SGQ partners with Boston Metal to trial next-generation niobium processing

Our rare earths and niobium Investment St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) just signed a second processing deal for niobium production from its project in Brazil.

SGQ’s project has the largest and highest-grade carbonatite-hosted rare earth deposit in South America…

…and the third highest grade REE deposit globally in the Western world following a recent resource upgrade.

SGQ already has 3 programs running for rare earth processing on its project:

• 🔄 REAlloys (US) - Testing SGQ’s rare earth oxalates (salts) to see if they meet the specifications for US military-grade magnets. (source)
• 🔄 Nanum Nanotecnologia (Brazil) - Cerium/lanthanum separation to upgrade NdPr concentration by removing them early in the processing cycle (source)
• 🔄 Tecnicas Reunidas (Europe) - Applying its proprietary RARETECH technology to SGQ’s ore samples to design an optimal chemical flowsheet. (source)

Most of the market interest in SGQ until now has been for its big rare earths resource BUT SGQ’s deposit also hosts a large niobium resource - 95.47Mt for 0.56Mt of contained niobium @ 0.59% grade. (source)

SGQ’s project actually sits next door to the world’s single biggest niobium mine (owned by CBMM) - that mine produces ~80% of the world’s niobium:

(source)

Today’s announcement is for a processing deal with Boston Metal to trial its Molten Oxide Electrolysis (MOE) technology to produce niobium from SGQ’s deposit.

The most interesting takeaway for us is around the origins of the group SGQ is partnering with (Boston Metal).

The group actually came out of MIT (in the US) and has attracted over US$500M in investment from a syndicate that includes BHP, BMW, Microsoft, ArcelorMittal, Vale, and Aramco:

(source)

AND Boston Metal's CEO, Tadeu Carneiro actually worked for CBMM for nearly 30 years including 10 years as CEO…

(source)

So this is a group with a lot of niobium expertise, based in the US with some serious backers.

We think that strong results from this partnership could start to build up SGQ’s niobium story.

What's next for SGQ?

What we want to see next from SGQ

🔄 Drill results from expansion drilling

SGQ has 4 rigs turning 24/7 at its project right now.

(source)

The last update out of SGQ said that ~44 expansion holes had been completed that AREN’T in the current resource estimate.

We are hoping the current drill programs lead to another resource upgrade on the project later this year. (SGQ has mentioned it is targeting another upgrade in Q3 to include the ongoing drilling- source).

🔄 Downstream processing updates — now on three fronts

Here are the processing partnerships we are tracking:

• 🔄 REAlloys (US) - testing SGQ's rare earth product for US defence magnets
• 🔄 Nanum Nanotecnologia (Brazil) - cerium/lanthanum separation to upgrade NdPr ore concentration (we covered this here)
• 🔄 Tecnicas Reunidas (Europe) - RARETECH test work on rare earths
• 🔄 Boston Metal (US/Brazil) - MOE (Molten Oxide Electrolysis) test work on niobium (today)

Beyond those workstreams we are also looking out for:

(source)