St George Mining has delivered its thickest-ever high-grade rare earths and niobium diamond drill hit in the short but spectacular history of the company’s 100%-owned Araxá project in Brazil, boring through a staggering 115.65m from surface.
Latest assays confirm the carbonatite host system is not only enormous but continues to grow in both scale and quality, with the new results set to drive a substantial resource upgrade in 2026.
Recent drilling coughed up a string of blockbuster hits, led by a monster headline hole that punched out 115.65 metres, averaging 3.34 per cent total rare earth oxides and 0.34 per cent niobium pentoxide from surface.
Glued to the top of that hole were some eye-catching sweet spots, including 10 metres at a sizzling 6.39 per cent TREO and 0.74 per cent niobium from surface and 7.35 metres at 5.92 per cent TREO and 0.57 per cent niobium from just 10.65 metres.
Not far behind, the second-best hole delivered an equally impressive result, slicing through 100m at 3.96 per cent TREO and 0.40 per cent niobium pentoxide from surface.
Rounding out the trio, a third hole added more weight to the story, intersecting 79.7m at 3.69 per cent TREO and 0.40 per cent niobium from surface.
Included in that intercept was a chunky 19.7-metre near-surface zone grading 6.45 per cent TREO and 0.54 per cent niobium, followed by a further 5m at 7.92 per cent TREO and 0.57 per cent niobium from 11 metres depth.
In short, the new results confirmed exceptional continuity of high-grade mineralisation from surface and in multiple directions, including an 80m step-out to the west that remains open.
St George Mining executive chairman John Prineas said: “The Araxá project is delivering exactly what we set out to achieve – consistent, high-grade results that expand the project’s scale and strengthen our confidence in what already is an exceptional, world-class mineral resource estimate. Drilling continues to deliver an extension of high-grade mineralisation to the west of the MRE footprint to demonstrate that the mineral system is open and extends beyond previously defined limits.”
Araxá already hosts a world-class deposit of more than 40 million tonnes grading 4.13 per cent TREO, for 1.68Mt in contained total rare earth oxides, and 280,000 contained tonnes of niobium pentoxide grading 0.68 per cent.
With the operation looking capable of delivering both exceptional rare-earths grades and solid niobium grades, the co-hosted metals make Araxá genuinely unique and economically compelling.
It means that every tonne mined provides a high-value TREO basket and a significant niobium credit that is already commercial in its own right. In comparison, Brazilian major CBMM (Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração), just 2km south of St George’s ground, runs a niobium head grade ranging between about 0.9 and 1.5% niobium pentoxide.
Notably, the latest drilling also confirmed that the ratio of magnet rare earths such as neodymium and praseodymium to total rare earth oxides (NdPr:TREO) is around 20 per cent. This appears to be an exceptionally high-value product and is in keeping with the ratios first reported in the company’s original resource estimate at Araxá.
Management believes the latest results will deliver a dual win in its planned resource update. First off, the company should be able to shift a significant portion of its currently inferred material into the higher-confidence indicated category – a critical step toward ore reserves and feasibility studies.
Just as importantly, though, the results are also shaping up to deliver a meaningful lift in overall contained metal, with earlier conservative models now poised to be overtaken by a new round of resource work. That update will be driven by closer-spaced drilling and a run of thicker, higher-grade intercepts as the latest assays roll in.
Drilling is continuing at Araxá on a 24/7 basis, with a further 25 holes planned for the remainder of the year and completion in the new year.
Samples from another 32 completed holes are already in the laboratory system, with results expected before the year’s end.
Within a mere nine months from acquisition to a world-class 40 million tonne combined TREO and niobium resource, the project has demonstrated breathtaking progress. It seems St George’s ongoing exploration is now proving that Araxá is not just big, it continues to grow, is delivering better grades and showing improved continuity.
Sitting next door to Brazilian major CBMM’s giant niobium operation and backed by full Brazilian federal and state government support, Araxá is rapidly emerging as one of the most important critical-minerals discoveries of the decade.
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By Doug Bright
