Trek Metals has uncovered a high-grade manganese discovery at the Pearana prospect within the Hendeka manganese project in the Pilbara region of WA.
Recent exploration work at Hendeka comprised prospect-scale geological mapping and surface rock chip sampling. A total of 302 rock chip samples were collected by Advanced Energy Fuels (AEF), which currently has the option to acquire Hendeka from Trek.
The exploration campaign successfully identified highly prospective, high-grade manganese mineralisation in proximity to favourable geology at four key Hendeka prospects: Pearana, Pothole, Sharks Fin, and Pearana South.
“We are pleased to report strong exploration results at the Hendeka project, with the Pearana prospect emerging as the primary exploration target,” Trek chief executive officer Derek Marshall said.
“High-grade manganese mineralisation has been confirmed over a 3.5 km strike, with a high percentage of assays exceeding 30 per cent manganese, reinforcing its potential as a significant discovery.
“The results from Pearana are outstanding and we look forward to the prospect progressing through to drill testing as soon as practicable.”
The Pothole prospect also saw great success, returning the highest-grade manganese assay of 57 per cent. The high-grade mineralisation was observed over a 1km north-northwest and south-southeast striking zone.
The Sharks Fin prospect returned rock chip samples grading up to 32.6 per cent manganese and the Pearana South target returned assays of up to 35 per cent manganese, with 10 samples exceeding 20 per cent.
With Pearana named the priority target for Hendeka, Trek expects the prospect to transition to granted status soon, paving the way for drill testing to take place.
Marshall said Pearana could add “significant value” to the defined resource at the Contact deposit, which sits approximately 30km south.
“Contact remains the focus and Trek looks forward to updating the market on numerous initiatives currently being advanced by AEF,” Marshall said.
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