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Smallcap St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) has taken another step towards realising its grand vision of becoming a rare earth element (REE) and niobium player – actually securing a downstream lab to process target ore.
Regular ASX junior watchers will already know Brazil is geologically rife with REE mineralisation and to that end, St George has teamed up with two technical firms in the country, EMBRAPII and SENAI respectively.
For brevity, I’ll skip what those acronyms stand for in Portuguese; the SENAI in question is not the vocational training institute of the same name but a consortium-like entity borne from the country’s chemical industry.
Described as a “technical co-venture,” SGQ will “have exclusivity to commercialise the [IP] developed by the co-venture” for a decade.
“St George and the agencies will collaborate via technical meetings, research studies and test works with EMBRAPII and SENAI to provide specialised technological services,” the company wrote on Thursday.
No royalties will be paid to either EMBRAPII or SENAI. Presumably, at least, at first – suggesting the partnership might be expecting it take ten years to get things established.
However, St George will be responsible for 40% of CapEx. SENAI will cough up 10%; the remainder is EMRAPII’s to manage.
But what that CapEx might be depends on how much progress the trio can make looking at St George’s Araxa project ore. The company want to develop a “sustainable process.”
Many rare earths miners in Brazil have looked for ways to greenify REE processing, often raking in healthy R&D tax rebates in return.
To date, no junior has ever really made it work – meaning St. George will likely face scrutiny from the investment community.
Of course, the company only needs to make it work once.
“Signing of this Technical Collaboration Agreement is testament not just to Araxá’s potential but also to the quality and experience of the in-country team that St George has assembled to drive the Project forward,” SGQ EC John Prineas said.
SGQ last traded at 2.4cps.
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