Terrain Secures Mining Licence Over Lightning Prospect, Paving Way for Maiden JORC in 2026
Terrain Minerals (ASX: TMX) has hit a significant development milestone, with the grant of Mining Licence M59/0796 at its 100%-owned Smokebush Gold Project in WA’s Murchison region. The newly minted licence locks in the tenure over the Lightning Gold and Silver Prospect, a key exploration target the company is steering toward a maiden JORC resource by mid-2026.
The approval marks the conversion of previously held prospecting tenements into mining lease status, with the licence now secured until 2046, offering a 21-year runway for potential development and production.
“This is a major step forward in unlocking value at Lightning,” said Executive Director Justin Virgin. “With a granted mining licence now in place, we’ve significantly de-risked the pathway toward resource definition and future mining approvals.”
Drilling Campaign Underway
The licence grant coincides with a 34-hole, 6,800m reverse circulation (RC) drilling program currently in progress across the Lightning and Wildflower prospects. First assays from this campaign are expected to land in early February 2026.
The program follows a string of increasingly promising hits at Lightning. Recent results included:
11m @ 6.03 g/t gold and 43.5 g/t silver (reported 31 March 2025)
22m @ 2.71 g/t gold (2 September 2025)
Multiple high-grade intercepts with silver credits reported on 29 September and 13 October 2025
Located just 15km from the operating Rothsay Gold Mine and within close proximity to Capricorn Metals’ 4.5Moz Mt Gibson Gold Deposit, Lightning’s address is as compelling as its drill core.
The company has flagged that results from the current drilling will inform a resource model ahead of the planned maiden JORC estimate in mid-2026. Wildflower, meanwhile, continues to firm as a valuable satellite prospect, with new induced polarisation (IP) targets defined in late 2025 and drill-tested in the current campaign.
Strategic Ground in a Proven Belt
Smokebush lies within the Yalgoo-Singleton Greenstone Belt, a 190km-long Archean terrain situated in the southwestern Murchison Domain. Terrain has progressively consolidated and advanced the project since acquiring full ownership in 2022, with drilling, geophysics and geochemistry delineating multiple zones of gold, silver, gallium, and copper-nickel prospectivity.
Beyond Lightning and Wildflower, the company is also exploring gallium at the nearby Larin’s Lane prospect, where drilling has outlined broad zones of mineralisation over a 9km x 3km footprint, supported by research collaborations with the WA Government and MRIWA.
What’s Next?
With mining tenure secured and drilling well advanced, all eyes are now on the next round of assays. The company’s stated strategy is clear: continue building geological confidence at Lightning and Wildflower, convert those results into a JORC resource, and advance toward development readiness.
The countdown to that maiden JORC is now on. And with grades already running hot and the red tape out of the way, Terrain may have just lit the fuse under its most promising gold asset yet.