St George Mining has partnered with Brazil's Federal Centre for Technological Education in Minas Gerais for a new pilot plant at its Araxá project to advance high-grade rare earths and niobium processing.
The collaboration establishes the St George Technological Centre at the Federal Centre for Technological Education’s (CEFET) Araxá campus, focusing on sustainable innovation and downstream studies.
The Brazilian government-funded public institution will host the proposed large-scale pilot plant for downstream studies near the CEFET campus in a locality renowned for its rich history of niobium production.
The pilot plant, to be designed collaboratively, will exploit equipment from a prior 2013 hydrometallurgical study that achieved better than 99% purity rare earth oxalate with 86% TREO recoveries and effective radionuclide removal.
It will handle 200-300kg/hour of mineral inputs, enabling production of ferroniobium, rare earth concentrates, mixed rare earth carbonates (MREC) and oxides.
St George will fund construction and operations for the first three years, with tax incentives slashing costs by up to 50%, followed by a knowledge-transfer phase and full handover to CEFET after five years.
The company will acquire a five-year exclusivity on commercialising its intellectual property, in addition to co-ownership rights.
St George Mining executive chairman John Prineas said: “The downstream collaboration with CEFET, which will include the commissioning of a new pilot plant, marks an important milestone in executing our strategy of an integrated mine-to-market operation. We are delighted with the strong government support for the St George Technological Centre and are proud to also be contributing to the community through the Centre being available for educational and industry research.”
St George has appointed key metallurgical experts, Alaercio Viera, former manager at Brazil's Serra Verde rare earths mine and major niobium operations like CBMM's Araxá site; Gavin Beer from Met-Chem Consulting and Peter Adamini from Independent Metallurgical Operations (IMO).
The new expert appointments will reinforce St George’s push for its envisioned "mine-to-magnets" flowsheet in Brazil, a reference to the industrial magnets that are made of rare earths and are an integral part of an electric vehicle motor.
St George’s Araxá project hosts South America's largest and highest-grade carbonatite-hosted rare earths resource.
It comprises a hefty 40.6 million tonnes (Mt) at 4.13% total rare earth oxides (TREO), in addition to 41.2Mt at 0.68% niobium pentoxide, with mineralisation from surface and high grade intercepts up to 33% TREO and 8% niobium pentoxide.
Acquired by St George in February, the project sits adjacent to the world-leading Araxá niobium-hosting pyrochlore mine, owned by Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (CBMM), which offers local support, infrastructure, access and a skilled workforce.
Historical testwork has validated sulphuric acid baking as optimal for leaching of monazite-hosted rare earths, with modern flotation poised to enhance beneficiation.
Ongoing work includes more than 10,000m of drilling to expand and upgrade the resource, advanced flotation on bulk samples and evaluation of pathways to separate neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) oxides, two of the key rare earths used in industrial magnet manufacturing for electric vehicle and other electric motors.
A rare earths oxalate was produced from the chemical refinement of rare earths from the Araxá Project in a pilot plant study completed in 2012/13, before St George took over ownership of the Project.
Oxalate samples retained by St George are being subjected to magnet-making tests with MagBras and downstream studies via a strategic US alliance with REAlloys.
St George formed the alliance with US-based REAlloys Inc. in September to advance rare earth commercialisation from its Araxá project, with REAlloys testing St George's samples to support the supply of materials to the US defence and clean energy sectors.
The alliance includes metallurgical testing and an offtake option for up to 40% of future production, aiming to provide a pathway into the US rare earth supply chain.
As part of Brazil's MagBras initiative for domestic rare earths supply chains, St George’s Araxá venture benefits from expedited approvals and state cooperation.
The company’s Araxá project is charging ahead with solid government partnerships, expert firepower and a massive high-grade resource primed for the clean energy boom.
And the market looks like it has captured the value in Araxá too, with St George’s stock running hard from 3.9c at the end of August to 13c today. It seems clear now that rare earths are a thing again and St George has plenty.
There are no shortage of pretenders out there with mediocre tonnes and even more mediocre grades……… but with its 40.6 million tonnes going 4.13% TREO – and a lazy 41.2 million tonnes coming in at 0.68% niobium pentoxide, St George is not one of them.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Doug Bright
