Kuniko (ASX:KNI) secures 51% interest in Commonwealth Project
Kuniko has completed the Stage 1 requirements under its Earn in and Joint Venture Agreement with Impact Minerals, securing a 51% interest in the Commonwealth Gold Silver Project in the Lachlan Fold Belt of New South Wales.
Completion of the initial $1.5m expenditure commitment occurred 12 months ahead of schedule, establishing Kuniko as the majority owner and operator of the project.
Highlights
Kuniko has secured a 51% interest in the Commonwealth Project and continues as project operator.
MobileMT work completed in October 2025 highlighted a 4km conductive corridor with multiple high priority drill targets within 1km of the Commonwealth Project.
Phase 1 drilling at Commonwealth South, including Silica Hill, returned 0.5m at 347 g/t AuEq, comprising 20,603 g/t Ag and 27 g/t Au.
Phase 2 drilling is underway, with an updated Project MRE in progress.
Kuniko retains the right to increase its interest to 70% through a further $1.5m of exploration expenditure.
The announcement lists Phase 2 diamond drilling assay results for September and an upgraded Project MRE for H2 2026.
Since entering into the earn in agreement in September 2025, Kuniko has advanced the project through geological, geophysical and drilling programs.
The work completed includes a Phase 1 drilling campaign targeting resource expansion and new discoveries, discovery of the Silica Hill mineralised system beyond the current mineralised footprint, and definition of a prospective mineralised corridor extending approximately 5km through the integration of geological, geochemical and geophysical datasets.
The Commonwealth Project lies approximately 100km north of Orange, New South Wales, within the Lachlan Fold Belt, and comprises 2 genetically related deposits located within 200m of each other.
Commonwealth Main and Commonwealth South comprise a polymetallic VMS style system characterised by high grade gold, silver and zinc mineralisation, including massive sulphide lenses with strong base metal credits.
Silica Hill is an epithermal stockwork vein system hosting high grade silver mineralisation, with abundant silver sulphosalts and broad zones of disseminated and stringer sulphides.
The project also contains multiple untested targets, including Silica Hill East, Geenobbys and Gladstone, where geophysical and geochemical anomalies remain untested by drilling.
Impact Minerals has previously reported JORC 2012 Inferred Mineral Resource Estimates at Commonwealth and Silica Hill.
Kuniko states that it has not independently verified or adopted these estimates and that they should not be relied upon as Kuniko’s own.
Kuniko Managing Director Maja McGuire commented:
“The speed at which we have deployed capital into exploration, including through the current drilling campaign, to reach the 51% ownership milestone is a clear demonstration of our confidence in the Project and its significant growth potential.”
Following completion of Stage 1, Kuniko retains the right to increase its interest in the Commonwealth Project to 70% through completion of the Stage 2 requirements, which require a further $1.5m of exploration expenditure.
Upon Kuniko achieving a 70% interest, the parties will enter into a formal joint venture arrangement, with Impact Minerals retaining a 30% interest free carried through to a Decision to Mine.
Following a Decision to Mine, Impact will have the option to contribute its pro rata share of future project expenditure or elect to dilute its interest.
Kuniko’s immediate focus remains on completing the current Phase 2 drilling campaign, receiving and interpreting assay results, delivering an updated Project MRE, continuing to test high priority regional exploration targets and systematically evaluating additional opportunities along the approximately 5km prospective corridor.
The announcement also lists an August regional targeting review integrating geology, geochemistry, gravity and MobileMT datasets, September assay results from Phase 2 diamond drilling, exploration targeting over the 4km conductive corridor and the Walls and Stringers historic undrilled shafts during H2 2026, and an upgraded Project MRE in H2 2026.