Tennant Minerals Starts Drilling Bluebird Hunting a Warrego-Scale Copper-Gold Find
Key Takeaways
- Tennant Minerals has begun the first of four Stage 1 diamond holes at Bluebird, stepping out 60m west of existing drilling, with later holes at 120m spacing.
- Modelling suggests Bluebird's mineralisation footprint could expand more than 10-fold from the less than 500m of strike tested so far, though this remains a target and not a resource.
- Priority targets sit in an 800m corridor west and down-plunge of Bluebird, anchored by the intersection of the Camel and Kamran Faults.
- Previous hits include 30.5m at 6.8g/t Au and 6.2% Cu, 24m at 11.8g/t Au, and 18m at 10.0g/t AuEq, all against a 1.58Mt JORC resource.
- The announcement discloses no timelines, result dates or funding details, so Stage 1 assays are the catalyst that will decide whether Stage 2 goes ahead.
Tennant Minerals starts diamond drilling at Bluebird to test Warrego-scale target
Tennant Minerals (ASX:TMS) has commenced a multi-stage diamond drilling program testing for major extensions or repeats of the Bluebird high-grade copper-gold-bismuth deposit, located 40km east of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. The company says structural and geophysical modelling has highlighted a “Warrego-scale” target footprint, a comparison to the largest deposit in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field.
Here is what the announcement of 9 October 2026 sets out:
- The first of four Stage 1 diamond holes is underway, testing a step-out 60m west of existing drilling.
- Subsequent drilling will step out at 120m spacing.
- The priority targets sit within an 800m corridor extending west and down-plunge of Bluebird.
- A 1.5km structural target corridor links Bluebird with the Perseverance magnetic complex.
Step-out drilling simply means drilling progressively further from known mineralisation to see how far it continues.
Chris Ramsay, General Manager (listed as GM Geology in the contact details)
“…Further step-out drilling will follow, and will test a major ‘Warrego-scale’ target footprint with the objective of identifying a stand-alone copper-gold-bismuth system for future development.”
Why does this matter to you? Bluebird has been tested over a strike length of less than 500m, and the modelling suggests potential to expand the mineralisation footprint by more than 10-fold. That is a target, not a defined resource, and drilling may or may not confirm it.
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Why is the 800m corridor a priority target?
Structural and geophysical modelling findings
The structural work indicates the high-grade zones are associated with the intersection of two faults, the Camel and Kamran Faults. That intersection plunges shallowly to the west and coincides with a modelled gravity-remanent magnetic zone extending from Bluebird for over 800m.
A technical review by consultant Paul Cranney identified the two faults and interpreted the Camel Fault as a mineralised feeder structure. The modelling produced three types of target:
- Immediate extensions of the Bluebird resource.
- Repetitions of Bluebird within the 800m corridor extending west and down-plunge.
- Deeper targets below the Perseverance magnetic zone, where historical intersections of up to 1.5m @ 8.2 g/t Au in the hanging-wall highlight potential.
The hanging-wall is the rock mass sitting above a fault plane. A deeper target beneath historical gold hits is the logic here, though it remains untested.
High-grade results underpinning the targets
The intercepts below are previously announced. The company states that no new exploration results have been included in this announcement, and BBDD0050 was reported on 12 May 2026.
| Hole | Intercept | Au | Cu | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBDD0050 | 18m @ 10.0g/t AuEq* | 4.0g/t | 1.9% | 0.9% Bi |
| BBDD0050 (including) | 4.55m @ 34.3g/t AuEq* | 15.4g/t | 4.0% | 3.5% Bi |
| BBDD0021 | 24m @ 11.8g/t Au | 11.8g/t | 0.66% | – |
| BBDD0021 (including) | 5.7m @ 49.3 g/t Au | 49.3g/t | 0.74% | – |
| BBDD0018 | 30.5m @ 6.8 g/t Au, 6.2% Cu | 6.8g/t | 6.2% | – |
| BBDD0018 (including) | 17.8m @ 11.5 g/t Au, 5.2% Cu | 11.5g/t | 5.2% | – |
*AuEq (gold equivalent) converts several metals into a single gold-equivalent grade. The company calculated it using spot prices of 29 April 2026 (Appendix 2 of the announcement), and prices used in earlier announcements may differ slightly.
The company says the BBDD0050 intersection, which sits below the “open-pit” resource, indicates potential for increasing gold-bismuth grades with depth.
The Warrego comparison explained
What is a “Warrego-scale” target?
Warrego is described as the largest deposit in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field. The Warrego Mine produced 6.75Mt @ 6.6g/t Au, 1.9% Cu (1.8Moz Eq.), and new Mineral Resources have lifted its total endowment to over 4.3Moz AuEq.
Its upper part was predominantly copper mineralisation. A deeper gold-bismuth rich zone was discovered after mining commenced and continued for over 600m down-plunge.
The comparison is about footprint scale, not equivalent metal. The company says the target corridor is of a scale that could contain a repeat of Warrego, which is not a claim that Bluebird holds Warrego-sized resources.
Bluebird is described as an “ironstone-hosted” deposit, meaning the mineralisation sits within iron-rich rock, typical of the field. The wider Tennant Creek Mineral Field has historical production of 25Mt @ 6.9 g/t Au (5.5Moz), 2.8% Cu (700kt Cu).
Bluebird’s resource base and regional drilling
Existing Mineral Resource (October 2025, JORC 2012)
A Mineral Resource Estimate was compiled in October 2025 under the JORC 2012 guidelines. The table below covers the open-pit portion at a 0.3% copper cut-off.
| Category | Tonnes | Cu % | Au g/t | CuEq t |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicated | 1,070,000 | 1.43 | 1.26 | 36,800 |
| Inferred | 510,000 | 1.02 | 0.57 | 10,600 |
| Total | 1,580,000 | 1.30 | 1.04 | 47,400 |
The Indicated portion holds 78% of contained copper-equivalent metal and 82% of contained gold in 68% of the total tonnage. Indicated material carries higher geological confidence than Inferred.
Metallurgical testing has proved the amenability of the mineralisation to standard copper flotation, producing copper and gold concentrates comparable with commercially available products. Further work is planned on new samples to enhance gold recovery.
Regional aircore/slimline RC program
Alongside the diamond rigs, an aircore/slimline RC program of up to 3,000m is testing a geochemical and geophysical target on the Kamran Fault at Kamran West / Perseverance North. Previous vacuum drilling there intersected 725ppm Cu and 34.6 g/t Ag in bottom hole sampling, and the anomalism is open to the south and east under cover.
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What are the next steps and the Tennant Creek Copper Alliance?
The company lists these near-term plans:
- Continue the Stage 1 diamond drilling program.
- Complete aircore/slimline RC drilling of the Kamran West and Perseverance target, and assess other targets.
- Plan a Stage 2 target testing program following Stage 1 results.
- Complete the Tennant Minerals component of the Tennant Creek Copper Alliance feasibility study.
The Alliance is a strategic collaboration with CuFe Ltd (ASX:CUF) and Pan African Resources subsidiary Tennant Mining (formerly Emmerson Resources Ltd). It is completing a feasibility study into a shared processing facility at Tennant Creek.
The company lists potential outcomes of a resource upgrade, further metallurgical testing and mining studies, and a pre-feasibility study for development of Bluebird. The announcement discloses no timelines, drilling result dates or funding details.
For investors, the catalyst to watch is drill results from the Stage 1 holes. Those will show whether the modelled corridor delivers mineralisation, and they will shape the planned Stage 2 program.
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