St George Mining delivers encouraging niobium and rare earth beneficiation results at Araxá
St George Mining Ltd (ASX:SGQ, FRA:S0G, OTC:SGQMF) has reported strong initial metallurgical testwork results from its Araxá Niobium and Rare Earth Project in Brazil, with flotation beneficiation producing separate high-grade niobium and rare earth concentrate streams from near-surface mineralisation.
The results are an important step for St George in demonstrating the project’s potential to support a dual-commodity operation capable of producing both niobium and rare earth products from the same ore source.
High-grade niobium concentrate achieved
Initial open-circuit flotation testwork on approximately 5 tonnes of near-surface saprolite material produced niobium concentrates grading up to 40.2% Nb₂O₅.
The best results returned a 39.6% Nb₂O₅ concentrate at 54.3% flotation recovery and a 40.2% Nb₂O₅ concentrate at 46.0% recovery. Including a preceding magnetic separation stage, overall niobium recovery reached about 50.9%.
These grades and recoveries are comparable with existing operations processing Araxá-style pyrochlore-hosted niobium deposits, where flotation recoveries typically range between 40% and 60%.
CIT-SENAI Flotation Results for Niobium.
Executive chairman John Prineas said the results supported the potential for commercial production of both niobium and rare earth products from Araxá.
“Our Araxá Project hosts world-class resources for each of niobium and rare earths – something which is unique amongst our critical metals peers. Our aim is to capture the full value of this mineralisation by producing commercial products of both niobium and rare earths in a potential mine development at Araxá.
“The initial flotation results are very encouraging for our dual commodity approach as they support the potential to produce commercial niobium and rare earths products from the Araxá mineralisation. This represents an important milestone for the project.
“High-grade niobium concentrate was produced in this early-stage flotation testwork with recoveries and grades that are consistent with niobium mining operations with Araxá-style pyrochlore mineralisation.
“In addition, the open circuit beneficiation testwork demonstrated the potential to upgrade rare earth concentrate in the niobium flotation tailings.
“The testwork was completed on five tonnes of near-surface material likely to be the kind of ore mined in the initial years of a mining operation at Araxá, thereby providing a robust result for development study work.
“We are particularly pleased to have assembled a Brazilian and Australian technical team with extensive practical experience in both niobium and rare earths process development and\ operation, including previous experience at Araxá niobium operations along with Brazilian and international rare earths projects.
