Terrain Minerals finds a second mineral story at Smokebush

Re-assays reveal stronger tungsten at Lightning

Terrain Minerals Limited (ASX:TMX; FRA: T4Y) has found a second mineral story inside its Smokebush gold project, with historical drilling now showing high-grade tungsten across multiple prospects in Western Australia’s Murchison region.

The standout result is a single metre grading 0.75% tungsten trioxide from 144 metres at the Lightning prospect, the highest tungsten grade returned from Smokebush to date. It came from a sample previously capped at the laboratory’s 2,000ppm reporting limit and was upgraded to 5,962ppm tungsten through sodium peroxide fusion re-assaying.

That result is narrow, and its true width is not known. The latest batch also delivered a more substantial two-metre intersection at 0.55% WO₃ from 137 metres in SBRC085, while drilling in SBRC087 confirmed tungsten-bearing intervals at depths between 334 and 357 metres.

Six prospects point to a wider tungsten system

Terrain’s review identified 20 intersections above 1,000ppm tungsten across 16 holes at Lightning, Cota, T16, Hurley and Wildflower. At a lower 200ppm cut-off, the company reports 80 intersections across 32 holes, with anomalous tungsten spread across six prospects over an area of about 6 kilometres by 5 kilometres.

The findings add a new dimension to a project whose recent work has focused mainly on gold and silver. Terrain’s Lightning gold resource update was reported in September, while the company’s planned drilling campaign was also tied to its $2.513 million Lightning drilling raise. The current announcement says tungsten-focused holes could be added to the broader Smokebush RC program, which is scheduled to comprise 86 holes for 10,905 metres, subject to permits.

Geochemistry suggests two different tungsten settings. Lightning and Hurley carry little bismuth and are interpreted as being dominated by scheelite farther from granite contacts. Cota and T16 show higher bismuth and molybdenum, characteristics Terrain says may indicate mineralisation closer to the granite source. The company interprets the tungsten as having formed during a separate hydrothermal event from the gold, despite both commodities occurring around similar intrusive rock bodies.

Follow-up drilling will test continuity

Terrain intends to add up to 12 RC holes, roughly three each at Cota, T16, Lightning and Hurley, to test tungsten directly for the first time. It also plans to audit retained pulps and scope a larger re-assay program, since only 9,078 of 27,780 drill samples from its tenements have been tested for tungsten.

That sampling gap is both the opportunity and the central limitation. The tested material is a partial, non-random subset of the drilling, and the historical holes were designed for gold rather than tungsten. Reported intersections are downhole lengths, generally only one to four metres, with no established true widths, continuity, metallurgy or mineral resource. Terrain has also made no assessment of economic potential.

The company is setting a 1,000ppm tungsten over-range trigger for future assays to avoid another reporting ceiling. Drilling is targeted for the first quarter of 2027, with results expected in the second quarter if approvals and the proposed program proceed as planned. Tungsten prices have risen sharply in Western markets, according to the announcement, but the company notes that prices inside China have since fallen and that the market is split and uncertain. The next holes will need to show more than isolated grades: they must establish geometry, thickness and repeatability.