On 9 October 2026, Tennant Minerals Limited (ASX:TMS) announced that it has commenced a multi-stage diamond drilling program testing for extensions of the Bluebird copper-gold-bismuth deposit, 40 kilometres east of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.

Targeting work behind the program

The company said the program follows a structural targeting and geophysical modelling exercise, which produced a new interpretation of the controls on Bluebird mineralisation. High-grade zones are associated with the intersection of two faults, the Camel and Kamran Faults, and this zone plunges shallowly west within a corridor that coincides with a modelled gravity-remanent magnetic zone extending more than 800 metres west of Bluebird.

The work defined a 1.5 kilometre structural target corridor linking Bluebird with the Perseverance magnetic complex. It identified opportunities for immediate resource extensions, repeats within an 800 metre corridor extending west and down plunge, and deeper targets below Perseverance.

The drilling program

Four priority diamond targets have been identified within the 800 metre corridor. The first Stage 1 hole has started, testing a target 60 metres west of existing drilling, and subsequent drilling will step out at 120 metre spacing. In parallel, an aircore and slimline RC program is testing regional targets within structural and geophysical corridors, including the Kamran Fault.

Previous intersections within the westerly plunging zone included 24 metres at 11.8 g/t gold and 0.66% copper and 30.5 metres at 6.8 g/t gold and 6.2% copper. A recent intersection below the open-pit resource was 18 metres at 10.0 g/t gold equivalent (4.0 g/t gold, 1.9% copper, 0.9% bismuth), including 4.55 metres at 34.3 g/t gold equivalent.

Comparison with the Warrego deposit

The company said the target corridor is of a scale that could contain a repeat of the Warrego gold-copper deposit, the largest in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field, which it describes as having a total endowment of more than 4.3 million ounces gold equivalent. Bluebird has been tested over less than 500 metres of strike. The company said the work represents potential to expand the mineralisation footprint by more than ten-fold. Gold equivalent calculations are set out in Appendix 2 of the announcement.

Sector backdrop

The Tennant Creek Mineral Field is described in the release as having historical production of 25 million tonnes at 6.9 g/t gold (5.5 million ounces) and 2.8% copper (700,000 tonnes). Deposits in the field are typically small, high-grade bodies associated with ironstone and structural features, and discoveries often rely on geophysics.

Gold equivalent figures combine metals using assumed prices and recoveries, so they should be read together with the individual grades reported in the release.

Risks shareholders should weigh

The target corridor is a model-based interpretation, and the comparison to Warrego is a statement of potential scale, not a forecast of what drilling will find. The first hole is only the start of Stage 1, and results are not yet available.

Previous intersections may not be repeated on the new step-out sections. Bluebird has been tested over less than 500 metres of strike, so the continuity of mineralisation to the west is unproven.

Gold equivalent results depend on the stated metal price and recovery assumptions, including for bismuth. Further drilling, studies, permitting and funding would be needed before any development, and the company references an alliance feasibility study into a shared processing Facility that has not been completed.

What’s next

Tennant listed its next steps as continuing the Stage 1 diamond program, completing aircore and slimline RC drilling at the Kamran West–Perseverance target, and planning a Stage 2 program after Stage 1 results. It also plans to complete its component of the Tennant Creek Copper Alliance feasibility study into a shared processing facility, and to progress resource upgrade, metallurgical and Mining studies.