Terrain Minerals has mobilized a reverse circulation (RC) drill rig to explore the potential bedrock source of gold discovered during recent air core drilling at its Wildflower Gold Project in Western Australia’s Mid West region. This move follows the success of a recent 72-hole air core drilling campaign that identified a promising new supergene gold discovery, setting the stage for a deeper investigation into the gold-bearing zones in the area.
Follow-Up Drilling to Uncover Gold Source
The RC drill program, set to cover a total of 2,150 meters across 16 holes, is designed to investigate the underlying bedrock sources of gold that were initially uncovered during Terrain Minerals’ recent air core drilling. In particular, the company is following up on a significant intercept in the supergene zone, where a 9-meter section graded 1.17 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, a noteworthy hit that raised the prospect of a deeper gold discovery. In addition to this, another promising intersection from the air core program revealed a 42-meter stretch grading 0.11 g/t gold, starting from the surface.
With these early gold “sniffs” pointing to a potential new discovery, Terrain is now keen to drill deeper and confirm the primary source of this surface mineralization. The RC drilling campaign will focus on several key areas within the Wildflower project, including Cota (T16West), T16, and Wildflower prospects. The company is particularly interested in testing newly identified north-west shear zones, which could represent important geological structures that host gold mineralization.
Drilling Targets and Geological Focus
The RC drilling will focus on two main areas within the Wildflower project. Nine holes will be drilled across Cota (T16West), T16, and Wildflower to test these north-west trending shear zones, which are thought to play a key role in controlling gold mineralization in the region. Additionally, six more holes will focus on the Monza and Lightning prospects, which have previously shown promise in early drilling campaigns. These prospects could contribute to a new structural model that may significantly enhance the company’s understanding of gold distribution in the northern section of the project.
One “twin hole” will also be drilled into the Larin’s Lane Gallium Project, located within the same Smokebush license area, to collect metallurgical samples. While the focus of the campaign is primarily on gold, this additional drilling serves to expand Terrain Minerals’ broader exploration efforts and increase the potential for multiple valuable mineral discoveries within the project area.
Wildflower Project Overview
The Wildflower Gold Project is located about 350 kilometers northeast of Perth, in Western Australia’s Mid West region, and lies just 65 kilometers west of the historic township of Payne’s Find. This strategic location places the project in close proximity to several major mining operations, including Warriedar Resources’ Ricciardo gold deposit and Red 5’s high-grade underground Rothsay gold mine. These nearby projects highlight the potential of the region, which is gaining recognition for its rich gold-bearing geology.
Terrain’s Wildflower project encompasses several key prospects, including Cota (T16West), T16, and Wildflower, which are all located within 3.2 kilometers of each other. Additionally, the Monza and Lightning prospects to the north of the project provide further exploration targets, all of which are now grouped under the newly designated Wildflower gold project. This consolidation of targets under one banner aims to streamline exploration efforts and enhance the potential for a major gold discovery in the area.
Previous Drilling Successes
The company’s recent exploration work at Wildflower has yielded encouraging results, including the discovery of what is interpreted as supergene gold mineralization at the Cota prospect. The air core drilling program at Cota intersected a 9-meter section grading 1.17 g/t gold from a depth of 30 meters, with a particularly high-grade 3-meter interval grading 2.61 g/t gold from 33 meters. These results are significant because they suggest the presence of a shallow supergene oxide zone, which could be a secondary concentration of gold above a deeper primary gold source.
Further drilling at Cota also uncovered additional gold anomalism, including an 18-meter section that returned 0.14 g/t gold from 42 meters. This provides additional evidence for the presence of gold mineralization in the area and underscores the potential for a larger gold deposit at Wildflower.
Historical Anomalies and New Discoveries
Terrain Minerals is also revisiting three historical gold and arsenic anomalies within the Wildflower project, which were identified back in 1983 but had not been tested until the recent air core drilling campaign. These anomalies were initially noted as prospective areas for gold exploration but were not fully followed up. The recent air core drilling intersected the Cota gold mineralization while testing one of these anomalies, providing a new avenue for exploration in an area that had previously been underexplored.
The company believes the strong results at Cota may be linked to a shallow supergene oxide zone, which could be directly related to a deeper, primary gold source located along a north-east trending shear zone. This shear zone is believed to be a major structural feature in the region, and the recent drilling campaign has provided a clearer understanding of its potential as a host for gold mineralization.
Promising Results from Monza and Lightning Prospects
In addition to the promising results from Cota, Terrain’s exploration work at the Monza and Lightning prospects to the north of the Wildflower project has also shown encouraging signs of gold mineralization. In the Monza prospect, drilling returned a 4-meter intercept grading 4.46 g/t gold from a depth of 51 meters, along with a 7-meter section grading 2.72 g/t gold from 25 meters. These results suggest that Monza has the potential to host high-grade gold mineralization.
Similarly, drilling at the Lightning prospect has returned several noteworthy gold intercepts, including a 2-meter section grading 6.22 g/t gold from 61 meters and a 1-meter slice grading 5.94 g/t gold from 82 meters. These results further bolster the potential of the Wildflower project, indicating that the area may host multiple gold-bearing zones.
Strategic Location and Future Potential
The Wildflower Gold Project is strategically located in a region that is home to several significant gold discoveries and mining operations. With major projects such as Warriedar, Rothsay, and Scuddles-Golden Grove nearby, Terrain Minerals’ Wildflower project is positioned within a highly prospective gold district. This regional context, combined with the encouraging drilling results to date, suggests that the project has considerable exploration potential.
Terrain’s exploration work is still in its early stages, but the company’s focus on testing newly identified shear zones, revisiting historical anomalies, and further investigating the Monza and Lightning prospects gives it a strong foothold in the search for a significant gold discovery. With additional drilling planned and a promising structural model emerging, the Wildflower project is rapidly becoming one of Terrain’s most important exploration assets.
Conclusion
Terrain Minerals’ Wildflower Gold Project continues to show strong potential, with recent drilling programs yielding promising results and expanding the company’s understanding of the gold mineralization in the region. The mobilization of an RC drill rig for deeper investigation of the Cota, T16, and Wildflower prospects marks an important next step in the search for a primary gold source beneath the supergene zone. With additional drilling planned for Monza, Lightning, and the Larin’s Lane Gallium Project, Terrain is positioning itself for further success in the highly prospective Mid West region of Western Australia.
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