Golden bolts illuminate Terrain Minerals’ Lightning prospect

• Terrain Minerals hits thick, high-grade gold at Smokebush
• Grades exceed one ounce per tonne over multiple metres
• Assays for silver and other metals are pending

Special report: What started as a routine drilling campaign has turned into a golden breakthrough for Terrain Minerals, with Lightning shaping us as a potential jewel in the crown of its Smokebush project.

Recent drilling returned high-grade gold intersections in 17 out of 22 RC holes (80% strike rate), exceeding one ounce per tonne and strengthening the case for a meaningful deposit at Terrain Minerals’ (ASX:TMX) Smokebush in WA’s Murchison region.

Standout high-grade intercepts included 13m at 8.13g/t gold from 122m, with an impressive 2m at 48.22g/t, plus 17m at 3.43g/t Au from 147m including 2m at 17.17g/t, and 22m at 2.71g/t from 105m.

Short but rich zones were also uncovered, such as 1m at 18.04g/t and 3m at 3.61g/t, confirming the strength of the system. Importantly, the mineralisation appears thick and consistent across multiple intercepts, pointing to real scale.

These results represent the strongest to date from Smokebush and enhance the potential of the project to emerge into a significant new gold system.

Assays for silver and base metals are still pending but previous results, including 11m at 6.03g/t Au and 43.5g/t silver, have hinted at strong silver credits.

Early geological modelling suggests that a north-trending shear zone acts as the main fluid pathway, with east–west magnetic units providing traps for thicker, high-grade mineralisation.

Adding to this picture, steeply dipping quartz veins define at least three major domains in the Monza trend and two at Lightning, further evidence of a robust and evolving gold system.

Some of the strongest gold results yet

TMX executive director Justin Virgin said these results significantly advanced the company’s confidence in Smokebush.

“This program has delivered some of the strongest results Terrain has achieved to date. The consistency of mineralisation, with multiple thick and high-grade intercepts across Lightning, confirms the strength of the system and validates our exploration strategy,” he said.

“Importantly, the results confirm that our use of geophysical modelling and structural interpretation is working.

“We have proven that induced polarisation can successfully vector us towards mineralisation, which significantly reduces risk and increases confidence as we continue to explore.

“Terrain’s goal remains to define a maiden resource estimate in 2026. These results, combined with the structural framework we now understand, provide a direct pathway to achieving that milestone.”

Background on Lightning

The Lightning prospect has quickly emerged as one of Terrain’s most exciting discoveries.

First flagged in May 2023 through IP geophysics that revealed a chargeability anomaly west of Monza trend, its potential was confirmed later that year when drilling intersected 2m at 6.22g/t Au.

Follow-up drilling in early 2025 built on that success, delivering broader zones with strong gold and silver grades that significantly lifted confidence in the prospect.

Multi-element analysis has since shown clear correlations between gold and metals like lead, zinc, silver and arsenic, helping refine the geological model.

Geophysics suggests the anomaly could stretch for as much as 600 metres, and with mineralisation still open along strike and at depth, Lightning and Monza continue to offer room for growth.

Smokebush is in the Yalgoo-Singleton Greenstone Belt, a 190km-long Archean belt in WA’s Murchison region.

This belt hosts several well-known operations including Capricorn Metals’ Mt Gibson gold project to the south, 29Metals’ Golden Grove base metals operation to the north and Vault Minerals’ Rothsay gold mine only 10km away from Smokebush.

Expanded survey to find new targets

Terrain says ground-based IP has already proven its worth as a targeting tool in the region, with gold mineralisation often tracking alongside sulphides.

The team is now reworking its 2023 IP data and rolling out an expanded survey to pinpoint fresh targets including at the nearby Wildflower prospect, which Terrain is currently conducting an IP survey over the area now, with results due in October.

This article was developed in collaboration with Terrain Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.