Terrain flags July maiden resource for Mid West gold play

Terrain Minerals says it is closing in on a maiden July mineral resource estimate for its Lightning gold project in WA’s Mid West region, 350km north of Perth.

While today’s announcement reads more like a progress checklist than a singular market-moving event, it paints the picture of a company steadily working through the string of practical tasks necessary to get its first resource across the line.

Among the key tasks already completed or underway are a differential GPS drill collar survey, a topographic drone survey due this quarter, a flora and fauna review across the relevant tenements and a haul road application linking the mining lease to the gazetted Warriedar Coppermine Road.

Terrain says those jobs make up the final technical and regulatory groundwork needed before the July resource statement can be delivered.

Other work feeding into Terrain’s recent Smokebush updates includes preliminary metallurgical test work now underway on the Lightning mineralisation. 

An initial assessment suggests the gold is likely to be non-refractory and therefore amenable to conventional gravity and carbon-in-leach processing, potentially pointing to a lower-capital development pathway further down the track if confirmed.

A week ago, Terrain launched an induced polarisation survey to hunt for repeat Lightning-style gold-bearing structures across previously untested ground on the same mining lease. 

That work should help keep the broader exploration pipeline moving beyond the maiden Lightning resource and carries the added potential to uncover nearby mineralisation that could expand the initial inventory.

So while today’s update may not have delivered any real fireworks beyond those previously reported, it does show Terrain is keeping the vital groundwork moving. 

With a significant resource catalyst looming in July, the company’s ongoing activity stream should give the market something more concrete to weigh up.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au