Kuniko has maintained a perfect strike rate at its Commonwealth-Silica Hill project 100 kilometres north of Orange in central New South Wales, with all 11 diamond holes from a two-phase, 2731-metre drilling program successfully intersecting gold-silver mineralisation.
The company's latest five-hole, 1492-metre campaign was designed to follow up a spectacular discovery made during phase one drilling and appears to have successfully extended the mineralised system, with step-out holes stretching the known mineralisation by 60m down-dip and 40m up-dip, demonstrating a mineralised extent of roughly 100m. The results are expected to feed into an updated mineral resource estimate slated for December this year.
The highlight from the new batch of assays was a 16.3-metre hit grading 1.56 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent from a downhole depth of 75.7m, featuring a higher-grade core of 11.95m at 1.95g/t gold equivalent. This hosted two richer veins of 1.1m assaying 5.17g/t gold equivalent and a 0.65-metre section grading a notable 6.23g/t gold equivalent.
Other phase-two results included a broad 43-metre intersection grading 0.31g/t gold equivalent, alongside two 30-metre hits running at 0.45g/t and 0.36g/t gold equivalent, respectively. The company's primary deposits at Commonwealth and Silica Hill have JORC-inferred mineral resource estimates totalling 88,000 ounces of gold and 3.3 million ounces of silver.
The latest results appear to complement Kuniko's initial phase one campaign, which delivered a stunning result when a hole, punched 100 metres beyond the previously defined mineralised footprint, intersected a broad 84-metre zone grading 0.6g/t gold and 123g/t silver. The intercept also contained a 0.5-metre massive sulphide vein grading an eye-watering 27g/t gold and a coffee-spitting 20,603g/t silver, a figure that puts it firmly in bonanza territory, where grades above 1000g/t silver are considered exceptional.
Kuniko managing director Maja McGuire said: "The completion of our two diamond drilling campaigns at Commonwealth-Silica Hill represents an important milestone for Kuniko, with all 11 holes intersecting mineralisation and providing substantial new geological and assay information to support our upcoming MRE update later this year. Importantly, we continue to identify opportunities beyond the areas tested by drilling."
The company’s ground sits in the heart of New South Wales’ Lachlan Fold Belt, a tier-one mining jurisdiction often referred to as “elephant country” and host to some of Australia’s largest mineral deposits. The region is seeing a fresh wave of investment as soaring copper prices and a renewed appetite for gold bring the mineral-rich province back into the spotlight. Major operations in the neighbourhood include Newmont’s colossal 39-million-ounce Cadia-Ridgeway mine and Evolution Mining’s Cowal operation.
The geology adds another intriguing dimension, with two distinct styles of mineralisation sitting just 200 metres apart: a polymetallic volcanogenic massive sulphide system at the company's Commonwealth deposit and an epithermal stockwork vein system at Silica Hill. The combination has drawn comparisons with world-class deposits such as Canada’s Eskay Creek, renowned for its exceptionally high-grade precious-metal mineralisation.
With the drills now silent, geophysical interpretation is lighting up the path forward. The company recently deployed downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) probes to hunt for deep, off-hole extensions of conductive sulphides. Integrated gravity, induced polarisation and DHEM surveys have now defined a prospective geophysical trend that stretches for more than 500m to the southeast of the known mineralisation at Silica Hill.
The company says significant and untested induced polarisation chargeability anomalies and prospective gravity-low margins have provided a grab bag of additional targets for follow-up exploration.
Kuniko appears to be building a district-scale play, with plans advancing for a third phase of drilling in the first quarter of 2027 to test near-resource targets at its Welcome Jack, Walls and Stringers prospects, all set within a kilometre of the existing project resource.
Historical drilling at these prospects has already shown promise. A previous hole at Welcome Jack returned 2m at 5.7g/t gold, while drilling at Walls produced a 20-metre intercept grading 0.5g/t gold and 27g/t silver.
While its current focus is on the gold-silver potential in NSW, Kuniko also holds a portfolio of battery and critical minerals projects in Norway. These include the Ertelien nickel-copper-cobalt project, which holds a 40-million-tonne resource running 0.25 per cent nickel equivalent, in addition to other cobalt and copper assets aimed at servicing the European energy transition.
With mineralisation hit in every hole to date, Kuniko may have demonstrated it could be onto a significant gold-silver system at Commonwealth-Silica Hill. A resource update is just around the corner and a suite of compelling geophysical and regional targets are lining up for the drill bit. The immediate catalysts are now threefold: final assays, integration of the downhole geophysics and the expected resource update, all of which could help reveal just how big this Lachlan Fold Belt system might be.
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