Terrain Minerals (ASX: TMX) has approved an 86-hole, 10,905m reverse circulation drilling campaign at its Smokebush gold-silver project, set to be the company’s largest drilling program to date.
Expected to commence in the second half of October, the program aims to expand the open-pit component of the Lightning Mineral Resource and test a series of exploration targets for interpreted repetitions of the Lightning mineralised system and new discoveries.
The drilling campaign will comprise 54 resource holes totalling 5,735m targeting the Lightning and Monza structures, with a further 32 exploration holes totalling 5,170m.
The majority of the resource holes are designed to infill the existing drill pattern at a spacing that supports resource classification upgrades and test near-surface mineralisation currently sitting outside the optimised pit shell, with the aim of expanding the open-pit component of the resource.
Of the 32 exploration holes, eight holes across 960m will test the northern strike extension of Lightning. A further 16 will test induced polarisation (IP) chargeability anomalies, six will test interpreted strike extensions at Target 13 and two will test a central soil geochemical anomaly.
In July 2026, the company delivered a maiden Lightning inferred mineral resource estimate of 677,000t at 2.5g/t gold for 54,000oz of gold, alongside 156,500oz of silver. The resource includes an open-pit component of 157,000t at 3.5g/t gold for 17,500oz and an underground component of 520,000t at 2.2g/t gold for 36,500oz.
The company’s exploration thesis is that Lightning is not an isolated structure, but instead part of a series of shear-hosted gold systems within the same greenstone belt as deposits such as Capricorn Metals’ Golden Range project and Vault Minerals’ Rothsay gold mine.
Terrain Minerals’ exploration targets were generated using IP and soil datasets, alongside existing drilling and geological interpretation.
The company’s most recent IP survey identified a series of chargeability anomalies, with those positioned on interpreted structures prioritised for testing in the upcoming campaign. Soil geochemistry has also identified a series of gold and pathfinder anomalies that will be drill tested.
Terrain Minerals executive director Justin Virgin says the program represents the company’s largest RC drilling campaign to date.
“Our confidence in executing this program has been built on a strong geological dataset and the grassroots project knowledge gained through six years of exploration at Smokebush and the Lightning deposit,” he said.
“This knowledge continues to build our confidence as we advance our other targets, which continue to return encouraging results, further strengthening our belief that Smokebush has the potential to develop into a multi-deposit gold camp.
“This drilling program is designed to support an upgrade of parts of the Lightning mineral resource from the inferred to indicated category, which would enable initial mining studies to be undertaken. This aligns with Terrain’s stated strategy of working towards a potential small-scale toll milling operation, to fund future exploration and development across the broader project.
“This program focuses all our efforts on the granted mining lease, with infill and extension drilling at the Lightning deposit an obvious priority. However, the other new targets represent potential new discovery opportunities. Results continue to support our theory of the area housing multiple, parallel, stacked mineralised structures across the mining lease.
“Our other targets remain prospective and offer further upside, with the broader tenement package having the potential to host multiple deposits. Hurley, Paradise City and the Wildflower area, which hosts multiple targets, remain key priorities for future exploration.”
