St George Mining seems irrepressible as it keeps the drill bit spinning at its 100 per cent-owned Araxá rare earths and niobium project in Brazil and delivering more assays showing thick, high-grade mineralisation from surface.
The company says the latest results from 16 diamond drill holes have confirmed strong grade continuity in the monster carbonatite-hosted system, further reinforcing its growing confidence in the Araxá resource base.
Among the half dozen most impressive primary vertical intercepts reported, all exceeded 90 metres depth below surface, highlighting the remarkable thickness of the mineralised system.
The best of those hits returned a whopping 160.65 metres at 3.74 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO) and 0.54 per cent niobium pentoxide, including 38.85m at 8.52 per cent TREO and 0.99 per cent niobium pentoxide from 77m depth.
That run also included a 1m sweetener, going a massive 24.54 per cent TREO and 2.12 per cent niobium from 88m.
Notably, the same hole tore through the interpreted base of oxidation at 144m and continued for another 15m, still in continuous – albeit lower-grade – rare earths and niobium until the end of the hole.Adding to the significance of the intercept, the ground to the east of the hole remains completely untested below a vertical depth of 75 metres.
A second hole intercepted 101m assaying 4.72 per cent TREO and 0.65 per cent niobium pentoxide, while a third bored out a respectable 111.3m at 3.85 per cent TREO and 0.66 per cent niobium pentoxide from surface.
Niobium is also showing up in big, near-surface runs, which St George believes could support open-pit development.
St George Mining executive chairman John Prineas said: “We are excited that the drilling is continuing with more exceptional thick, high-grade hits from surface being reported. These results give confidence that another material resource upgrade will be delivered in due course. The latest results have again highlighted the dual commodity focus at Araxá – rare earths and niobium, two of the most sought-after critical metals.”
St George’s Araxá project sits just a stone’s throw from Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração’s (CBMM) world-dominant niobium operation, giving it a prime address in the global niobium industry along with the advantage of established infrastructure and local mining know-how.
Just two weeks ago, the company unveiled a major resource upgrade at Araxá, lifting the project’s total inventory to 70.91 million tonnes grading 4.06 per cent TREO, using a two per cent cutoff grade and 0.62 per cent niobium pentoxide.
It also reported a further 24.56 million tonnes averaging 0.52 per cent niobium pentoxide and 1.2 per cent TREO using a 0.2 per cent cut-off grade applied to ground lies outside the main TREO resource. The addition brings the global niobium pentoxide resource to 95.47 million tonnes.
Drilling is continuing around the clock at Araxá with three diamond core rigs and one reverse circulation rig turning, while the laboratory works through assays for a further 23 holes.
As St George pushes ahead with development studies and basks in the glow of its fresh inclusion in the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Index, momentum is clearly building around the rapidly emerging Araxá rare earths-niobium project.
If the drill rigs keep delivering thick, high-grade hits like the latest batch, Araxá could soon cement itself as one of the more closely watched critical minerals stories on the ASX.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
By Doug Bright
