St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) said drilling at the Araxa rare earths-niobium project in Brazil confirmed thick high-grade mineralization to the west and the east of the existing mineral resource estimate, according to a Wednesday Australian bourse filing.

Drilling encountered intercepts of 98.4 meters at a 3.1% grade of total rare earth oxides and 0.4% grade of niobium pentoxide from the surface, as well as 25 meters at a 4.4% grade of total rare earth oxides and a nearly 1% grade of niobium pentoxide from 25 meters, the filing said.

The mining exploration company's shares rose almost 8% in recent trading on Wednesday, earlier hitting their highest since September 2019.