Terrain launches hectic exploration year with gold hunt

West Perth-based and WA-focused explorer Terrain Minerals has started what the company expects to be a very busy year with boots on the ground at its Smokebush gold project in WA’s Yalgoo minerals field.

Terrain has ambitions of a company-making discovery this year and has pinned its early hopes on two separate programs now underway at Smokebush – a largely under-explored tenure about 350km north-east of Perth on the Yalgoo greenstone belt, where the Mt Mulgine tungsten-gold deposit is a neighbour.

One of the programs comprises an induced polarisation, or “IP” survey over three gold targets – Monza, Hurley and Paradise City.

Terrain has engaged leading geophysical consultants Newexco Exploration to supervise a high-resolution IP survey of the three prospects. The plan is to map any sulphides located within the underlying bedrock which is potentially associated with the high-grade gold mineralisation.

The company says the technique for unearthing gold mineralisation has previously proven successful across the Yalgoo gold province, including the nearby Windinne Well and Austin deposits.

At Smokebush, the IP survey will comprise 200 metre line spacing, with infill 100m line spacing for any anomaly and 50m along line sample spacing.

Terrain anticipates the modelling and interpretation of the resulting data from the survey will be ready early in the second quarter and management says it will then seek to move quickly with an RC drill campaign to test IP anomalies.

The company notes previous drilling at its Monza target appears to have established a possible relationship between the increased occurrence of sulphide mineralisation and higher recorded gold grades.

Paradise City is 4km south of Monza and the company believes it boasts geological similarities. The deposit has previously returned a 3m intersection at 2.17 grams per tonne gold from 10m and numerous high-grade rock chip samples going as high as 49.27 g/t gold have also been reported.

Terrain’s second program focuses on Larin’s Lane in the eastern section of Smokebush. Terrain has engaged XM Logistics which is currently conducting a large and close-soil sampling program. The program is employing the mobile metal ion, or “MMI” soil-sampling technique Terrain says has been used with much success in the region, including at the nearby Yidby gold deposit.

This program is expected to be finished in February with assay results anticipated back from the laboratory in the early part of the second quarter. Terrain then expects to launch a drilling campaign at any anomalies uncovered.

Gold has taken something of a back seat at Terrain in recent times with attention focusing on its lithium and rare earth elements’ potential after the company discovered pegmatite swarms late last year in Smokebush’s so-called “Goldilocks zone”.

The company says it senses strong and sustained tail winds behind the lithium and rare earth sectors so it has committed itself to a major exploration and drilling campaign across its portfolio of projects in 2023.

No previous lithium exploration is reported across Smokebush, however Terrain intends changing that with a maiden drilling program of prospective lithium-bearing pegmatites.

The Smokebush lithium project has now been added to the company’s portfolio, which also includes the Lort River rare earths project north of Esperance on the south coast, in addition to the Mukinbudin rare earths project in the north-eastern Wheatbelt.

Lort River is situated in a popular locality for rare earths with Terrain’s closest neighbours including OD6 Metals and Meeka Metals. Terrain has scheduled an 8500m air-core program to test for rare earths mineralisation during the quarter, to be followed by drilling to support the reporting of an exploration target in the year’s second quarter with a maiden mineral resource targeted for the end of the year.

With an RC campaign also scheduled later this year for the Wild Viper gold project, due east of Smokebush and next to Red 5’s Great Western gold mine, 2023 is shaping up as a very busy year for Terrain Minerals – and hopefully for its owners, a company-making one.

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