Terrain Minerals Launches 86-Hole Drill Campaign to Grow Smokebush Gold Resource
Key Takeaways
- Terrain Minerals has approved its largest-ever drilling program — 86 holes and 10,905 metres of RC drilling at the 100%-owned Smokebush gold/silver project, commencing in the second half of October 2026.
- 54 of the 86 holes (5,735 metres) are infill resource holes specifically designed to upgrade the Lightning Mineral Resource from Inferred to Indicated classification, which is required before initial mining studies can proceed.
- The maiden Lightning Inferred Mineral Resource stands at 677,000 tonnes at 2.5 g/t gold for 54,000 ounces of gold, with the higher-grade open-pit component grading 3.5 g/t gold for 17,500 ounces.
- 32 exploration holes test previously undrilled IP chargeability anomalies and soil geochemical targets across the mining lease, including the strongest chargeability anomaly recorded in Terrain's 2026 IP survey at the North Monza IP target.
- The program is 3x larger than the prior 3,350-metre Lightning/Monza campaign and is designed to test whether Smokebush hosts multiple parallel gold systems in the same Yalgoo-Singleton greenstone belt as Capricorn Metals' Golden Range and Vault Minerals' Rothsay.
Terrain Minerals launches its largest-ever RC drilling campaign at Smokebush
Terrain Minerals (ASX: TMX) has approved a 10,905-metre, 86-hole Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling campaign at its 100%-owned Smokebush gold/silver Project, located 350 kilometres north of Perth in Western Australia. Drilling contractors have been appointed, and the program is expected to commence in the second half of October 2026.
The campaign is the largest drilling program Terrain has undertaken to date. It carries two distinct objectives: grow the open-pit component of the Lightning Mineral Resource and support an upgrade in resource classification, and test interpreted repetitions of the Lightning mineralised system for potential new discoveries.
The scale of the current 10,905-metre campaign represents a significant step up from the prior 3,350m drilling programme at Lightning and Monza, which was itself an expansion phase building geological confidence across the two structures.
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What the 86-hole program targets
The program divides into two clear categories:
- Resource drilling: 54 holes / 5,735 metres (63% of holes, 53% of metres), focused on the Lightning and Monza structures. Infill drilling is designed to support a resource classification upgrade and bring near-surface mineralisation into the optimised open-pit shell.
- Exploration drilling: 32 holes / 5,170 metres (37% of holes, 47% of metres), testing IP chargeability anomalies, interpreted strike extensions, and a central soil geochemical anomaly within granted Mining Lease M59/796. An additional 8 holes (960m) classified as exploration holes test the northern strike extension of Lightning, as they sit outside the current resource envelope.
Mineralisation at Lightning starts at surface and remains open along strike and at depth.
Program breakdown by target
| Target | Holes | Metres | Category | What the drilling tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monza Structure | 22 | 1,995 | Resource | Infill of the Monza structure to support an upgrade in resource classification and test potential expansion of the optimised pit shell. |
| Lightning Deposit | 22 | 2,780 | Resource | Infill across the combined Monza and Lightning structures. |
| Lightning | 10 | 960 | Resource | Infill of the Lightning structure. |
| Lightning North | 8 | 960 | Exploration | Northern strike extension of Lightning, where the deposit is under-drilled. |
| Target 13 | 8 | 1,120 | Exploration | Northern extension of the Target 13 zone, together with IP chargeability corridor tests along strike. |
| Target 1-IP | 5 | 1,010 | Exploration | IP chargeability anomalies on a previously undrilled north-south structure, approximately 1.5km to 1.9km west of Lightning. |
| North Monza IP | 2 | 500 | Exploration | The strongest chargeability anomaly recorded in the 2026 IP survey, located immediately north of the Monza structure, together with the northern strike extension of Monza. |
| Target 2-IP | 4 | 655 | Exploration | IP chargeability anomalies immediately west of the Monza structure. |
| Central Soil Anomaly | 2 | 350 | Exploration | An undrilled surface gold and pathfinder soil anomaly in the centre of the mining lease. |
| Monza 2 IP | 1 | 175 | Exploration | Down-dip IP chargeability target on the Monza 2 position. |
| Monza North Extension | 2 | 400 | Exploration | IP chargeability target where a north-east trending structure intersects the Monza Fault, between the Monza resource area and the North Monza target. |
The Lightning Mineral Resource — what’s already in the ground
The maiden Lightning Inferred Mineral Resource was announced on 27 July 2026: 677,000 tonnes at 2.5 g/t gold for 54,000 ounces of gold and 156,500 ounces of silver. Of that total, 157,000 tonnes at 3.5 g/t gold for 17,500 ounces of gold sits within the optimised open-pit shell, with the remainder reported under underground mining assumptions.
The distinction between Inferred and Indicated resource categories matters here. An Inferred resource carries lower geological confidence, estimated from limited data. Upgrading to Indicated — a higher confidence classification supported by closer-spaced drilling — is a prerequisite for initial mining studies. That upgrade is precisely what the infill drilling component of this program is designed to support.
Terrain’s stated strategy is to work towards a potential small-scale toll milling operation, which would generate cash to fund future exploration and development across the broader project. The resource classification upgrade is the logical next step toward that objective.
Justin Virgin, Executive Director
“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.”
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The bigger picture — Smokebush as a potential multi-deposit gold camp
Terrain’s core exploration thesis is that Lightning is not an isolated structure. Management believes it is one member of a family of sub-parallel, shear-hosted gold systems developed within the same greenstone package at Smokebush.
The regional context lends some support to that thesis. Immediately to the north, along the same Yalgoo-Singleton greenstone belt, the Golden Range Project held by Capricorn Metals (ASX: CMM) is not a single orebody but a group of gold deposits and historic open pits developed along a dominant structural corridor. Nearby, the Rothsay Gold Mine held by Vault Minerals (ASX: VAU) is hosted across three discrete areas and within five individual shear zones. Terrain notes that Smokebush lies within the same greenstone belt, and the company considers that similar structural repetition may be present on its own ground. This is regional geological context only and is not necessarily indicative of mineralisation on Terrain’s tenements.
The exploration targets in this program were generated through two methods:
The exploration targets in this program were not generated speculatively; Terrain’s largest IP survey at Smokebush, completed earlier in 2026, produced the chargeability anomaly data that directly informs the 16 IP-driven exploration holes in this campaign.
- Induced polarisation (IP) survey: Terrain completed a dipole-dipole IP survey covering 22 lines for 23 line-kilometres across the mining lease, identifying chargeability anomalies on interpreted structures. Of the 32 exploration holes, 16 test IP chargeability anomalies. The North Monza IP target stands out as the strongest chargeability anomaly recorded in the 2026 IP survey.
- Surface soil geochemistry: Soil sampling across the mining lease has defined discrete gold and pathfinder anomalies, most of which remain untested by drilling. 2 holes target the central soil geochemical anomaly.
Justin Virgin, Executive Director
“…Results continue to support our theory of the area housing multiple, parallel, stacked mineralised structures across the mining lease.”
Beyond this program, Terrain identifies Hurley, Paradise City, and the Wildflower area as key priorities for future exploration. No drilling has been committed to those targets at this stage.
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