Lightning Minerals Ltd (ASX:L1M, FRA:YZ1) has defined two new gold target areas across the 5-kilometre-long Western Zone at its wholly owned Mt Turner Gold Project in northern Queensland, advancing the corridor from a conceptual target toward potential drill testing.
The results include a 1,000-metre-long gold anomaly in the northern part of the Western Zone associated with a broader 1,400-metre multi-element anomaly interpreted as a potential hydrothermal footprint. The gold anomaly remains open to the south, while the broader thermal vector anomaly remains open to the east.
In the south, Lightning has identified four sub-parallel gold trends extending around 200 to 300 metres along strike, with soil assays peaking at 330 parts per billion gold.
Location map – Mt Turner Project.
Two distinct gold targets emerge
Lightning interprets the northern area as a potentially intrusion-related gold system, with gold concentrated along the western edge of an interpreted higher-temperature hydrothermal zone.
The continuous greater-than-20 ppb gold anomaly extends for about 1,000 metres and is around 20 to 80 metres wide at surface. The company said the geological pattern provides a defined target zone for trenching and subsequent drill design, although the interpretation remains preliminary and requires further exploration.
The southern target has a different character, with four gold-arsenic trends spatially associated with altered and mineralised rhyolite dykes.
Rock-chip sampling from the southern area returned up to 1.19 g/t gold and 38.8 g/t silver from silicified and brecciated rhyolite, together with elevated arsenic, lead and antimony.
Historical reconnaissance sampling across the Western Zone has also produced individual results of up to 15.35 g/t gold, 198 g/t silver and 22% copper, although Lightning cautioned that the selective samples should not be considered representative of average grade or continuity.
Low-cost work to advance drill targets
Managing director Troy Brice said the results represented “an important step forward” in the systematic evaluation of Mt Turner, with the Western Zone providing another major exploration opportunity alongside the 14-kilometre Drummer Fault target.
"The scale and coherence of the northern target is particularly encouraging, with a continuous one-kilometre gold anomaly adjacent to a larger 1.4-kilometre multi-element interpreted hydrothermal footprint, additionally, multiple, parallel, gold anomalies have been defined in the south. These results are supported by highly anomalous rock chip results, importantly, the gold anomaly and hydrothermal footprint target in the north remain open," Brice said.
"The Western Zone provides Lightning with another major gold exploration opportunity alongside the 14-kilometre-long Drummer Fault target and further strengthens our view of the broader district scale potential at Mt Turner. Our next phase of work will focus on extending and refining these anomalies through targeted soil and rock chip sampling and trenching, with the objective of defining priority targets for initial drill testing. With multiple gold targets now emerging across Mt Turner, we are excited by the opportunity ahead and look forward to systematically advancing the Project.”
Lightning plans a staged follow-up program including about 100 additional soil samples to extend and refine the northern anomalies, together with five trenches across the northern gold trend at roughly 200-metre spacing.
The company will also carry out systematic rock-chip sampling across the southern targets, with trenching to follow where continuity and tenor are confirmed. The work is designed to refine priority targets ahead of potential initial drilling.