St George’s latest monster REE, niobium hit at Araxá a real treat with growth potential

• St George’s second Araxá diamond hole hits 87.7m at 2.95% TREO with 0.41% Nb2O5
• Hole drilled 150m west of existing resource envelope and ended in mineralisation
• Drilling continues with three diamond and one RC rig operating on site

Special Report: St George Mining continues to extend the mineralised envelope of its Araxá rare earths and niobium project in Brazil after the second diamond hole returned a thick, high-grade intersection.

Hole AXDD002 intersected an 87.7m zone grading 2.95% total rare earth oxides and 0.41% niobium pentoxide from a down-hole depth of just 2m that included very high-grade intervals of 3.05m at 6.72% TREO and 0.73% Nb2O5 from 11.65m and 1m at 7.89% TREO and 0.95% Nb2O5 from 56.6m.

Assays also confirmed the valuable magnet rare earths neodymium and praseodymium make up a significant 31% of the entire rare earths basket.

Notably for St George Mining’s (ASX:SGQ) interest is that this intercept was about 150m west of the current resource of 40.6Mt at 4.13% TREO.

It follows the first hole drilled 230m west of the resource, which returned 98.4m at 3.07% TREO and 0.43% Nb2O5 from surface including 10.4m at 5.48% TREO and 0.48% Nb2O5 from 4.6m.

Collectively, the two holes confirm the open nature of the carbonatite body to the west and demonstrate the strong potential to substantially increase resources at Araxá.

“The results from hole AXDD002 continue to support the potential for a substantial increase in the scale of high-grade rare earths and niobium deposits at the Araxá Project,” executive chairman John Prineas said.

“The thick, high-grade mineralised zone intersected in our second large step-out hole extends the carbonatite-hosted system further to the west, about 150m beyond the current footprint of the MRE.

“On top of our first diamond hole – a large step-out 230m west of the MRE that intersected 98m of high-grade rare earths from surface – we are off to a great start in proving up more resources at Araxa.

“The combination of high grades and consistent continuity support the potential for a large resource upgrade at the conclusion of the current drill campaign.

“With a world-class resource already confirmed and our location in an established mining region that supports a potential expedited pathway to development, the Araxá Project is emerging as a stand-out opportunity to support efforts by the Western world to fast-track the establishment of new and secure supply rare earths outside of China.”

Watch: St George secures rare earths alliance and offtake deal

Araxá project

The Araxá project in Brazil’s mining friendly Minas Gerais state is in a region with a long history of commercial niobium production, a fact clearly demonstrated by CBMM’s world-leading niobium mining operations right next door.

This also provides SGQ with access to infrastructure and a skilled workforce.

The company has made significant advances since acquiring the project in February 2025 with a maiden resource defined in April and government support secured for a pilot processing plant.

It has also embarked on an aggressive drill campaign that has already established that mineralisation remains open in multiple directions.

Earlier reverse circulation drilling in the previously unexplored eastern portion returned results such as 48m at 5.71% TREO from 2m and 11m at 5.55% TREO and 1.29% Nb2O5 from 35m about 1km from the existing resource.

This prospectivity has been recognised by institutional investors and Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, who collectively pumped in $72.5m through a share placement earlier this month.

Meanwhile, mineralisation in the most recent hole AXDD002 begins near surface and remains continuous within the weathered saprolite profile, dominated by rare earths and niobium-rich material derived from the carbonatite host.

This zone remains open laterally and at depth with drilling terminating in mineralisation, which implies there’s potential for more to be found at depth.

Expansion drilling at Araxá is continuing with three diamond and one reverse circulation drill rigs operating on site.

Follow-up work will include detailed mineralogical analyses to refine the understanding of the distribution of magnet rare earths and niobium within the system.

This article was developed in collaboration with St George Mining, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.