Estrella lands $5M to fuel Timor-Leste manganese exploration push
ASX-listed Estrella Resources has pulled in a hefty $5 million from a strategic Western Australian investor, who is keen to back the company's ambitious manganese and limestone exploration campaigns in Timor-Leste.
The cash came after MJ Ratta Investments exercised the second tranche of an option subscription agreement, inked in September last year.
Subject to shareholder approval, the investor will receive 136.76 million shares at 3.656 cents per share, which is a 20 per cent discount to Estrella's 10-day volume-weighted average price of 4.57c.
The first tranche raised $350,000 from the issue of 53.3 million shares at 0.006c per share.
Estrella says the move is a major endorsement of the company's fast-moving strategy in a region that, until now, has never seen modern drilling for metallic minerals.
The new funding package boosts Estrella's balance sheet and also comes with attractive terms for Ratta. The investor will gain an increased gross revenue royalty from manganese production – up from 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent - and an extended royalty life from five to seven years if production gets up.
Additionally, the company has pledged a first-ranking security interest on its Spargoville nickel mineral rights until it can confirm delivery of 20,000 tonnes of ore to port.
With the blessing of local Timor-Leste communities and its nascent mining industry, Daws added that Estrella has also received staunch support from its institutional shareholders.
The funds will be used to ramp up Estrella's ongoing 3000-metre diamond and 10,000m reverse circulation drilling blitz and pave the way for a follow-up 10,000m reverse circulation campaign, subject to results.
The timing of the new cash has come at an exciting time for the company, which recently landed some big manganese results.
Last week, the drill bit struck a standout 7.76m hit of manganese oxide from just 30 centimetres below surface at its Ira Miri project in the country's northwest.
The discovery came from a diamond drill hole using an upgraded rig, which twinned the project's first hole that had earlier pulled up short in mineralisation. Fitted with an appropriate drill bit and improved drilling fluids, the rig is capable of churning through the harder material, leading to an improved core recovery.
Core visuals revealed thick, high-grade manganese zones, with some sections potentially hitting 100 per cent manganese oxide. Notably, the intercepts are already rivalling Australia's renowned Groote Eylandt deposit, which averages just 3m wide.
Estrella says the material appears to be in-situ supergene enrichment from the Noni Formation and looks extremely well preserved beneath ancient overburden.
Drilling is continuing with step-out holes to test scale and continuity at Ira Miri, while the company pushes on with its permitting efforts to ramp up exploration at its Werumata and Lautém sites, further south.
In parallel with the hunt for manganese, the company is also chasing a large limestone opportunity as part of a partnership and an offtake agreement already in place to monetise the resource.
Last month, Estrella struck a binding deal with Indonesian group PT Raka Energi Mandiri (REM) to potentially export up to 500 million tonnes of high-grade limestone from Timor-Leste across the next five years.
The agreement gives REM exclusive marketing and off-take rights and includes a performance incentive of up to 500 million share options at 5c each.
The joint venture, dubbed Estrella Murak Rai Timor Lda, will retain all revenue from limestone sales. Estrella owns 70 per cent of the joint venture with Timor-Leste's state-owned Murak Rai Timor holding the balance.
The material shows up as a clean, coral-rich layer running along the top of the dominant Baucau Formation, which stretches across the company's 195 square kilometre concession. The resource also conveniently sits above its main manganese targets, allowing for dual-resource exploration in a single drill run.
Recent assays confirmed the limestone is a premium-grade calcite with minimal impurities, making it highly sought-after for use in cement, glass and agriculture. It is also the perfect neutralising agent in nickel processing and for environmental remediation.
With strong backing from the investor, local communities and a budding Timor-Leste mining industry, Estrella appears well-positioned to continue blazing a trail through uncharted territory.
The company has already marked itself as a pioneer in the region and now, with $5 million in the bank, it appears ready to dig even deeper.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
matt.birney@wanews.com.au
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Age
3 hours ago
- The Age
Green360 inks agreement to fast-track its low-carbon concrete
Green360 Technologies has penned an agreement to produce low-carbon retaining wall blocks in a joint venture with leading Western Australian precast concrete manufacturer PERMAcast. The companies' 50:50 joint venture will produce and sell low-carbon retaining wall blocks to WA's hungry mining construction market, as well as the residential, infrastructure and commercial sectors. Under the non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU), PERMAcast will fund the acquisition of a specialised block-laying machine and a concrete batching plant, enabling the production of 1-metre-long low-carbon retaining wall blocks for net-zero or ESG compliant construction ventures. The joint venture entity will have exclusive rights to purchase the blocks at cost from PERMAcast and on-sell them, with all profits shared equally between the partners. Green360 says the agreement promises significant revenue and cash flow opportunities and will fast-track commercialisation of its new-world technology. '… We're excited to take this step with PERMAcast toward bringing low carbon retaining wall blocks to Western Australia ...' Green360 Technologies executive chairman Aaron Banks The company's proprietary cement formulations use industrial by-products to ensure the blocks have a lower embodied carbon footprint compared to traditional concrete products. The in-house production model allows for precise control over mix designs, ensuring compliance with strict performance and sustainability standards, including net-zero and ESG targets increasingly demanded by major projects. The blocks are expected to be the joint venture's first low-carbon product sold in commercial volumes, with production equipment slated for commissioning at PERMAcast's facilities by mid-next year, pending final agreements.
Sydney Morning Herald
3 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Green360 inks agreement to fast-track its low-carbon concrete
Green360 Technologies has penned an agreement to produce low-carbon retaining wall blocks in a joint venture with leading Western Australian precast concrete manufacturer PERMAcast. The companies' 50:50 joint venture will produce and sell low-carbon retaining wall blocks to WA's hungry mining construction market, as well as the residential, infrastructure and commercial sectors. Under the non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU), PERMAcast will fund the acquisition of a specialised block-laying machine and a concrete batching plant, enabling the production of 1-metre-long low-carbon retaining wall blocks for net-zero or ESG compliant construction ventures. The joint venture entity will have exclusive rights to purchase the blocks at cost from PERMAcast and on-sell them, with all profits shared equally between the partners. Green360 says the agreement promises significant revenue and cash flow opportunities and will fast-track commercialisation of its new-world technology. '… We're excited to take this step with PERMAcast toward bringing low carbon retaining wall blocks to Western Australia ...' Green360 Technologies executive chairman Aaron Banks The company's proprietary cement formulations use industrial by-products to ensure the blocks have a lower embodied carbon footprint compared to traditional concrete products. The in-house production model allows for precise control over mix designs, ensuring compliance with strict performance and sustainability standards, including net-zero and ESG targets increasingly demanded by major projects. The blocks are expected to be the joint venture's first low-carbon product sold in commercial volumes, with production equipment slated for commissioning at PERMAcast's facilities by mid-next year, pending final agreements.
AU Financial Review
4 hours ago
- AU Financial Review
Master of the market comes in from the cold
The farrago around Pointsbet's $402 million sale to Japanese social media company Mixi has drawn its fair share of rubberneckers. Computershare botched tallying the shareholder vote last week, and missed rival Betr's attempts to block the deal. Betr wants to buy Pointsbet for itself. The brainchild of the bookmaker is the country's most famous bookmaker (and Melbourne Storm chairman) Matthew Tripp. And by swallowing up the ASX-listed Blue Bet last year, Betr became a public company.
