SGQ building community support for its project while drilling underway
Our Brazilian based rare earths and niobium exploration Investment St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) is continuing to build community support for its project.
SGQ recently launched socio-environmental programs to help care for and improve the local community.
Strong support from the local community is often critical in the development of mining projects.
Local support is required to help operations develop and run smoothly, which is required to obtain all necessary permits and continue to operate.
The major drill campaign is underway, with auger drilling continuing and RC drilling expected to begin soon after to be followed by diamond drilling.
SGQ’s project currently has two resources:
- Rare earths - 40.6Mt of rare earths at grades of 4.13% TREO (total rare earths oxide)
- Niobium - 41.2Mt at niobium grades of 0.63%
SGQ will have three rigs on site for a 10,000m drill program that is expected to run over 12-16 weeks.
Assays from the drilling are expected on a 4-week rolling basis.
Here is a 2D view of where SGQ will be drilling (the yellow section is the current resource, the holes surrounding it are where SGQ will be drilling):
Executive Chairman John Prineas is on site and going through the old core shed:
SGQ is on track to have all drilling completed and reported plus the project's resources upgraded this year.
This is located adjacent to CBMM’s niobium operations, a private company which produces ~80% of global niobium supply.
What’s next for SGQ?
Drilling results 🔄
In the short term the main thing we want to see are drill results.
Ideally we see big extensions at depth and to the North/East/West of SGQ’s current JORC resource.
First batch of assay results should be out within the next 4-6 weeks (based on guidance from today’s announcement).
Beyond the drilling 🔄
Over the next 12-18 months, a lot of the catalysts for SGQ could come at hard-to-forecast times:
- Progress on strategic investors/offtake partners - hopefully SGQ can follow up the $8M cornerstone investment it managed to get from Xinhai Group - a global mining services provider - as part of its last raise.
- Finalise the remaining vendor payments - US$6M is due in ~9 months and then another US$5M in ~18 months.
- Start working on development studies - SGQ has mentioned some of these workstreams are already underway.
- Updates on downstream processing processing venture - SGQ is also working on a downstream processing process for niobium/rare earths products. This could be an additional upside if SGQ manages to make any material progress on this front.
- Pilot plant trials - SGQ has an agreement in place with Latin America’s only permanent magnet maker. SGQ is participating in the “MAGBRAS Initiative” - a program that has major automakers like Stellantis working toward building Brazil’s first permanent magnet-making facility.
- Permitting - SGQ is working with the same consultants that worked on Sigma Lithium and Latin Resources projects (two large lithium players in the same region of Brazil, Minas Gerias). Permitting targeted for full completion by Q4, 2026.
