Estrella Resources Limited (ASX: ESR) is reporting significant progress in its maiden drilling campaign at the Werumata Limestone Project and IRA Miri Manganese Prospect in Timor-Leste, moving toward defining substantial mineral resources.
The Werumata project has now completed over 70 per cent of its initial drilling program, with promising findings of broad limestone intersections and potential manganese mineralisation in proximate formations.
The drilling at Werumata has logged limestone formations reaching thicknesses of up to 87 metres, averaging 55 metres across the target zones.
Additional calcite-bearing units intersected beneath the primary limestone targets have added to the project’s potential.
Estrella is targeting a JORC-compliant inferred resource of at least 500 million tonnes of calcite-rich limestone, positioned near the coast just south of Uero-Mata Township.
This limestone is noted for its high purity, making it suitable for industrial applications like pH control and environmental uses.
Managing Director Chris Daws highlighted the significance of the drilling progress: “We’re thrilled to be reporting excellent progress at Werumata where ongoing exploration continues to encounter broad-scale limestone mineralisation.
“While it is early stages, this is an important development as it confirms the findings of our mapping, sampling and surveying work, which pointed to the presence of a large sheet of mineralisation.
“With an average limestone thickness of 55m throughout our drilling so far, we are well positioned to leverage this exceptional opportunity.”
Alongside limestone exploration, Estrella completed drilling at the Ira Miri Manganese Prospect for 2025 with 45 drill holes, finding mineralisation in 29 of them.
The manganese intersections vary in thickness from 0.20 metres to 12.87 metres.
The company has collected samples of manganese mineralisation for preliminary investigation into potential premium quality “NMD” manganese.
Plans for extracting a bulk market appraisal sample are advancing well, with manganese samples en route to a Jakarta laboratory via airfreight to accelerate assay results.
Calcite samples are expected to follow.
The company recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Timor Leste (UNTL) to support the creation of a Sample Preparation laboratory within Timor-Leste, a key development for advancing local mineral processing capabilities.
Daws further commented on the broader drilling program: “Assays pending from the Ira Miri manganese project are eagerly awaited where we have extended the strike length of manganese mineralisation to more than 100m and remains open to the northeast and southwest.
“Werumata calcite assays are being expedited through the airfreighting pathway directly to Jakarta from Dili.”
Estrella’s Werumata project benefits from its strategic coastal location near infrastructure and potential port development sites, underpinning ambitions to establish a robust supply chain for exporting high-purity calcite limestone to Asian industrial markets.
The combined limestone and manganese exploration efforts reflect a dual strategy designed to maximise exploration efficiencies and project value.
With drilling well advanced and key assays underway, Estrella Resources is poised to rapidly progress toward defining substantial, marketable mineral resources that could help lay the foundation for a new industrial minerals industry in Timor-Leste.
The company is continuing to build on this momentum with follow-up drilling and market appraisal studies in the pipeline.
