St George Mining Ltd (ASX:SGQ) earlier this week provided an update on exploration at its Araxá project in Brazil, highlighting high-grade intercepts of rare earths and niobium from recent drilling.
The company told investors that assays had returned 8.55 metres at 5.44% total rare earth oxides (TREO) and 0.6% niobium. Executive Chairman John Prineas said mineralisation was intersected from surface, with some zones up to 100 metres thick. He highlighted that this supports favourable project economics, especially when compared to other projects with deeper mineralisation.
Prineas told Proactive that the company is progressing both resource expansion and definition, with current drilling aimed at converting inferred material into indicated resources. He said, “We’re very pleased with these results… the grades are just, eye watering.”
The company noted that its current resource already ranks as the second highest grade rare earth resource in the Western world. It said the latest results demonstrate the potential to increase both scale and grade.
St George said it is currently at the same tonnage as the Mountain Pass rare earth project in the United States. It believes it could double this within months, based on ongoing drill programs and extensions.
The company also confirmed that Hancock Prospecting will become a major shareholder, which it said reflects growing investor confidence in the project.
Looking ahead, the company said assays from 29 completed drill holes are currently pending. These are expected to be released progressively in the coming weeks, following earlier delays in lab processing.
An additional 40 diamond drill holes are planned before the end of the year. The company said these will target new, undrilled zones with the aim of extending the mineralised footprint laterally.
St George said that early success in previously untested zones supports its expectations of a major resource upgrade in the near term.
Proactive:
St George Mining has intercepted thick, high-grade rare earths and niobium at the Araxá project in Brazil. All the details are with the company's Executive Chairman John Prineas. John, it's good to have you back on here at Proactive. How are you?
John Prineas:
Thank you. Very good today.
Proactive:
Good to have you on here, John, to discuss this major step forward at Araxá. We're talking 8.55 metres at 5.44% total rare earth oxides and 0.6% niobium. Now you've expressed how pleased you are with those results to the market this morning. Your share price is up on the news. Investors seem to be quite happy. Why are those grades so exceptional, as you've described them?
John Prineas:
Yeah, we're very pleased with these results. We're really into the diamond drilling now. The diamond drilling is doing both resource expansion and resource definition, converting inferred into indicated. And the results couldn't be better.
80 metre thick mineralisation from surface. 100 metre thick mineralisation from surface.
And to emphasise that — we have from surface, not from 50 metres down like some other companies — that really is favourable for our project economics.
And the grades are just eye-watering. So, really happy to be able to report these results today.
Proactive:
John, all of those will help expand the mineral resource estimate, which already has the second highest grade rare earths resource in the Western world. How do you see it expanding further now?
John Prineas:
Yeah, that’s right. We already have a world-class resource, and that’s been recognised by a lot of investors — including Hancock Prospecting, which will be joining us as a major shareholder this week.
And now with these latest results, we’re showing that we can even grow this world-class resource more.
We’re already the same tonnage as Mountain Pass, which is a big Californian rare earth operation that’s just had billions of dollars splashed on it by the Department of War.
I think we’re on track for a very big increase to our resource. We could be double the size of Mountain Pass within a matter of months. So we’re very excited to be one of the leaders in the rare earth space and the niobium space worldwide.
Proactive:
And this can only go upwards from here, I guess. John, there’s assays pending from an additional 29 drill holes. When can investors expect to receive those in the lead-up to Christmas?
John Prineas:
Yeah, we’re getting progressive results now. We had a small delay with the lab, but now there should be no further delays.
I expect 29 drill holes, which are currently in the laboratory, to flow in sequence over the next few weeks.
40 drill holes still planned to be drilled this year. So lots of news flow coming through.
They’re all diamond drilling, so expect really thick, high-grade intervals from surface, with drilling in areas which have never been drilled before. So far, we’ve been very successful when we do that. So fingers crossed we continue that trend — we show a big lateral extension to the resource, culminating in a big resource upgrade.
Proactive:
St George Mining’s Executive Chairman John Prineas, thank you for this update.
John Prineas:
Thank you very much.