St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) has signed important partnership agreements that will support the development of downstream production opportunities for niobium and rare earths from the advanced, high-grade niobium-rare earths Araxá project in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
St George is in the process of negotiating certain amendments to the agreement for the purchase of the Araxá project to allow additional time for completion of the transaction. While the key terms of the agreement, including the purchase price, are expected to remain unchanged, the amendments to the sale agreement will result in a delay in closing the transaction. The transaction is now expected to close in Q1 2025.
SENAI has signed a memorandum of understanding with St George to cooperate on research, development and production of rare earth magnets at the Lab Fab facility established by SENAI in Minas Gerais – the first permanent magnet making facility in Brazil and Latin America.
SENAI is Latin America’s largest scientific and technological agency. SENAI collaborates with businesses to develop industry leading technologies that can drive business growth and efficiencies.
The Lab Fab facility is operated by the Federation of the Industries of Minas Gerais (FIEMG) and scheduled to begin production this year with initial capacity to produce 100 tonnes of permanent magnets per year and plans to double that capacity within the first three years.
St George has been selected as a potential supplier of rare earths material in Brazil, a country that is emerging as a global powerhouse in the rare earths sector.
St George has also signed a second MoU with SENAI to cooperate on the development of sustainable processing and manufacturing of niobium and rare earths products.
SENAI is Latin America’s largest scientific and technological agency. SENAI collaborates with businesses to develop industry leading technologies that can drive business growth and efficiencies.
The Araxá project hosts extensive high-grade niobium and rare earths with drilling returning more than 500 intercepts of high-grade mineralisation starting from surface with grades up to 8% Nb2O5 and 33% TREO – positioning the project to play an important role in Brazil’s critical metals supply chain.
“We continue to build a strong platform to drive the Araxá project forward and deliver the successful development of a mining operation,” executive chairman John Prineas said.
“The partnership agreements signed with SENAI will support the development of downstream opportunities for St George – further integrating our proposed Araxá operation into Brazil’s supply chains for critical metals.
“SENAI is Brazil’s leading scientific and research organisation and has an outstanding track record of collaborating with the private sector to advance business through innovative technology.
“We are honoured to have been selected by SENAI, as well as FIEMG, as a partner for Brazil’s first and only REE permanent magnet making facility. We are also delighted that SENAI has recognised the significance of our proposed Araxá operation and agreed to work with us to optimise the efficiency and sustainability of potential mining and processing activities.
“These are important developments for the advancement of the Araxá project, and we look forward to reporting more exciting project news as we continue to build our business in Brazil in anticipation of the project acquisition completion.”
