WA explorer spruiks Brazil project benefits as China restricts magnet exports in retaliation to US tariffs

A WA explorer says its niobium-rare earth elements project in Brazil can help feed US supply chains as China restricts the export of permanent magnets in retaliation for tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. West Perth-headquartered St George Mining completed the acquisition of the Araxá project in the State of Minas Gerais in February after first announcing its move at last year’s Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. While the critical metal niobium was the major reason for the purchase, Araxa also has a significant rare earth elements resource. Neodymium and praseodymium — NdPr — are the main rare earths used in permanent magnets which go into a range of modern technologies such as wind turbines, electric vehicles, wireless technology, and medical equipment such as MRI machines. Washington DC-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies last week said that on April 4 China’s Ministry of Commerce imposed export restrictions on seven rare earth elements and magnets used in the defence, energy, and automotive sectors in response to Mr Trump’s tariff increases on Chinese products. In response to this, St George last week said the NdPr grade at Araxá was a “high” 7800 parts per million, with 320,000 tonnes of contained NdPr — highlighting the potential for it to be a significant supplier to permanent magnet manufacturers in Brazil and elsewhere. The company said it was also participating in Brazil’s permanent magnet-making initiative, which aimed to build the South American country’s first permanent magnet-making facility. St George said participants in the initiative include major end-users such as the auto giant Stellantis as well as emerging rare earths producers in Brazil. St George executive chairman John Prineas said China’s increased restrictions on the export of rare earths and permanent magnets had significantly disrupted the global supply chains for these commodities. “This development is evidence that single-source supply chains are a risk, from China or anywhere else,” he said. “The need for a sustainable rare earths industry outside China has never been stronger. “One of the largest producing hard-rock rare earths mines outside of China is the Mt Weld mine owned by the $7.3 billion-valued Lynas Rare Earths with a total resource of 106 million tonnes at 4.1 per cent total rare earth oxide. “St George’s Araxa project has a total JORC resource of 40.64Mt at 4.13 per cent TREO, illustrating the potential value upside for St George as we progress through development studies and resource expansion drilling to demonstrate the potential for a commercial rare earth mining operation at Araxa.” The Center for Strategic and International Studies analysis of the Chinese tariff retaliation move highlighted how vulnerable the US was to the dominance of China in the manufacture of magnets. It said the US Department of Defense had last year set a goal to develop a complete mine-to-magnet rare earth elements supply chain that could meet all US defence needs by 2027. The centre said in 2020 the Pentagon awarded MP Materials US$9.6 million for a light rare earths separation facility at Mountain Pass, California, and in 2022 awarded an additional US$35m for a heavy rare earths processing facility. “These facilities would be the first of their kind in the United States, fully integrating the rare earths supply chain from mining, separating, and leaching in Mountain Pass to refining and magnet production in Fort Worth, Texas,” the centre said. “But even when these facilities are fully operational, MP Materials will only be producing 1000 tons of neodymium-boron-iron (NdFeB) magnets by the end of 2025 — less than one per cent of the 138,000 tons of NdFeB magnets China produced in 2018. “In 2024, MP Materials announced record production of 1300 tons of neodymium-praseodymium oxide. “In the same year, China produced an estimated 300,000 tons of NdFeB magnets.” The centre also highlighted the importance of the Department of Defense’s relationship with Lynas. “The company was awarded US$30.4m in 2021 for a US separation facility for light REEs and another US$120m in 2022 for a heavy REE processing facility,” it said. “These investments are an important step in building completely independent supply chains for REE magnets.” But the centre said even with these recent investments, the US was a long way off from meeting the department’s goal for a mine-to-magnet rare earth elements supply chain independent of China — and it was even further from rivalling foreign adversaries in this strategic industry.