Highly prospective Christmas Creek Gold & Rare Earths Project further expanded with new
tenement acquisition ahead of maiden drilling program; Bulk metallurgical test work delivers
significant increase in manganese grades at Hendeka.
Highlights
Christmas Creek Gold & Rare Earths Project, WA
Application for additional tenement, ELA 80/5996, at Christmas Creek, expanding the footprint of the former Newmont project in the Kimberley.
New tenement lies due west of RareX’s (ASX: REE) Cummins Range carbonatite, offering prospectivity for rare earth mineralisation, and may also host an extension to the gold mineralised structures at the previously defined Zahn Prospect.
Trek has applied for new application ELA 80/5996.
McEwen Hills Niobium Project, NT
Trek secures highly prospective project along strike from WA1’s Luni Niobium discovery with registered transfer of 80% tenement ownership in EL33191.
Hendeka Manganese Project, WA
Bulk metallurgical test work delivers significant increase in manganese grades, with a feed grade of 15.83% Mn upgraded to a >30% Mn-in-concentrate, showing promise as suitable material for export to the global steel market and/or feed into the rapidly growing manganese sulphate battery market.
Beneficiation tests on the manganese feed resulted in significant grade improvements: o Dense Media Separation (DMS) achieved grades of up to 36.9% Mn, with the 150kg bulk test returning a combined concentrate grade of 30.04% Mn. o First-pass ore sorting achieved a grade of 29.86% Mn.
Importantly, the yield was improved significantly from the historical test work, with an overall improvement of >200% in the 150kg bulk test from an average mass recovery of 14.41% historically to 37.52% currently. Contained manganese recovery also increased considerably from 35.29% to 70.95%.
These results are considered highly promising given the early stage of the test work.
Initial manganese concentrate leaching test work has commenced as part of an overall strategy to add value through downstream processing with the ambition to supply high purity manganese sulphate (HPMSM) to the growing electric vehicle battery market.
Corporate
Cash position at 31 December 2023 of $6.1 million.
Trek Metals’ CEO Derek Marshall said the December Quarter marked a period of productive consolidation for the Company following its landmark acquisitions of the Christmas Creek Gold & Rare Earths Project and McEwen Hills Niobium Project during the quarter.
“The December Quarter was a positive period for Trek, with important progress achieved towards our goal of becoming an important new participant in the global supply chain for critical battery materials.
“At our Hendeka Manganese Project in the Pilbara, we completed a key bulk metallurgical test work program and delivered a very encouraging set of results to market. This program has confirmed the ability to successfully upgrade the ore from Hendeka into high-grade manganese concentrate, suitable for exporting to the global steel market and/or as feed into the fast growing manganese sulphate battery market.
“This test work – which delivered concentrate grades exceeding 30% Mn – has very positive implications for the future development of the Hendeka Project, with the strong increase in yield meaning that a higher proportion of the Resource can be converted into a saleable product.
“Following the completion of the bulk program, we have now commenced a new test work program focused on the production of high-purity manganese sulphate (HPMSM) from Hendeka. HPMSM is expected to see surging demand in the coming years as an increasingly desirable component of battery cathode composition.
“We were also very pleased during the Quarter to secure an additional tenement adjacent to our recently acquired Christmas Creek Gold & Rare Earths Project in the Kimberley region. The new tenement expands the project along a key structural corridor, with the potential to host rare earths mineralisation similar to the nearby Cummins Range Rare Earths & Phosphate Project, as well as extensions of gold mineralisation identified at the Zahn Prospect.
“We are now firming up key targets at Christmas Creek ahead of an inaugural drilling program scheduled to commence in the coming months.”