New results from St George Mining Ltd (ASX:SGQ)’s diamond drilling at its 100%-owned Araxá Rare Earths and Niobium Project in Minas Gerais, Brazil confirm thick zones of high-grade mineralisation from surface.
Assays from a further six diamond holes show consistent rare earth and niobium grades, including:
- 80.55 metres at 5.44% TREO and 0.60% Nb₂O₅ from surface in AXDD009, including 32.3 metres at 9.13% TREO and 0.75% Nb₂O₅ from surface
- 80.45 metres at 5.19% TREO and 0.58% Nb₂O₅ from surface in AXDD008, including 20.4 metres at 7.13% TREO and 0.77% Nb₂O₅ from 56.6 metres
- 100.8 metres at 3.53% TREO and 0.43% Nb₂O₅ from surface in AXDD011, including 27 metres at 4.66% TREO and 0.41% Nb₂O₅ from 17 metres
- 101.75 metres at 2.72% TREO and 0.49% Nb₂O₅ from surface in AXDD005, including 23 metres at 3.62% TREO and 0.70% Nb₂O₅ from 34 metres
- 81.4 metres at 3.23% TREO and 0.49% Nb₂O₅ from surface in AXDD006, including 17.15 metres at 3.68% TREO and 0.50% Nb₂O₅ from 30 metres
- 105 metres at 3.27% TREO and 0.51% Nb₂O₅ from surface in AXDD010, including 67 metres at 3.98% TREO and 0.59% Nb₂O₅ from surface
Oblique section showing the latest diamond drill holes as well as other significant drilling completed in the current campaign. The latest drill holes have red labels.
“These drilling results are exceptional and highlight the unrivalled quality of the thick, high-grade mineralisation at our Araxá Project. Significantly, the mineralisation remains open laterally in all directions and at depth,” St George Mining executive chairman John Prineas said.
“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.”
Potential for significant expansion
Step-out drilling with holes AXDD005, AXDD010 and AXDD011, completed outside the current Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) envelope of 40.6 million tonnes at 4.13% TREO, indicates potential for a significant expansion of what the company describes as a large, high-grade carbonatite-hosted rare earth resource in South America.
Resource definition holes AXDD006, AXDD008 and AXDD009 are expected to support the conversion of a substantial portion of the existing inferred resources to the indicated category in an updated MRE.
Section showing high-grade TREO intercepts (cut-off 1% TREO) and high-grade Nb2O5 intercepts (cut-off 0.2% Nb2O5) along with the existing MRE outline. The section highlights both the westward expansion of the existing resource and the recent resource definition drilling.
Section showing high-grade TREO intercepts (cut-off 1% TREO) and high-grade Nb2O5 intercepts (cut- off 0.2% Nb2O5) along with the existing MRE outline illustrating both the extension of mineralisation to the west and the resource definition drilling
What’s next
Drilling is continuing on a 24/7 basis, with mineralisation remaining open in all directions.
Assays are pending for a further 29 diamond holes already submitted to the laboratory, and an additional 40 diamond drill holes are planned in the current campaign, supported by three diamond drill rigs on site.