St George Mining has engaged one of the world’s leading authorities in niobium ore processing, Ricardo Maximo Nardi, as a minerals processing consultant to its high-grade niobium-rare earths Araxá project in Brazil’s Minas Gerais region.
Nardi comes to the project with more than 30 years of experience in processing high-purity niobium oxide and its typical by-products, including barite, magnetite, phosphate and rare earth elements.
For almost 40 years until 2021, Nardi was employed in upper management and leadership positions in processing and mining operations by fellow industry and neighbouring major company Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (CBMM).
CBMM is the world’s dominant producer of niobium and has an open pit and processing operations right next to St George’s Araxá project.
Nardi’s key roles at CBMM included head of mineral production processing systems, including mineral processing, niobium oxide production, metallurgy analysis, product innovation, offtake specification and new technological developments.
He was also head of high-purity niobium oxide production, in which he oversaw the chemical plant for niobium oxide, a critical metal used in super-alloys, lenses and modern high-capacity and fast-response battery manufacture.
Mr Nardi was part of a team in charge of establishing CBMM’s leading technologies in niobium processing and production capacity, as well as other minerals production such as barite, magnetite and rare earths.
He was responsible for developing and testing new technologies, designing systems to improve process-water and mineral recovery efficiencies in production, commissioning new assets and adapting production processes for different ores.
St George Mining’s executive chairman John Prineas said: “We are delighted to welcome Ricardo Nardi to our Brazilian executive team. Mr Nardi is one of, if not the most, knowledgeable and experienced engineers in the world in processing niobium ores.”
In his new appointment, Nardi will advise St George on mineral and metallurgical studies and review mineral processing options at its Araxá project, including flowsheet design to efficiently produce commercial niobium products, rare earths and phosphate to high environmental standards.
He will also advise on feasibility studies and plan for the potential start of mining operations at the project.
Brazilian CBMM specialises in processsing technology for niobium, which it produces from its pyrochlore near Araxá city, in the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais.
Pyrochlore is a complex sodium, calcium and niobium oxide mineral group of the pyrochlore supergroup. It is a solid solution associated with the metasomatic end-stages of magmatic intrusions. Metasomatism is a geological process responsible for changes in the chemical composition of rocks through the addition or removal of chemical elements.
Pyrochlore typically comprises about 52 per cent niobium. The CBMM mine and the Catalão mine, east of Catalão in Goiás, both in Brazil, are the world’s biggest pyrochlore producers. CBMM supplies more than 80 per cent of the world's current demand for niobium metal and its alloys and produces pure metal, ferro-niobium and other niobium alloys and metals at its processing facilities near its open-pit mine.
The third biggest niobium ore deposit is the Niobec mine, west of Saint-Honoré, near Chicoutimi in Quebec, Canada.
St George has entered into a conditional binding agreement to acquire 100 per cent of its Araxá project and expects to complete the acquisition in the current quarter.
The company has already pre-empted the imminent completion of the agreement by putting together an experienced team in Brazil to oversee the first stage of local exploration and development studies.
In August last year, St George revealed it had engaged Brazil’s former mines and energy minister and experienced and respected business leader Adolfo Sachsida as an advisor to its board.
Sachsida held important Brazilian government positions during his career, including chief secretary of economic affairs and secretary of economic policy in the Economic Ministry.
St George’s Araxá project lies within the Barreiro carbonatite complex, a 5-kilometre-wide carbonatite that hosts hard-rock niobium, rare earth elements and phosphate mineralisation.
The mineralisation remains open in all directions and only about 10 per cent of the prospective parts of the project have been drilled.
The company’s project is in good company with other world-class operations, including CBMM’s own Araxá niobium mine, with its 896 million tonnes at 1.49pc niobium pentoxide, and Mosaic’s Araxá phosphate mine with 519mt grading 13.4pc phosphorous pentoxide, both of which exploit parts of the Barreiro carbonatite.
The carbonatite has for years been the world’s prime location for niobium. Historical exploration at St George’s Araxa confirms significant widespread niobium, rare earth elements and phosphate in near-surface weathered ore and in primary ore at depth.
St George management says Nardi’s former role at CBMM seems certain to ensure the company is well-placed to optimise processing options at Araxá and to fast-track development plans.
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By Doug Bright
