St George Mining Ltd (ASX:SGQ, FRA:S0G) has stepped up its engagement in Washington, appointing the Ervin Graves Strategy Group to help build relationships with key US government agencies as the Trump Administration pushes harder to secure critical mineral supply chains across the Western Hemisphere.
The Washington DC-based government relations firm will support St George’s US outreach as the company advances its 100%-owned Araxá rare earths-niobium project in Minas Gerais, Brazil — an asset St George believes is strategically located to supply US-focused supply chain initiatives from within the Western Hemisphere.
Araxá already hosts a globally significant maiden Mineral Resource Estimate of 40.6Mt at 4.13% TREO (at a 2% TREO cut-off), alongside a niobium resource of 41.2Mt at 0.68% Nb₂O₅ (at a 0.2% Nb₂O₅ cut-off), with mineralisation commencing from surface, according to the company.
St George’s appointment comes as recent US actions underscore intensifying efforts to diversify rare earth supply away from China and towards friendlier jurisdictions.
In the latest high-profile move, the US government has signalled a US$1.6 billion financing package tied to USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ: USAR), which includes the government taking a 10% equity stake in the company, as reported by multiple outlets.
Separately, US backing for Brazilian rare earths has also escalated, with the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) providing up to a US$465 million funding package for Serra Verde’s Pela Ema rare earth project in Brazil.
St George said the Ervin Graves team brings experience at senior levels of US government and defence-related policy, and will assist the company’s engagement strategy as it positions Araxá within emerging “mine-to-magnet” supply chain priorities.
For St George, the logic is straightforward: a sizeable, carbonatite-hosted rare earths and niobium resource in Brazil, in a jurisdiction with established mining infrastructure, and within a region increasingly central to US critical minerals strategy.
“Our 100%-owned Araxá Project aligns closely with US policy to support development of critical minerals in the Western world,” John Prineas, St George Mining’s executive chairman, said.
“We are excited to have engaged Ervin Graves to progress the potential for St George to attract government funding support and downstream industry partnerships in the US.
“Ervin Graves’ expertise and successful track record in the critical minerals policy space underscore its capability to strengthen St George’s position as an emerging player in the US critical minerals supply chain.”
Strategic advantages of the Araxá Project
St George is positioning Araxá against a US policy backdrop that is increasingly focused on locking in critical mineral supply from within the Western Hemisphere.
In its 2025 National Security Strategy, released on December 4, 2025, the Trump Administration signalled a push to “expand and consolidate” US interests closer to home, explicitly flagging strategic resources in the region and a more active role for US government financing tools.
The Strategy says the Western Hemisphere “is home to many strategic resources” the US should develop with regional partners, and outlines an interagency process to identify strategic points and resources for “protection and joint development.”
It also states the US Government will identify acquisition and investment opportunities for American companies in the region and run those opportunities through major US financing programs — including those within the Departments of State, War, and Energy, as well as the Small Business Administration, International Development Finance Corporation, Export-Import Bank, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
Against that setting, St George argues Araxá has several structural advantages:
- Favourable location: Araxá is in Minas Gerais, one of Brazil’s best-established mining jurisdictions and a major mining region in the Western Hemisphere.
- Scale and quality: The company has already defined a globally significant rare earths and niobium resource at Araxá and says ongoing drilling points to potential for a material upgrade, positioning the deposit as a leading carbonatite-hosted rare earth system in South America.
- Project logistics: St George describes Araxá as advanced and relatively de-risked, with mineralisation starting from surface and the potential for open-pit mining. It also points to access to infrastructure, roads, power and a skilled workforce as factors that could support a faster pathway to development.
“The Araxá Project hosts a high-grade, hard-rock rare earths resource that is the same style of deposit as the two major rare earths mines outside of China – the Mt Weld mine of Lynas Corporation and MP Materials’ Mountain Pass in the US. Araxá is already comparable to these deposits in terms of volume and grade, with successful ongoing drilling pointing to the potential for a large resource upgrade,” Prineas said.
“In addition to hosting one of the highest-rated rare earths deposits in the world, the Araxá Project contains a large high-grade niobium resource – a top 10 critical mineral in the US, which has no domestic niobium mining operations but is committed to securing its own new supply chains.
“With a location in an established mining region, existing infrastructure and supportive community stakeholders, the Araxá Project stands out among its peers as having the potential for a fast-track to development and to emerge as a near-term contributor to critical minerals supply chains being established in Brazil and the US.”
About the Araxá Project
St George’s 100%-owned Araxá Project is a rare earths and niobium asset in Minas Gerais, Brazil, located next to CBMM’s niobium operations. The surrounding district has a long record of commercial niobium production and offers established infrastructure and access to a skilled workforce.
The company says it has secured government support aimed at expediting approvals, built an experienced in-country team, and established relationships with Brazilian stakeholders and authorities to progress exploration and development studies.
St George has also been selected for the Brazilian Government’s MagBras Initiative, which is focused on developing an integrated rare earth products supply chain within Brazil. In October 2024, it signed a cooperation agreement with the State of Minas Gerais, under which the State will assist in expediting permitting approvals for Araxá.
On the downstream front, St George has formed a strategic alliance with REalloys Inc, which it describes as a US rare earths group with an integrated mine-to-magnet supply chain supplying magnet materials to US Government organisations.