Terrain Minerals has wrapped up an extensive drilling assault at its Smokebush gold and silver project in Western Australia, completing some 7739 metres of deep targeting across its Lightning and Wildflower prospects.
The company says it has been probing for potential repeat Lightning-style systems at geophysical anomalies in previously untouched areas as well.
At Lightning, the reverse circulation drilling has been completed across 26 holes for 4803 metres. The work concentrated on extending known high-grade gold zones for 3350m and testing new discovery targets for the remaining 1000m.
The four-hole diamond drilling program has also been finished for 660m. This work will supply the essential rock density measurements and detailed geological logging required to build Terrain’s upcoming resource model.
With all reverse circulation drilling samples at the lab, the company says the diamond core will now be cut for processing and those assay results are expected later this month.
Terrain says the large campaign puts it firmly on track for a maiden resource at the ground by the middle of the year.
Terrain Minerals executive director Justin Virgin said: “Wildflower represents the first systematic test of new targets generated from our successful Lightning model, highlighting the broader growth potential emerging across Smokebush.”
The Smokebush project sits within the Yalgoo greenstone belt, a proven gold province in WA’s Mid West that hosts multiple nearby processing hubs and provides clear production optionality for Smokebush.
The Lightning prospect lies within a fresh mining lease granted late last year, strengthening the development pathway ahead of the resource estimate, including the potential for toll treating as a pathway to early production.
Yalgoo is a district long recognised for its high-grade orogenic gold-silver and base metals potential. The project sits at the southern end of the greenstone belt, along strike from 29Metals’ world-class Golden Grove base metals operation, which has operated for the better part of half a century. It is also close to the more recent discovery at Capricorn Metals’ Golden Range gold-antimony project to the south.
Previous drilling at Lightning has returned standout gold and silver hits, including 22 metres at 2.71 grams per tonne gold, along with strong silver credits.
The company says its early modelling points to a north-trending shear zone acting as the main pathway for gold-bearing fluids, with east-west magnetic rock units trapping its thicker, higher-grade mineralisation.
With the Lightning program completed, attention has shifted straight to Wildflower. Reverse circulation drilling has tested three priority chargeability targets defined by induced polarisation surveys, considered prospective for new gold-bearing discoveries.
Terrain says the structures at Wildflower mirror those at Lightning, with both prospects positioned along the margins of the same granite intrusion.
Samples from Wildflower are being transported to the laboratory this week, with assay results also expected in late April.
With the drilling now complete and multiple batches of results pending, Terrain is hurtling towards its maiden gold-silver resource and hopefully a fresh discovery at Smokebush.
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By Andrew Todd
