Under an earn-in and joint venture agreement with project owner Impact Minerals (ASX: IPT), Kuniko (ASX: KNI) has completed a MobileMT airborne electromagnetic program over 328 line-kilometres of the Commonwealth gold-silver-copper project in New South Wales.
Preliminary interpretation has identified a 4km-long conductive corridor extending from the historical Commonwealth mine towards Silica Hill and onto nearby prospects aligned with the Nindethana Fault.
Kuniko has advised that it will carry out further processing and modelling, including inversions and 3D resistivity, to refine drill targeting ahead of Phase 1 diamond drilling scheduled to commence this month.
The company is looking to use the 1,200-metre campaign to explore high-priority extensions of previously identified gold and silver resources at the Commonwealth Main, Silica Hill, and Commonwealth South targets.
Surveys and Sampling Completed
Kuniko has also completed initial soil geochemistry surveys and reconnaissance rock-chip sampling at the Geenobby and Gladstone West targets within Commonwealth, collecting 420 soil samples and five rock chip samples.
The company reported a Geenobby rock chip result of 6.02 grams per tonne gold and 28.7g/t silver (with elevated bismuth-tellurium-molybdenum), extending a mineralised trend to the north.
Impact managing director Dr Mike Jones said the company was keen for Kuniko to commence drilling at Commonwealth.
“Our previous work has identified a resource containing 88,000 ounces of gold and 3 million ounces of silver with very high grades in many areas that are open at depth,” he said.
“Commonwealth is the only project in Australia similar to the world-class Eskay Creek volcanogenic massive sulphide mine in the famed Golden Triangle of British Columbia, and we are hopeful that the drill program will identify new lenses of high-grade VMS.”
Earn-In Agreement
Impact and Kuniko entered into an earn-in and joint venture agreement over the highly-prospective Commonwealth project last year, which will see Kuniko spend up to $3 million over four years to earn a maximum 70% equity.
Kuniko will also free-carry Impact’s 30% interest to a decision to mine, at which point Impact will elect to either contribute or dilute to 10% which will then convert to a 2% net smelter royalty.
The agreement is believed to allow Impact time and money to focus on the development of the Lake Hope high purity alumina project in Western Australia.
“Kuniko has made rapid progress on this project, [and the] preliminary results, in conjunction with much of the work previously carried out by Impact, indicate a strong pipeline of areas for further exploration over the coming year,” Dr Jones added.
