site at Araxá, said.
“The project has already delivered more than 500 intercepts of high-grade rare earths and niobium from past drilling and we expect to add significantly to this tally by the time we complete our 10,000m drilling campaign. It promises for exciting newsflow of results over the coming weeks and months.
“The Araxá project has many competitive advantages that make it a stand-out project in the rare earths and niobium space. Mineralisation starts from surface and is free-digging, supporting a potential low-cost, open-pit mining operation. The project is in an established mining region with well-understood permitting and environmental management, providing an expedited pathway to potential development and strong ESG credentials.
“Araxá’s key feature, of course, is the large, high-grade resource – an enviable development opportunity at a time when global economies are scrambling to establish new supply chains for critical metals, particularly magnet rare earths.
“One of the largest producing hard-rock rare earths mines outside of China is the Mt Weld mine owned by the $8 billion Lynas Rare Earths Lynas (ASX: LYC) with a total resource of 106Mt @ 4.1% TREO. St George’s Araxá project already has a total JORC resource of 40.64Mt @ 4.13% TREO, illustrating the potential value upside for St George as we progress through development studies and resource expansion drilling to demonstrate the potential for a commercial rare earth mining operation.
“At a time when investors are increasingly looking to Brazil for the next generation of quality, hard-rock rare earths and niobium development opportunities, Araxá is in pole position to deliver sustained value for St George shareholders.”
