WA-based minerals explorer Terrain Minerals is priming its drills at its Smokebush project in the State’s Mid West region after gold and copper-nickel anomalies were discovered in a “highly-successful” field program.
The discoveries were made at the project’s Larin’s Lane target where a maiden exploration program unearthed a new 700m-by-250m gold anomaly that management says is ready for air-core drilling.
The company says a copper target of about 600m by 350m, with elevated nickel values, constitutes a second new focus that it believes is worthy of further investigation. Terrain says there is a distinct coherent copper anomaly open to the south and east which has an association with observed nickel anomalism. Planning for drill testing of both the gold and copper-nickel targets will begin once boundaries have been defined.
Smokebush comprises five leases spread over 1254 hectares about 350km north of Perth and 65km west of Paynes Find, within the Yalgoo Mineral Field.
Terrain has been busily exploring the project since it entered a farm-in joint venture in 2019. A maiden RC drill program in 2020, which followed up historic drilling, was described as “extraordinarily successful” after it extended gold mineralisation by 400m. It is now 700m in length.
Smokebush became wholly-owned by Terrain last December when the company mopped up the outstanding 20 per cent stake held by a private vendor and it has since redoubled its exploration activities.
An induced polarisation (IP) survey was launched in February this year in conjunction with the soil-sampling at Larin’s Lane. The IP survey was extended on the back of being credited with defining new targets near Smokebush’s Hurley, Paradise City and Monza prospects. As a result, test drilling is being organised and the IP survey is now running until the end of the month.
Terrain contracted XM Logistics to conduct the close-spaced mobile metal ion (MMI) soil-sampling program at the target area, with 834 samples collected on a 100m-by-50m grid pattern and submitted to the laboratory for multi-element analysis. A 9-square-kilometre MMI extension program to define the copper-nickel anomaly has now been scheduled.
Apart from gold, copper and nickel, Smokebush is also prospective for lithium and Terrain has previously identified more than 20 pegmatites which have been sampled for lithium.
Now, Terrain reports that rock chips have given up samples in two areas between Smokebush’s Monza and Paradise City prospects, returning up to 200 parts per million lithium oxide. Newly generated drill targets are being examined for more details.
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By Mark Irving
