Key Highlights

  • Lightning Minerals holds 100% of the Mt Turner Gold Project and the Warby Tungsten Project in Queensland.
  • Rock-chip assays reported from Warby on 4 June 2026 ranged from 750ppm to above 50,000ppm tungsten, including material from historical tailings.
  • Cash was A$1.188 million at 30 June 2026, which the company estimated as about 1.1 quarters of funding.

Lightning Minerals (ASX:L1M) is a Perth-based explorer that, according to its quarterly report, now concentrates on Australian gold and tungsten after exiting or seeking to sell its overseas lithium ground. The company is running two exploration programmes of very different Maturity at once: a flagship gold system at Mt Turner in Queensland, where diamond drilling is being prepared, and a much earlier tungsten prospect at Warby, where only surface sampling has been reported.

Portfolio and priorities

The company holds 100% of the Mt Turner Gold Project and the Warby Tungsten Project in Queensland, along with several smaller tenements in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia. Its report for the June 2026 quarter, released on 30 July 2026, describes Mt Turner as the flagship and Warby as a second-tier priority.

Mt Turner gold

Lightning describes Mt Turner as a large gold system extending about 14km along the Drummer Fault. The 30 July quarterly states that soil sampling along the Drummer Fault, and soil and mapping work in the Western Zone, are complete, with laboratory assays expected in the September quarter. Phase 2 diamond drilling was being prepared, with a rig expected in mid-August.

The company has said it is targeting a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate for Mt Turner by the second quarter of 2027. That is a target rather than a result, and it depends on drilling and assay outcomes. On 2 September 2026 the company released an announcement outlining further gold targets in the Western Zone of Mt Turner.

Warby tungsten

On 4 June 2026 the company reported rock-chip assays from Warby ranging from 750ppm to above 50,000ppm tungsten, with ten samples above 1% and six above 3%. Some of the highest values came from historical tailings, so the results do not on their own point to a continuous orebody. On 21 July 2026 Lightning said it had completed a Phase 2 programme of mapping and soil and rock-chip sampling over a structural corridor of about 2km, with assays due in August 2026 and drill-target ranking to follow. The company has not reported any drilling at Warby.

Cash and funding

The 30 July report put cash at A$1.188 million at 30 June 2026, compared with A$1.238 million at the end of March. Operating outflows were A$829,000 and capitalised exploration A$234,000 in the quarter, a combined spend of about A$1.06 million, while financing inflows were A$1.02 million. The company estimated about 1.1 quarters of funding at current outgoings, and a second Tranche of a Capital raising worth A$725,000 before costs was due to settle after quarter end. No Debt was reported.

Diamond drilling is costly relative to a cash balance of this size, and the company has relied on Equity raisings to fund its programmes, which means further dilution for existing holders is possible.

What to Watch

The main risks are those common to early-stage explorers: drilling may not confirm continuity or grade, the tungsten prospect carries high technical uncertainty at this stage, and funding must be renewed regularly. The Quarterly Report listed the September-quarter work as Phase 2 drilling and assays at Mt Turner, soil assays from the Western Zone and Warby, ranking of Warby drill targets, continued divestments and settlement of the second capital-raising tranche.