St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Tecnicas Reunidas S.A. whereby St George will engage Tecnicas Reunidas to complete processing test work on samples of the rare earths resource at the company’s 100%-owned advanced, high-grade Araxá niobium-REE Project in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
The industry leading expertise of Tecnicas Reunidas in rare earths processing has been recognised with the company’s appointment to lead the PERMANET Project – aimed at creating the first European value chain for the manufacture of permanent magnets. The PERMANET project is funded by the European Union and involves 12 countries and 32 partners (both private and public enterprises) working towards ensuring a resilient supply of Rare Earth Permanent Magnets in Europe.
The engagement of Tecnicas Reunidas has the potential to open European markets for rare earths to be produced at St George’s Araxá project and complements the strategic alliances already underway in the US with REalloys and in Brazil with MagBras.
“We are very excited to be working with Tecnicas Reunidas to further assess the optimal processing route for the Araxá rare earths and to potentially access the vast European market for rare earths,” St George executive chairman John Prineas said.
“The reputation of Tecnicas Reunidas in Europe is second to none regarding rare earths processing and we are very pleased to be able to access their expertise to further develop our downstream processing strategy for our Araxá rare earths.
“Our Araxá project already boasts the largest hard-rock rare earths deposit in South America and is larger than the leading rare earths mine in the US – the Mountain Pass mine in California that has attracted significant funding from the US government and US private companies.
“The sheer volume of our rare earths deposit provides an opportunity for St George to deliver into supply chains around the world – including Brazil, the US and Europe.
“With strategic downstream alliances already forged in Brazil and the US, we are delighted at the opportunity to potentially also access rare earths markets in Europe through our alliance with Tecnicas Reunidas.”
The strategic alliance under the MoU creates a framework for St George to engage the engineering services of Tecnicas Reunidas. The initial scope of work to be completed by Tecnicas Reunidas will be to test the suitability and efficiency of the Tecnicas Reunidas’s proprietary RARETECH® technology for the processing of rare earth materials from Araxá including:
- the refinement of rare earths mineralisation including the production of mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) and rare earth oxide; and
- the separation and splitting of rare earths elements.
Further work, including the design of a flowsheet and an industrial plant for the processing of Araxá rare earths, may be requested depending on the results of the test work. This may include:
- optimisation of a processing flowsheet using RARETECH® for production of rare earths products at Araxá;
- preliminary engineering study and CAPEX/OPEX estimation based on the results obtained during the test work; and
- development of proprietary processing methods based on RARETECH® for the Araxá rare earths.
St George will bear the costs of work completed by Tecnicas Reunidas, with a final negotiation of the work fee underway. Should the chemical and metallurgical test work demonstrate the viability of RARETECH® for the Araxá Project, the parties agree to negotiate in good faith the terms of a licence agreement for use of that technology at the Araxá project.
