Impact Minerals Expands Silica Hill Gold System at Partner Kuniko’s Cost
Key Takeaways
- Kuniko Limited has drilled 1,324 metres across five Phase 2 holes at Silica Hill, extending the mineralised system approximately 100 vertical metres beyond the existing block model.
- Laboratory assays are expected within four to six weeks of 10 September 2026, with an updated Mineral Resource Estimate targeted for December 2026.
- Phase 2 drilling is supporting a two-lode interpretation — Northern and Southern Lodes — both of which remain open for further extension, providing the geological framework for the December MRE update.
- Impact Minerals retains a 49% stake in the project at zero exploration cost — Kuniko funds all drilling, and if Kuniko reaches 70% by spending a further A$1.5 million, Impact's remaining 30% becomes free-carried through to a Decision to Mine.
- Phase 1 assays confirmed bonanza-grade results including 0.5m at 27 g/t gold and 20,603 g/t silver, establishing the grade potential that Phase 2 is now testing in adjacent and deeper ground.
Silica Hill keeps growing — and Kuniko is footing the bill
Partner-funded drilling at Impact Minerals’ Commonwealth–Silica Hill Project in New South Wales is continuing to push the gold and silver system beyond previously modelled ground. Kuniko Limited (ASX: KNI) has now drilled 1,324 metres across five holes in its Phase 2 programme, with the mineralised system extended approximately 100 vertical metres beyond the existing mineralised block model. Laboratory assays are expected within four to six weeks of 10 September 2026, and an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) is targeted for December 2026.
For Impact shareholders, the structure of this arrangement matters as much as the geology. Kuniko is paying for all of this. Impact retains a 49% stake while its partner advances exploration at Kuniko’s cost, allowing Impact to direct its own capital elsewhere.
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What the drill core is showing
Visual observations from the Phase 2 holes describe wide zones of sulphide minerals (the metal-bearing minerals that carry gold and silver) extending into ground that sits outside the area covered by the current resource model. These are geological observations only. Laboratory assays are still pending, and sulphide abundance estimates are not a substitute for confirmed gold and silver grades.
Phase 2 hole-by-hole highlights
- CMKNI009: Multiple intervals of disseminated and stringer sulphides within altered rhyolite, including zones with increased sphalerite and galena veining.
- CMKNI010: An approximately 70-metre downhole zone of disseminated sulphides and sulphide-bearing veining within altered rhyolite.
- CMKNI011: Multiple sulphide veins, including individual veins up to approximately 50 centimetres thick; designed to test the interpreted Northern Lode at depth; hole still underway at the reporting date.
All Phase 2 observations are visual only. Laboratory assays are required to determine grade and tenor, and the reported intervals are downhole lengths with true widths not yet known.
The emerging two-lode picture
Phase 2 drilling is supporting an interpretation of two distinct mineralised lodes at Silica Hill — the Northern and Southern Lodes — both of which remain open for further extension. This emerging two-lode architecture provides the geological framework for the December MRE update, giving Kuniko clear targets for continued drilling beyond the current programme.
Dr Mike Jones, Managing Director, Impact Minerals
“Kuniko’s drilling continues to extend the Silica Hill gold and silver system, with the latest holes intersecting sulphide zones well beyond our previous model. This indicates there is much more of the system still to define. Earlier assays showed it can carry very high grades of gold and silver, so the priority now is to confirm the grades and continuity of these new zones, which remain visual observations until the laboratory results are in…”
Understanding VMS-epithermal gold-silver systems — and why Silica Hill’s grades matter
Two deposit types sit at the heart of the Commonwealth–Silica Hill Project. A VMS deposit (volcanic-hosted massive sulphide) is a type of ore body formed on or below the seafloor by hot, metal-rich fluids associated with ancient volcanic activity. They often carry strong gold, silver, zinc, and lead grades concentrated into discrete, high-value lenses. An epithermal deposit forms when similar hot fluids rise closer to the surface and deposit precious metals within veins and stockworks — and can host what geologists call “bonanza-grade” silver and gold.
Silica Hill combines characteristics of both. The Phase 1 drilling results, reproduced below, illustrate the grade potential within this system.
| Hole ID | Prospect | Selected Intersection | Highlights | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CMKNI004 | Silica Hill | 0.5m at 27 g/t gold, 20,603 g/t silver, 3.3% zinc, 1.5% lead from 230.4m | Bonanza-grade massive sulphide vein | Phase 1 — assayed |
| CMKNI003 | Silica Hill | 50m at 1.0 g/t gold, 59 g/t silver, 0.14% zinc, 0.10% lead from 74m | Broad mineralised zone | Phase 1 — assayed |
| CMKNI001 | Commonwealth Main Shaft | 8.0m at 3.3 g/t gold, 186 g/t silver, 5.6% zinc, 2.2% lead, 0.12% copper from 94.7m | High-grade polymetallic | Phase 1 — assayed |
| CMKNI006 | Commonwealth South | 7.1m at 8.4 g/t gold, 42 g/t silver, 1.5% zinc, 0.7% lead from 79.9m | High-grade gold hit | Phase 1 — assayed |
All widths are downhole lengths, not true widths. These are selected results and should not be treated as average grades for the broader system.
Phase 2 is now drilling into ground adjacent to and beyond where these grades were found. The question the upcoming assays will answer is whether this extension carries similar grade continuity.
The project’s regional setting adds further context. Located approximately 100km north of Orange, NSW, in the Lachlan Fold Belt, the Commonwealth–Silica Hill Project sits in the same geological belt that hosts Cadia–Ridgeway (Newmont), Northparkes, and Cowal (Evolution Mining). It lies immediately along trend from Alkane’s Boda–Kaiser porphyry copper–gold deposit, which contains over 10 million ounces of gold equivalent.
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What this means for Impact shareholders
The joint venture structure is what makes this update particularly relevant for Impact investors. Here is how it works:
- Kuniko earned its initial 51% interest by completing A$1.5 million of exploration expenditure, approximately 12 months ahead of the contractual deadline.
- Impact retains the remaining 49%.
- Kuniko may earn a further 19% (taking its interest to 70%) by spending an additional A$1.5 million within a further two years.
- Upon reaching 70%, Impact’s remaining 30% interest becomes free-carried through to a Decision to Mine.
The Commonwealth joint venture terms were structured to reward Kuniko for accelerated spending, with the initial 51% earn-in completed roughly a year ahead of schedule and a clear pathway to 70% if the additional A$1.5 million commitment is met within two years.
Being “free-carried” means Impact pays nothing further towards exploration costs until a formal decision is made on whether to build a mine — its stake advances alongside all future spending without drawing on Impact’s own balance sheet.
The near-term catalysts to watch are:
- Phase 2 assay results, expected within four to six weeks of 10 September 2026.
- An updated Mineral Resource Estimate, targeted for December 2026.
Today’s update contains visual observations only, not confirmed grades. The strategic significance is that the Silica Hill system appears to be growing in scale — and it is advancing entirely at Kuniko’s cost. That leaves Impact free to direct its own capital towards its high-purity alumina strategy while retaining a meaningful stake in any exploration success at Commonwealth.
Impact’s high-purity alumina strategy at Lake Hope represents the other pillar of the company’s portfolio, and the free-carried structure at Commonwealth is precisely what allows management to allocate capital toward that programme without diluting its position in either asset.
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