St George Mining Ltd. has secured AU$60 million through a two-tranche institutional placement of 600 million new shares to accelerate the development of its Araxá rare earths and niobium project in Brazil.
The placement was heavily supported by existing high-quality institutional investors, including the company’s largest shareholder, Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd. The mining house, led by executive chairman Gina Rinehart, committed AU$20 million to the capital raise by subscribing for 200 million new shares.
Following the completion of the placement, Hancock Prospecting will expand its shareholding in the developer, holding an approximate 10.5 per cent interest in St George.
The newly injected capital will be deployed immediately to advance the high-grade Araxá project, situated in the established mining jurisdiction of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
The project features extensive, high-grade mineralisation starting right from the surface, benefiting from existing regional infrastructure and favourable logistics.
St George Mining Executive Chairman John Prineas said: “The world-class resource at Araxá has potential to be developed under an accelerated timeline – with high-grade mineralisation starting from surface and favourable project logistics in an established mining region – at a time when both governments and private enterprises around the world are rushing to establish new supply chains for critical minerals products
“The newly secured funding will bolster and accelerate St George’s program of advancing the Araxá Project through feasibility study work and a financial investment decision.”
Rinehart noted that Hancock Prospecting remains dedicated to supporting the company’s trajectory, stating she looks forward to seeing the asset develop into an important part of the global critical minerals supply chain.
The new shares will be issued at a price of 10 cents per share. Tranche 1 will issue roughly 424.5 million shares to raise AU$42.4 million under current placement capacities, while Tranche 2 will seek to raise the remaining AU$17.6 million, subject to shareholder approval at an extraordinary general meeting on July 10.
