Unity Metals takes broad O’Phlay gold discovery into 3,000m Phase 2 drilling

O’Phlay drilling defines broad open gold zone

Unity Metals Limited (ASX:UM1) has moved its Cambodian exploration campaign into a more consequential phase after drilling outlined a broad stockwork gold system at the Camp Prospect within its O’Phlay project. Seven diamond holes drilled during the September quarter returned a headline 40 metres at 1.9 grams per tonne gold and 70.4 metres at 1.1 g/t gold.

The mineralisation is hosted by quartz-arsenopyrite veins within a diorite intrusion and has been traced from surface to at least 230 metres depth, with an estimated true width of about 45 to 50 metres. The company says the zone remains open along strike and at depth. A subsequent result from hole 26DDCM007 added a 35-metre northeast extension, including 1 metre at 10.2 g/t and 29 metres at 0.5 g/t.

The latest drilling builds on the Camp northeast extension, which previously reported the 10.2 g/t intercept and noted that the zone remained open, although a southwest test did not return significant intersections. That uneven picture makes the geometry of the system, rather than a single high-grade interval, the central question for the next campaign.

Phase 2 program targets Camp and nearby prospects

Unity commenced a 20-hole, 3,000-metre Phase 2 diamond drilling program at O’Phlay after the quarter. The initial holes are designed to test extensions to the northeast, west and at depth before moving across several demagnetised zones identified in magnetic survey data.

Those targets include Toulsroloav, 800 metres west-northwest of Camp, and Small Creek, 1.8 kilometres to the southwest. Both sit beneath historical workings and are associated with soil, rock-chip or geological evidence of gold mineralisation. Unity also plans to test a 300-metre demagnetised zone south-west of Camp where gold-in-soil results reached 380 parts per billion.

The company’s interpretation is that hydrothermal alteration destroyed magnetite in parts of the host diorite, creating demagnetised zones that may guide further stockwork mineralisation. It has identified more than 6 kilometres of prospective northeast to east-northeast magnetic anomalies across the northern part of the intrusion, extending the exploration thesis well beyond the initial Camp discovery.

Ngot survey reveals deeper intrusion targets

At the Ngot Gold Project, a 205-line-kilometre UAV magnetic survey identified two strong anomalies interpreted as buried, magnetite-bearing intrusions. The central anomaly sits beneath and north of earlier drilling at Rohav Mountain, where Unity encountered altered and gold-mineralised diorite.

Follow-up dipole-dipole induced polarisation work identified chargeability and resistivity highs around the interpreted intrusion. Unity regards these features as possible sulphide-rich or silicified zones and high-priority drill targets, but the interpretation remains untested by drilling. The quarter also produced encouraging trench results at Ngot Central, including 6 metres at 3.0 g/t gold and 22 metres at 0.9 g/t, while Srolao returned 6 metres at 1.2 g/t.

Placement funds accelerated exploration

Unity raised $3.5 million before costs through an oversubscribed placement of 23.33 million shares at $0.15 each, with 11.67 million attaching options exercisable at $0.225. The funding supports the $3.5 million placement, which earlier coverage described as financing expanded drilling and geophysical work across the Cambodian portfolio.

The company finished the quarter with $3.399 million in cash after spending $1.274 million on exploration and $217,000 on operating activities during the period. On the Appendix 5B calculation, that equates to an estimated 2.28 quarters of funding at the current rate of cash outflow. That is a snapshot rather than a forecast: drilling intensity, assay timing and further exploration decisions could change the rate materially.

Ta Vaeng in Cambodia and the 14 licence applications comprising the Loei project in Thailand remained in progress, with little exploration spending while approvals are pending. For now, the investment case rests most visibly on whether Phase 2 drilling can convert a promising geological pattern at O’Phlay into a coherent, repeatable mineralised system before the available cash buffer narrows.