Lightning Minerals Ltd (ASX:L1M) earlier this week outlined the successful completion of a $2.50 million capital raise to fund the next stage of drilling at the Mt Turner project in Queensland.
The company said the funds will be used for a Phase 2 drilling campaign scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2026. Managing director Alex Biggs told Proactive the funding allows the company to build on recent exploration success at the site.
The company reported that all nine holes from its Phase 1 program intersected gold mineralisation. The targets were located along the 14-kilometre-long Drummer fault, which lies entirely within the company's tenement. It also highlighted results including over 20 metres at 2.4 grams per tonne, with one intersection exceeding 10 grams per tonne over approximately two metres. These intercepts were described as shallow, occurring at around 60 to 70 metres depth.
Biggs said: “The great thing about Mt Turner is we’ve got that success early.” He added that the confirmation of the geological model beneath the historic pits marked a key step forward for the company.
Mt Turner includes a copper-molybdenum porphyry core surrounded by a zinc-silver zone. The company noted the area has a long mining history, with operations dating back over a century and six pits mined as recently as the 1980s and 1990s.
The company said it had now moved from viewing Mt Turner as a project with potential to one with confirmed mineralisation. It intends to use the next drilling phase to expand known gold zones along strike and at depth. Testing of the copper porphyry system is also expected during the upcoming campaign.
Biggs stated that communication to the market would continue through December, with updates expected ahead of the holiday period. He emphasised the importance of execution and transparency, saying Lightning Minerals had always delivered on its plans.
The company said it would move quickly in preparing for Phase 2 and noted that Queensland gold remained a highly relevant sector.
Proactive:
Welcome back to Proactive Newsroom. I'm now joined by Lightning Minerals managing director Alex Biggs. Alex, it's good to see you again. How are you?
Alex Biggs (Lightning Minerals):
I'm good, thanks. Good to see you. How are you?
Proactive:
I'm very well, thank you. Alex, you're raising $2.5 million. What will that be used for?
Biggs:
We have raised $2.5 million — yes, correct. This is a good outcome for the company. We're funded now to move forward into a Phase 2 drilling program at the Mt Turner project in Queensland.
Let's recap the success of our Phase 1 campaign, which we recently finished a couple of weeks back. We intersected mineralisation in all nine of those holes. We've defined epithermal gold mineralisation along the Drummer fault. We’ve extended known mineralisation along that structure for 12km. That’s also supported by a rock chip sampling campaign.
This is a very target-rich environment. We only acquired the project in July. If we look back at last month’s announcements, there were significant results — over 20 metres at 2.4 grams per tonne, including nearly a 2-metre-plus 10-gram intersection. And it's shallow — we’re talking 60–70 metres depth. There’s scope to chase that down-dip and along strike.
We’re working really hard to get this Phase 2 campaign lined up. It's about adding value quickly. With the targets, the plan, and the people we have, we can do that. Drilling is scheduled to start in Q1 2026.
It’s good to be cashed up going into the Christmas period. Thanks to Evolution Capital and GBI Capital who helped us with the raise, and welcome to the new investors who’ve joined this very exciting story.
Proactive:
You mentioned some of this already, but let’s give investors a bit of a refresher on the November drilling campaign, in which all nine holes were mineralised.
Biggs:
Sure. High level — Mt Turner is a porphyry system. We’ve got a copper-molybdenum porphyry at the centre, and out from there are concentric zones — a zinc-silver zone, which we also intersected. Then there’s the Drummer Fork, a 14km-long fault all on our tenement, and that’s where the gold deposits are.
There’s historic mining at Mt Turner going back 140–150 years. More recently, there were six open pits mined in the 1980s and 1990s. We looked beneath those pits and confirmed the mineralisation. When we acquired Mt Turner, we talked about the potential — and now we’ve confirmed it. We understand the geology, and now it’s about expanding on that. We have multiple targets across the tenement, and we’re in a strong position to deliver more success in Phase 2.
Proactive:
So, you’re stepping into December with cash in hand, a successful drilling campaign behind you, and Phase 2 on the horizon. What’s next in the final weeks of the year?
Biggs:
It’s important we communicate to the market what we’re planning and why. People want to see that. You know us — we’ve always done what we said we’ll do. That’s really important in the junior mining space.
Sometimes you get success, sometimes you don’t. The great thing about Mt Turner is we’ve got success early, and now we need to explain what we’re doing next and why. We’ll be doing that before Christmas, and that will roll into the new year when we begin preparing for the drill campaign.
It’s tough as a junior company to get work done — it always comes back to cash. But acquiring a brownfields asset like Mt Turner, proving it up quickly, and raising money for Phase 2 — that puts us in a good place. We’ll move quickly. We’re confident there's a significant gold system there, and we’ll also test the copper porphyry in Phase 2.
Queensland gold is very relevant right now. We’re one of the companies making real moves in the region — so stay tuned.
Proactive:
Stay tuned, indeed. This was Lightning Minerals managing director Alex Biggs. Thanks for those updates.
Biggs:
Thank you very much.