A geophysical survey at our Ira Miri Manganese Project in Timor-Leste has given us a clear new set of drill targets, and we're moving straight to testing them.

The Mobile MTd drone survey picked up strong conductivity "plumes" rising from depth near the Laleno Dome. These aren't proof of mineralisation on their own, but their shape and setting are compelling enough that we've built an initial drilling programme of around 3,000 metres of RC and diamond drilling to test three of them. These will be the deepest mineral exploration holes ever drilled in Timor-Leste. Site preparation starts within the week, with drilling expected to begin in the first week of September.

The survey also picked up shallower conductivity anomalies that may represent manganese-bearing rock, and the best of these will be tested with three more drill-holes. Separately, we're progressing a ~4,000 metre drilling campaign on limestone near Sagadate, once approvals are in hand, to build on our existing Werumata Limestone Deposit.

There's more geophysics coming too: a larger helicopter-based survey covering our entire Timor-Leste ground is scheduled to start in September, with results expected by year end.

On the manganese side, we've now selected a customer for our maiden trial shipment of around 27,000 tonnes from Ira Miri. Export approval has been lodged with the Timor-Leste government, and signing the sales agreement depends on that approval coming through. We'll update the market once it's granted and terms are finalised.

If you have questions about this announcement, we'd encourage you to send them through the question box on this page.