St George Mining’s Araxá project could give Europe a new route to rare earths and niobium
The Australian company has expanded its mineral resource in Brazil and is testing processing routes as it seeks industrial partners. Its potential role in European supply chains now depends on turning geological scale into commercial production.
Europe’s effort to diversify its critical mineral supplies could find a new partner in Brazil. At the Araxá project in Minas Gerais, Australian company St George Mining is developing a deposit containing rare earths used in permanent magnets and niobium used by the steel industry. The company is already in talks with potential European customers, although production and supply agreements remain ahead.
“The sheer volume of our rare earths deposit provides an opportunity for St George to deliver into supply chains around the world, including Brazil, the US and Europe,” John Prineas, St George Mining’s executive chairman, told EUBizNews.
The opportunity has grown with Araxá’s latest mineral resource estimate. Published in August, it put the project’s principal rare earths resource at 111.2 million tonnes, up 57% from the previous estimate. About 75.2 million tonnes fall into the Measured and Indicated categories, which offer a firmer geological basis for mine planning and economic studies.
The estimate includes approximately 760,000 tonnes of contained neodymium and praseodymium oxides. Those elements are used in permanent magnets for applications that include electric motors and wind turbines. Araxá also contains substantial niobium mineralisation, giving St George two potential products from the same project.
“We now have 75 million tonnes in the Measured and Indicated component. That’s the material that we can convert to reserves,” Prineas said. That conversion has yet to take place. A mineral resource establishes what is estimated to be in the ground; it does not establish how much can be produced profitably.
European interest moves beyond the deposit
For Europe, access to Araxá would depend on more than securing mined material. Rare earths must pass through several processing stages before they can be used in magnets. Developing alternatives to concentrated global supply chains therefore requires processing capacity as well as new deposits.
St George has signed a memorandum of understanding with Spain’s Técnicas Reunidas to test processing methods on material from Araxá. The work may help define a route for rare earth products and open conversations with European buyers. It is an early technical arrangement, rather than a commitment to build a plant or deliver material to Europe.
Prineas said other European industrial groups are also in discussions with the company. “Some are chemical companies, some are steel mills,” he told EUBizNews. He expects further metallurgical results and economic studies to give prospective customers a clearer basis for negotiating offtake agreements.
Those agreements could also influence financing. According to Prineas, some potential buyers are interested in supply arrangements involving advance payments. For now, the discussions remain prospective: the company has not announced binding European offtake contracts for Araxá.
Brazil’s processing ambitions
St George is pursuing a strategy that could keep more of the value chain in Brazil. Pilot-scale work is testing how Araxá material can be separated into a niobium concentrate and a stream enriched in rare earths. Further tests will examine production of ferroniobium, used by steelmakers, and intermediate rare earth products.
The company is also working with Brazilian partners on a proposal for a rare earths processing centre in Minas Gerais. Its establishment remains subject to further assessment and investment decisions. Together with the Técnicas Reunidas test work, these initiatives show the two sides of Araxá’s commercial strategy: develop processing capabilities near the deposit while seeking customers and technical expertise abroad.
For European manufacturers, processed Brazilian material could offer an additional source of supply. It would complement, rather than replace, the EU’s effort to build refining and manufacturing capacity within Europe.
A production target still to be tested
St George has started the environmental licensing process for a potential mine and industrial complex at Araxá. Worley is advising on development studies, while metallurgical testing continues. Their results will help determine the project’s costs, production plan and financing requirements.
“We’ve now got our great resource. It’s up to us to show that we can monetise it,” Prineas said.
He sees ferroniobium as a possible first product. “Potentially in 2029 or 2030, we’ll be in production producing ferroniobium. Roughly 10,000 tonnes is our target,” he said. Rare earths production could follow around a year later, according to his current expectations.
Those dates and volumes are company targets, contingent on successful studies, permits, funding and construction. Araxá’s significance for Europe will ultimately rest on that execution: whether a large Brazilian resource can become a dependable source of materials for industries seeking more diverse supply chains.
