Three days after being added to the ASX All Ordinaries, rare earths developer St George Mining has taken another key step at its flagship Brazilian project.
Three days after being added to the ASX All Ordinaries, rare earths developer St George Mining has taken another key step at its flagship Brazilian project.
John Prineas-chaired St George – which has risen from a junior to midcap in less than 12 months – told the market on Thursday it had signed a MOU with Brazil-based fine chemicals company, Nanum Nanotecnologia.
Nanum’s facility is located in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, as is St George’s Araxá niobium rare earth elements project.
The company is able to both process and produce commercial products from nano materials such as cerium.
Under its MOU, both St George and Nanum will work together on ways to commercialise Araxá’s cerium reserves – including reviewing technology which could be used towards producing cerium-based products at the project.
St George also said it would undertake metallurgical test work on rare earth materials at Araxá, under an approach of maximising cerium, heavy rare earth elements and high-value magnet recoveries.
“The opportunity to also monetise the cerium component of the Araxá rare earths deposit can add material value to a potential mining operation at Araxá,” Mr Prineas said.
“Nanum is an industry leader in nano particles technology and a standout example of Brazil’s ability to be at the forefront of innovation for modern technologies.
“We are very pleased to enter into this strategic alliance with Nanum, which has potential to boost the development potential for the rare earths opportunity at our 100%-owned Araxá project.”
Last week, St George announced a significant upgrade to Araxá’s mineral resource estimate, which jumped by 75 per cent to 70.91 million tonnes at 4.06 per cent total rare earth oxide and 0.62 niobium at 2 per cent total rare earth oxide cut-off.
Mr Prineas heralded the MRE increase as “a milestone in St George’s history” due to it reaffirming Araxá’s standing as a quality asset on the rise.
It is a project which has also caught the attention of Gina Rinehart-led Hancock Prospecting, which in October last year secured a $22.5 million stake in the company.
As of 10.08am AWST, St George shares were up 4 per cent to 14.5 cents.
