Terra Metals has extended its Southwest platinum group metal (PGM), copper and nickel discovery in Western Australia to 1.35km along strike as it advances drilling towards a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE).
The system remains open in all directions, with diamond drilling confirming what Terra described as Southwest’s largest continuous high-grade reef to date.
Results from four holes demonstrated broad precious-metal mineralisation, with copper and nickel credits. The reported 3E grade represents the combined platinum, palladium and gold content.
Hole SWRD090 returned 336.9m at 1.02 grams per tonne (g/t) 3E, 0.11 per cent copper and 0.19 per cent nickel from 191.1m.
The interval included 32.5m at 1.50g/t 3E, 0.17 per cent copper and 0.20 per cent nickel from 202m, along with 2.4m at 4.37g/t 3E, 0.34 per cent copper and 0.33 per cent nickel from 387.9m.
Hole SWRD071 intersected 308.4m at 0.92g/t 3E, 0.09 per cent copper and 0.16 per cent nickel from 167.5m, including 1.2m at 6.54g/t 3E from 269.8m.
Terra chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director Thomas Line said the results strengthened the emerging development case for Southwest.
“Southwest has given us its largest continuous high-grade reef to date, part of a stack of reefs that starts at shallow depth,” he said.
“Heritage clearance now covers the full footprint, first-pass drilling at Double Snag has hit sulphides 1.2 km from the current MRE target area, and more than 40,000 assays are still in the lab.
“With access now cleared across the Southwest Area and metallurgical testwork advancing, the maiden MRE is on track for Q1 CY2027.”
Line added that geophysics and surface geochemistry continue to shine the way to further extensions along strike and across the broader project.
“Promising sulphide intersections identified recently in multiple new locations provide further encouragement that there is still a lot more to come,” he said.
Heritage approvals covering the immediate Southwest footprint have enabled grid-spaced infill and resource-definition drilling across the existing 1.35km strike.
The expanded program follows earlier drilling that grew the main sulphide corridor from about 950m to more than 1.1km during August. Southwest remains outside Terra’s existing 148-million-tonne Dante Reefs mineral resource.
First-pass drilling has also intersected sulphide mineralisation at Double Snag, about 1.2km along strike from the previously confirmed Southwest Main Zone.
Assays remain pending, and Terra cautioned that visual estimates are not a substitute for laboratory analysis.
Metallurgical work is progressing alongside resource drilling, and cleaner flotation trials are assessing product options ranging from a single bulk sulphide concentrate to separate copper, nickel and pyrrhotite concentrates.
Terra previously targeted the maiden Southwest MRE for late 2026 but now expects delivery in the first quarter of 2027 following the enlarged drilling program and discovery of additional mineralisation.