Kuniko Limited has turned up the heat at its Commonwealth-Silica Hill project in New South Wales, unveiling more high-grade gold and silver from two old-timer prospects just one kilometre from its recent eye-catching bonanza silver discovery.
The company says new zones of gold and silver mineralisation at its historic Walls and Stringers prospects have returned high-grade rock chips, hitting up to 4.7 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent, which was made up of 2.6g/t of gold and 118g/t silver.
The reconnaissance sampling program centred around historic old workings and outcrops at Walls and Stringers. The company believes the prospects form part of a broader mineralised corridor, named Welcome Jack, identified through recent geophysical surveys.
Top hits include a 4.7g/t gold equivalent sample at Walls and a hit of up to 2.7g/t gold equivalent at Stringers. Kuniko has been actively expanding its regional chops at the emerging project, which sits in the storied Lachlan Fold Belt. The elephant country is home to behemoth deposits such as Newmont’s 40-million-ounce gold and 10-million-tonne copper Cadia-Ridgeway mine.
First tilt drilling earlier this year by Kuniko at Commonwealth-Silica Hill was a roaring success, with one step-out hole at Silica Hill returning a hit of 0.5m grading a whopping 27g/t gold and a jaw-dropping 20.6 kilograms per tonne silver from 230m.
That discovery firmed Kuniko’s belief in a fertile, high-grade system at the project, one that could perhaps extend for kilometres to include the high-grade results at its nearby Walls and Stringers.
Kuniko Limited managing director Maja McGuire said: “These results are significant because they confirm mineralisation at two largely untested prospects located less than one kilometre from our existing Commonwealth-Silica Hill gold-silver project. There is clear, growing evidence that Commonwealth-Silica Hill, Welcome Jack, Walls and Stringers may all form part of a much larger mineralised system.”
The new prospects are not just interesting surface shows. They come with a history that points to untapped potential.
At Walls, historical drilling by a previous owner returned a promising 20-metre intercept grading 0.5g/t gold and 27g/t silver, including a richer one-metre section at 2.9 g/t gold and 144 g/t silver. Inexplicably, the hit was never followed up, leaving a compelling target ready for a modern workover.
The Stringers prospect is even more of an enigma. It hosts numerous historical mine shafts and workings, with past rock chips grading up to 6.3g/t gold and 120g/t silver, yet it has never seen a single drill hole beneath its workings.
The prospects now represent compelling, near-resource targets with the potential for a significant discovery and an expanding regional story.
Geologically, the pieces are fitting together neatly. Kuniko says the Welcome Jack corridor, which is spatially associated with a mapped diorite intrusion, reinforces the emerging geological model that the entire district may be different expressions of a single, large, intrusive-related hydrothermal system.
The theory is backed by modern geophysics, including the company’s recent MobileMT survey, which highlighted a large, deep resistive body interpreted as a significant intrusive complex sitting directly beneath the Walls and Stringers prospects. Crucially, this geophysical anomaly remains untested by drilling.
With a phase-two drill campaign set to kick off in early July at Commonwealth-Silica Hill, Kuniko has a busy period ahead. Interpretation of the 4 km-long MobileMT corridor is expected to generate a pipeline of new targets in the coming weeks, with drilling assay results anticipated in September.
This will all feed into an updated mineral resource estimate for the project targeted for the second half of the year.
For a junior explorer methodically assembling a bounty of high-grade evidence at its Lachlan Fold project, a string of new, high-grade prospects is knocking on its door.
The company appears to be building a strong case; it could be onto something much bigger than a single project area at Commonwealth-Silica Hill.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Andrew Todd
