St George Mining has signed two memoranda of understanding (MOU) with Latin America’s biggest scientific and technological agency SENAI to develop critical minerals opportunities flowing from its Araxá project in the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais.
SENAI collaborates with businesses to develop innovative technologies capable of driving business growth and efficiencies and has a strong record of collaboration with the private sector to advance businesses through those technologies.
SENAI is a network of secondary level professional schools established and maintained by the Brazilian Confederation of Industry.
The collaborative network is one of the most important institutions in the country providing formal training for specialised workers, including the areas of chemistry, mechanics and construction.
It has 744 operational units across Brazil, offering more than 1800 courses and is part of an integrated social action system which was founded by industry and political leaders in the 1950s, under the leadership of Euvaldo Lodi, which includes the Social Service for Industry (SESI) and the Instituto Euvaldo Lodi.
St George has signed two MOUs with SENAI. The first embraces cooperation on research, development and production of rare earth magnets at the “Lab Fab” facility established by SENAI in Minas Gerais. It is the first permanent magnet manufacturing facility in Latin America.
Lab Fab is operated by the Federation of the Industries of Minas Gerais (FIEMG) and is slated to kick off production this year with an initial capacity to produce 100 tonnes of permanent magnets per year. It plans to double that capacity within the first three years.
The MOU signed with SENAI and FIEMG has an initial term of five years. It establishes a framework for cooperation between St George, SENAI and FIEMG to produce rare earth magnets at Lab Fab in Lagoa Santa, in the State of Minas Gerais.
The envisaged areas of collaboration include St George supplying raw materials for the pilot production of rare earth magnets and promoting the production of rare earths magnets made in Brazil to other parties in the clean energy sector.
The deal also includes research studies, testwork and other specialised technological services to support rare earths magnet production.
SENAI will assess the existing pilot plant at St George’s Araxá project for its potential to be re-assembled and commissioned for use in the completion of metallurgical testwork and production of sample products.
The company signed a second MOU with SENAI to cooperate on the development of sustainable processing and manufacturing of niobium and rare earths products, which sits well with St George’s best practice ethos on environmental, social or governance issues and will include technical training and up-skilling of St George’s local work-force.
SENAI’s facilities in Lagoa Santa, Belo Horizonte and Itauna will all participate in this undertaking. The second MOU also has an initial term of five years.
St George Mining’s executive chairman John Prineas said: “We are honoured to have been selected by SENAI, as well as by FIEMG, as a partner for Brazil’s first and only REE permanent magnet-making facility. We are also delighted SENAI has recognised the significance of our proposed Araxá operation and agreed to work with us to optimise the efficiency and sustainability of potential mining and processing activities.”
On August 6, St George entered into a binding conditional agreement to acquire 100 per cent of all the issued capital of Itafos Araxá Mineracao E Fertilizantes S.A (Itafos Araxá) which owns the advanced niobium-rare earths Araxá project in Minas Gerais.
The Araxá project sits adjacent to and within the same carbonatite complex as the niobium mine operated by the Brazilian Metallurgy and Mining Company (CBMM), which incredibly produces about 80 per cent of the world’s highly sought-after niobium supply.
Drilling by previous explorers at the project has confirmed significant niobium and rare earths element mineralisation, including a best hit of 14m assaying 2.9 per cent niobium from surface with an included 54m intercept at 3.6 per cent niobium.
CBMM is a Brazilian company specialising in the processing and technology of niobium extracted from its pyrochlore mine near the city of Araxá in the Minas Gerais.
St George is negotiating amendments to the agreement for the purchase of the Araxá Project to allow more time to complete the transaction.
It says the key terms of the agreement, including the purchase price, are expected to remain unchanged, however any sale agreement amendments will result in a delay in closing the transaction, now expected in the first quarter next year.
St George is in the middle of some potentially transformative developments in its development and the Araxá project and is building a strong platform to drive Araxá forward to deliver a successful mining operation.
The partnership agreements signed with SENAI will support the development of downstream opportunities for St George and will further integrate the company’s proposed Araxá operation into Brazil’s critical metals supply chain.
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By Doug Bright
