St George Mining has delivered its thickest high-grade intercept to date at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Araxá rare earths and niobium project in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
One of its vertical diamond drill holes returned a massive run of 139.45m assaying 4.05 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO) and 0.55 per cent niobium pentoxide from surface.
The intercept includes 53.9m at 5.44 per cent TREO and 0.79 per cent niobium pentoxide from just 9m depth, surpassing the company’s previous record of 115.65m, reported earlier this month.
Assays from a further nine holes have confirmed consistent thick, high-grade mineralisation from surface.
In one of those holes, the rig cored through 80.15m at 5.11 per cent TREO and 0.76 per cent niobium pentoxide from surface, a run which included 43.9m at 6.18 per cent TREO and 1.05 per cent niobium pentoxide from 36.2m.
Another hole delivered 82.55m at 3.9 per cent TREO and 0.59 per cent niobium pentoxide from surface, including 56.55m at 4.97 per cent TREO and 0.72 per cent niobium pentoxide from 26m.
A third hole completed a spectacular trifecta with an 81.45m run grading 4.52 per cent TREO and 0.56 per cent niobium pentoxide from surface, including 4.55m at 8.87 per cent TREO and 0.78 per cent niobium pentoxide from 21.45m.
The results have highlighted extensive high-grade zones both within and beyond the current mineral resource estimate envelope, underscoring massive potential for significant resource growth within what is already South America's biggest and highest-grade carbonatite-hosted rare earths resource.
The mineralisation is rich in magnet rare earths, with a neodymium-praseodymium to TREO ratio of around 20 per cent, which has remained consistent through previous results and across the existing resource.
St George Mining’s executive chairman John Prineas said: “The drilling results continue to confirm world-class mineralisation, demonstrating exceptionally high grades over huge true widths. The resource at Araxá commences from surface – a real point of difference between our deposit and other emerging niobium and rare earths developers.”
Notably, the system remains open laterally in all directions and at depth. The company is now pushing drilling along on a 24/7 basis, which has now been indefinitely extended into 2026.
A key mineralogical breakthrough has revealed primary pyrochlore – the host mineral for niobium – preserved within fresh carbonatite diamond core.
Pyrochlore is a complex niobium oxide that is part of a group of minerals within the niobium end of the pyrochlore supergroup. It is characteristically found in carbonatites and is often associated with columbite, a niobium-tantalum mineral.
Pyrochlore’s presence confirms a robust primary source beneath the supergene-enriched zones at Araxá. It points to the strong likelihood of grade continuity and potential for further high-grade discoveries across the carbonatite complex.
St George is on fire now, buoyed by its ongoing successes at Araxá, where every new hole seems to elevate the project's status as a burgeoning world-class rare earths and niobium asset.
With thick, high-grade intercepts redefining the resource scale and drilling in full swing, St George’s followers will be hanging out for further results that could drive a major resource upgrade.
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By Doug Bright
