A Manganese Gift from Christmas Creek
Trek Metals’ Unexpected Strike in the Kimberley Will Make This Christmas Memorable For The Company
In the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, where explorers have long chased veins of gold and copper, Trek Metals Ltd. stumbled upon an altogether different treasure: high-grade manganese. What began as a hunt for precious metals at the company’s wholly owned Christmas Creek project has yielded rock chip samples assaying up to 58.4% manganese—nearing the theoretical maximum of 63% for pure manganese oxide.
The discovery, announced in November 2025, emerged during a Phase 2 drilling campaign targeting orogenic gold and intrusion-related copper-gold systems. Outcrops spanning 750 metres of strike length revealed the mineralization, which then vanishes under sand cover, hinting at a larger concealed deposit. A recent high-resolution ground gravity survey, completed in December, bolstered the find by detecting strong anomalies beneath the surface, suggesting two mineralized corridors potentially extending over a kilometre in strike.
Manganese, a critical mineral essential for steel alloys and lithium-ion batteries, is increasingly vital amid global efforts to diversify supply chains away from China’s dominance in refining.
Trek, an ASX-listed junior explorer (TKM), has raised $1 million to fast-track follow-up work, including additional sampling, mapping, and drilling beneath the outcrops. While gold intercepts from the same program show promise, the manganese windfall diversifies Trek’s portfolio in a district-scale play. As battery demand surges with the clean energy transition, this serendipitous find could prove to be a Christmas gift for patient investors—and a reminder that in mining, fortune favours the persistent.