Estrella Resources has secured a prized position in what is emerging as a new mineral frontier after the Timor-Leste Government granted the company three highly-prospective new mining concessions.
The acquisition of the concessions gives the company access to an area of 121.5 square kilometres in a region known to host more than 200 mineral occurrences including gold, copper, manganese, silver and chromite.
Adding further impetus to the land grab, Estrella has also revealed a new deal with the State-run Murak Rai Timor (MRT), which will see the creation of a joint venture (JV) to explore for valuable deposits in Timor-Leste.
Management says high-grade manganese has been observed at the surface within its new concessions during recent field trips and the area has undergone little to no modern exploration.
Estrella managing director Chris Daws has spent the past 14 years cultivating relationships within Timor-Leste, which recently passed legislation aimed at enabling a new mineral exploration and development industry in the country.
Access to the concessions is 170km from the capital city of Dili by sealed, all-weather roads and then a further 10km on all-weather unsealed roads south to the towns of Baduro or Daudere. Timor-Leste has a pronounced dry season that will greatly assist land access and exploration in more remote areas.
Estrella says the nation is serviced daily with modern commercial jetliners, with just an 85-minute flight from from Darwin and in a safe and secure social environment.
According to the details of the expected JV, MRT will be free-carried at 30 per cent up to the release of a definitive feasibility study (DFS) into the mining concessions granted to Estrella. Management believes a JV is the best way forward for any potential success from mineral exploration to flow through to both shareholders and the people of Timor-Leste.
MRT was set up in September this year by the Timor-Leste Government as the “Timor-Leste National Mining Company” to be capable of participating in the mining of mineral resources on behalf of the Republic.
Estrella Resources managing director Christopher Daws said: “Timor-Leste is a highly prospective country that has little to no modern exploration undertaken within its borders. Estrella’s management have seen first-hand the mineral prospectivity during numerous trips to the country and within the concession areas that we have now been granted the opportunity to explore.”
Management says Estrella is one of only four companies awarded concessions by the government, with first-mover advantage in a developing country that is starting a new mineral industry.
The minerals tender process is the first for the fledgling nation, which only gained independence in 2002 following a previously turbulent period under Indonesian rule. Mineral titles will be awarded across the country in a bid to inspire a new exploration and mining industry aimed at improving the fortunes of the small island nation that has been long devastated by conflict.
Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor and now officially as the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island nation in South-East Asia. It is comprised of the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island’s north-western half and the minor islands of Atauro and Jaco. The western half of the island is administered by Indonesia.
Estrella says detailed mapping and sampling will aim to identify mineral occurrences on surface within the concessions and will be combined with further consultation with the local population as to the possible next stages of exploration. It will consist of airborne geophysical surveys followed by ground geophysics and eventually drilling if warranted.
With Daws’ backgrounding work enduring more than a decade, the company’s positioning efforts in Timor-Leste have already been something of a long game. But now the ground has been granted, the real work is just beginning.
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By Michael Philipps
