St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) has reported further spectacular assay results from ongoing diamond drilling at its 100%-owned Araxá rare earths and niobium project in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
The 24/7 drill campaign has been underway at the Araxá project for more than six months, designed to further define and expand the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE). Assay results from drilling continue to be received by the company, underpinning the tremendous resource potential at Araxá and positioning this project as a significant global rare earths and niobium development opportunity.
The latest batch of spectacular drill results reinforces the Araxá project as the most significant undeveloped rare earths and niobium project worldwide.
Very thick high-grade mineralisation from surface – with true widths up to 178m from surface and ultra-high grades up to 28% TREO and 6.5% Nb₂O₅ in the latest assays – provide Araxá with enviable mine logistics without parallel among other emerging projects in this sector.
Assay results for a further 15 diamond drill holes have been received, including these thick, high-grade intercepts from surface – with AXDD086 returning the thickest mineralised interval at Araxá to date:
- 178.7m @ 4.34% TREO and 0.75% Nb₂O₅ from surface in AXDD086 including:
- 3.15m @ 12.27% TREO and 1.61% Nb₂O₅ from 8.05m
- 55.7m @ 6.16% TREO and 0.95% Nb₂O₅ from 14m
- 165.3m @ 4.28% TREO and 0.61% Nb₂O₅ from surface in AXDD092 including:
- 110.5m @ 5.29% TREO and 0.75% Nb₂O₅ from 32m
- 4m @ 14.14% TREO and 0.77% Nb₂O₅ from 46m
- 150.2m @ 4.64% TREO and 0.59% Nb₂O₅ from surface in AXDD088 including:
- 92m @ 5.37% TREO and 0.64% Nb₂O₅ from 46m
- 17m @ 12.16% TREO and 1.00% Nb₂O₅ from 59m
“The drilling results continue to show huge true widths from surface paired with very high grades,” executive chairman John Prineas said.
“This unique combination is unrivalled among emerging rare earths and niobium developers. The commercial advantage of high-grade mineralisation starting from surface – as opposed to 50m or even more than 100m below surface – cannot be underestimated.
“Another important point of difference in favour for our Araxá project is that the mineralisation is carbonatite-hosted, which is the same deposit style as the two largest producing rare earths mines outside of China – the Mountain Pass mine of MP Materials (NYSE: MP) and the Mt Weld mine of Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC). This is a well-understood style of rare earths mineralisation with a long history of commercial production.
“Our Araxá MRE is already comparable in scale and grade to these two world leaders in rare earths mining, with potential for our resource to be even larger as ongoing drill results – including the record results announced today – are incorporated into our resource model.
“The world-class niobium component of the Araxá MRE promises to be a potentially tremendous value driver for our Project. With a location adjacent to CBMM’s world-leading niobium mine and an in-country team with a long history of niobium mining, St George is well-placed to be the world’s next niobium producer.
“Neither the US nor China hase domestic primary production of niobium, which leaves St George in an enviable position to benefit from very favourable market dynamics. Our study work for a potential mining operation at Araxá is based on niobium being produced separately to a rare earths product, creating two revenue streams at Araxá – a huge boost to our potential economics and another major point of difference with stand-alone rare earths developers.
“The free-digging high-grade mineralisation from surface also adds to the potential expedited pathway to development of the Araxá project as it supports a simple open-pit mining operation.
“Combined with our location in an established mining region with existing infrastructure and supportive community stakeholders, our Araxá project is now gaining world-wide recognition as a stand-out critical minerals opportunity.”
