Terrain Minerals Ltd (ASX:TMX, OTC:TMXAF) earlier this week discussed recent rare earths intercepts at its Lort River project in Western Australia.
The company said results were returned from a shallow clay zone within a 66.00 square kilometre regolith basin in the Fraser Range. It believes the rare earths may be hosted in a new geological setting sitting over an intrusive unit. It added that fieldwork continues on a near-weekly basis and that further drilling is being planned.
Despite the rare earths discovery, Terrain Minerals said Lort River remains a secondary project. The company told investors its primary focus continues to be the Smokebush gold and silver project.
Terrain drilled 60 holes at the Lightning prospect, returning high-grade gold and silver intercepts. It said assay results for an additional 15 silver holes are still pending. Following a recent capital raise, the company is funded to continue exploration work.
It also highlighted ongoing work at the Wildflower area, which is south of Lightning. An IP survey has been completed, and Terrain said it is now preparing those results for release. The company believes the Wildflower and Lightning prospects hold potential due to their gold-silver association and location near existing infrastructure, around four hours by road from Perth.
Elsewhere, Terrain said metallurgical studies are underway at its Langwell project, in partnership with Curtin University. The company is also advancing its lithium ground in the Pilbara. A 15-kilometre sampling program has been completed over a major tectonic structure. Terrain is now using machine learning to analyse that data and identify possible targets.
Looking ahead, the company said further drilling is expected across its gold, silver, rare earth, and lithium assets. Terrain noted it aims to progress several assets that have previously been on the sidelines.
Virgin said the company is “really excited” about the upcoming programs and encouraged shareholders to stay engaged as more results come through.
Proactive: Terrain Minerals has intercepted rare earths at its Lort River project in Western Australia. Joining me now is the company's Executive Director, Justin Virgin. Justin, it's good to see you and good to have you on board on this Monday morning. How are you?
Justin Virgin: Yeah, great. Thanks for having us.
Proactive: Justin, you've had high-grade rare earth hits. The market must have digested that well — your share price is up more than 10% at the time of this recording. How valuable are these results from Lort River?
Justin Virgin: I think they're quite significant. We've had some really good results come back in the regolith, or in a clay zone — relatively shallow. We've been going back and running the right process, including downhole VTM data. We've got a 66 square kilometre basin of regolith, which is potentially the target zone for these rare earths, sitting on an intrusive unit in the Fraser Range. So it’s a very different geological setting, we believe. We’re back there probably every week, planning to do more work. So this is pretty exciting for a secondary project.
Proactive: And like you highlighted, this is your secondary project. The main focus is at Smokebush and your other jurisdictions as well. Speaking of which, you released your quarterlies to the market a few days ago. There are strong updates from Smokebush — high-grade gold and silver. What more can you tell us?
Justin Virgin: You’re correct — we got some great results there. About 60 holes into the Lightning target. There's still 15 holes for silver to come back. We are preparing to go back and do more drilling now that we’ve raised some additional capital. So we’re funded for drilling, and you'll hear a lot more news on that front.
Justin Virgin: This is really exciting for the company. I think we're onto the real deal here. We also have our Wildflower area, which is south of the Lightning target. We've done an IP survey there, and we’re getting organised to get those results out to the market. This project's really shaping up to be something special. That really high-grade gold has a strong association with silver. We're in an area that's seen a fair bit of takeover activity. It’s easy to access — just a four-hour drive from Perth — so we’re really excited.
Proactive: There are progressions across multiple jurisdictions, Justin. You've highlighted quite a few of those in your quarterly report. I know there’s more drilling on the way, but what should investors really be looking forward to next from Terrain?
Justin Virgin: If investors are looking ahead, we’re bringing a couple of projects forward that have been on the sidelines. That includes the Smokebush area and our Langwell project, which is undergoing metallurgy studies at Curtin University. That’s part of the broader Langwell project.
Justin Virgin: As I mentioned earlier, there's the Wildflower target data, and hopefully some drill targets aren’t far away. We’re getting organised to commence drilling for both gold and silver. We’ve just completed 15 kilometres of sampling over a major tectonic structure in the Pilbara for lithium. We're doing a machine learning study on that Pilbara ground as well. That could lead to building ounces — there’s potential for gold up there too.
Justin Virgin: At Lort River, we're planning more drilling in the new year. So, there’s a lot happening at Terrain.
Proactive: Certainly quite a bit happening, and investors have a fair bit to look forward to. It’s been great having you on board. Justin Virgin, Terrain Minerals Executive Director, thank you so much for your time.
Justin Virgin: Thank you, and always happy to speak to shareholders.