Terrain Minerals has hit the ground running after the holiday break, kicking off a large-scale 6,800-metre reverse circulation drilling campaign at its Smokebush gold and silver project in Western Australia’s Murchison region.
The current program comprises 34 holes, with 12 holes totalling 2,459 metres already completed prior to the break and a further 22 holes planned across the company’s Lightning and Wildflower prospects. The drilling program has been designed to extend known high-grade gold-silver zones, test new targets and advance the project towards a maiden resource.
Terrain recently secured a mining lease over the highly prospective Lightning gold-silver prospect, providing a clear runways towards its first JORC-compliant gold-silver resource by mid-year. With A$2 million in its saddlebags as at the end of December quarter Terrain says it has plenty of flexibility to chase some aggressive exploration ideas.
At Lightning, nine holes will be drilled deeper and along strike from existing high-grade gold trends to build tonnage for future resource estimates. The program will also test new targets and assess the potential for repeat mineralisation within the same structural corridor.
Previous drilling at Lightning delivered some standout results, including a 13-metre intercept grading 8.13 grams per tonne gold (g/t) from 122 metres, which contained a higher-grade 2-metre interval grading 48.22g/t gold. Those results have helped elevate Lightning as Terrain’s flagship target within the broader Smokebush project.
Following completion of drilling at Lightning, the rig will move to its Wildflower prospect, where three induced polarisation targets have been defined beneath gold-in-soil anomalies. Wildflower is close to historical drill intersections and sits in a similar geological setting to Lightning.
Induced polarisation surveys at Wildflower have outlined three significant chargeability anomalies extending more than 800 metres beneath surface gold anomalies. The targets are supported by nearby historical drilling and represent compelling, largely untested opportunities for new gold and silver discoveries.
Intriguingly, both Lightning and Wildflower lie in close structural proximity to the same granitoid intrusion. Further work may confirm the intrusion as a key mineralising control, raising the possibility that the two prospects form part of a larger mineralised system.
The shared geological setting and high-grade results already achieved at Lightning suggest that further evaluation of Wildflower’s well-defined drill targets could significantly expand Terrain’s gold footprint within its Smokebush ground.
Smokebush lies within the Yalgoo Mineral Field, a proven gold province that hosts several operating and development-stage mines. The project sits just 15 kilometres from Vault Minerals’ Rothsay 175,000-ounce gold mine, while Capricorn Metals’ similarly sized Mt Gibson project and Vault’s Deflector operation are also nearby.
Previous drilling across the broader Smokebush project has already returned encouraging gold and silver results, including multi-metre intercepts grading well above 5g/t gold with robust silver credits.
The presence of multiple nearby processing hubs provides Terrain with potential optionality should it define a significant resource, including the possibility of toll treating as a pathway to early production.
With drilling now back in full swing, high-grade gold-silver hits already in hand and large portions of both Lightning and Wildflower still untested, Terrain’s current campaign could deliver a welcome jolt of discovery momentum in WA’s Mid West.
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