Estrella Resources has upped the exploration tempo at its Ira Miri manganese project in Timor-Leste, unveiling a trio of punchy, high-chargeability anomalies that now sit squarely in the company’s crosshairs ahead of a major 2026 drill campaign.
A new resistivity induced polarisation survey run across a line of surface manganese outcrops has delivered a textbook geophysical roadmap, hinting at accumulations of shallow, thickened manganese.
The company’s geologists, working alongside national scientists from Timor-Leste’s Instituto de Geociencias, placed 48 electrodes, with 5-metre spacings along a north-northwest trending corridor to probe electrical resistivity and chargeability in the subsurface.
The sweet spot for manganese oxides often lines up with a combination of low resistivity and high IP response - and the new data appears to have delivered both in spades.
The IP anomalies correlated directly with previously mapped outcropping mineralisation, structural breaks and every high-grade intersection pulled from the ground.
In earlier diamond holes Estrella pulled shallow manganese oxide intervals of 11.65m, 12.87m and 8.5m, with grades pushing up to a whopping 80 per cent manganese oxide from just 5m depth. Those intersections sit right on top of the newly modelled anomaly cluster, providing some serious geological bite to the IP responses.
The first of the three clear underground targets popped up directly beneath electrodes 19 to 21, between 5 to 25 metres downhole and appear to be 15 metres thick. The company says the anomaly shows all the classic hallmarks of manganese that has washed down and built up in cracks and weathered rock.
The second target lit up further east lines up perfectly with two holes that have already returned decent manganese hits, suggesting it may be part of the same body, but further along strike.
However, the real attention-grabber was a zone between electrodes 35 and 40, where the strongest chargeability of the whole survey was picked up. It is also the most likely place to hold the thickest or richest manganese. That zone sits right beneath surface outcrops, exactly where a structural trap or feeder system might concentrate manganese during weathering and remobilisation.
According to management that anomaly reading, once tested with the rotary truth teller, may even top the company’s best drill intersection to date of 12.87m running at 80 per cent manganese oxides, given its size, intensity and structural position.
Estrella Resources managing director Chris Daws said: “IP inversion results have identified three subsurface targets which are very exciting. Our highest-charge anomaly is particularly encouraging and is interpreted to represent a potential northern extension and likely thickening of manganese mineralisation from holes EMDD032-EMDD034.”
Daws added the biggest target will be first in line for drilling when fieldwork kicks off again next year, with further refinements to follow as more assays and data come to hand.
Meanwhile, Estrella has fast-tracked its manganese samples from its latest drilling program, flying them from Dili to a certified lab in Jakarta to speed up assay turnaround. The next batch of results is expected within one to three weeks.
Additionally, the company’s nearby Werumata Limestone project has taken another step forward, with the JORC resource author onsite to map out an expanded drilling area that could push the project’s potential well beyond 500 million tonnes. A first load of limestone samples will also head to Jakarta early next week, with assays due in about three to four weeks’ time.
Adding momentum to Estrella’s exploration push, the company has recently appointed veteran geologist Peter Spitalny – with more than 30 years of international experience - as its new in country exploration manager.
Moving forward, work on the all-weather access tracks - needed to shift a bulk sample of manganese to port for market appraisal - will kick off right after the country’s Independence Day holiday. Construction will run through to the festive season, paving the way for a delivery early in the New Year, pending final approvals.
With fresh geophysics lighting the path, assays on the way and a new geologist now on the ground, Estrella is shaping up for an exciting drill program at the start of 2026.
If the drill rigs hit what the IP data is hinting at, Ira Miri could quickly evolve from a promising manganese outcrop into one of Timor-Leste’s first ever headline resource discoveries.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By James Pearson
