Facility could also be open to other companies.
Australian mining company St George Mining is considering (PDF) the construction of a rare earths processing facility in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Together with Brazilian chemical and industrial company Lima & Pergher and the Minas Gerais authorities, the company plans to establish a processing center in Uberlândia. The facility would process rare earth concentrates, mixed carbonates and oxalates into feedstocks for magnet production. According to St George, the center could process material from other deposits in Minas Gerais in addition to material from its Araxá project. A final investment decision has yet to make a final investment decision. St George is targeting commissioning in 2030.
The project therefore targets the midstream segment of the rare earths industry, covering processing between mining and magnet production. The planned center could help close an important gap in Brazil’s rare earths value chain: Although the country holds the world’s second-largest rare earth reserves, its production of processed rare earths has remained relatively low so far.
Photo: Tom Fisk via Canva
