New Age Exploration has logged more than 100 metres of alteration, veining and sulphides at its Wallah Silver Project, but laboratory assays are still needed to establish whether the zone contains silver mineralisation. At Lammerlaw, a standout gold hole is driving a larger 2027 trenching and drilling campaign while cash of $728,000 covers only 0.87 quarters of reported outgoings.
- More than 100m of visually logged alteration at Wallah, with assays due in Q4 2026
- LAMRC015 returned 11m at 4.1 g/t gold, including 1m at 19 g/t
- Lammerlaw trenching and Phase 3 drilling planned for 2027
- Wagyu IP survey produced a weak response and will not be repeated
- $728,000 cash and 0.87 quarters of funding based on current outgoings
Wallah core expands the geological target
New Age Exploration Limited (ASX:NAE) has completed its first Wallah Silver Project drill program with a single 225.70-metre hole that cut a visually broad zone of alteration, veining and sulphides. The cored interval contained more than 100 metres of estimated true-width alteration, which the company says is more than three times the width previously recognised from historic drilling.
The visual observations are encouraging but decidedly incomplete. Pyrite and sphalerite were logged at up to 10% in sections, galena at 2% to 5%, and minor chalcopyrite, with five newly identified sub-vertical sheeted vein sets. No silver-bearing minerals were visually identified, and NAE cautions that only laboratory assays can establish the presence and grade of silver. Assay and downhole Heterodyne and induced polarisation results are expected in the fourth quarter of calendar 2026.
The result is the next step in a program that began with modern reprocessing of historic IP data to define untested targets beneath and along strike from the Walla Walla Silver-Lead Mine. The earlier Wallah IP target refinement had identified an anomaly extending north and south of the historic workings, within a 1,500-metre magnetic quiet zone interpreted by NAE as consistent with hydrothermal alteration. Phase 2 drilling is now being planned around deeper, down-dip extensions and strike targets, but the first hole’s assay will determine how much substance lies behind the visual geology.
Lammerlaw results point to a larger 2027 campaign
In New Zealand, the Lammerlaw Gold-Antimony Project continues to offer the clearest numerical exploration signal. Hole LAMRC015 at the Bella Prospect returned 11 metres at 4.1 grams per tonne gold from 27 metres, including 1 metre at 19 g/t, alongside separate intervals of 7 metres at 1.79 g/t and 9 metres at 2.16 g/t. These are downhole widths, and true widths have not yet been established.
Most of the other Phase 2 holes produced either no significant result above the 0.5 g/t cutoff or narrow, low-grade halo intervals. NAE nevertheless interprets the results as evidence of a broad alteration and gold-mineralisation footprint across Bella and the wider Lammerlaw Mineral Trend, which extends for more than 5 kilometres. The earlier Bella shear-hosted gold discovery had already shifted the project from reconnaissance drilling towards a more systematic exploration program.
That next phase is now taking shape: 12 to 14 trenches spanning more than 250 metres are planned across three priority areas in the first quarter of 2027, followed by Phase 3 drilling. The work will test zones where soil anomalies, high-grade rock chips and historic workings overlap, including ground west and south of LAMRC015. Lammerlaw remains an early-stage exploration project with no mineral resource or ore reserve defined, and the company has applied to renew its exploration permit for five years from December 2026.
Cash covers less than one quarter of reported outgoings
The operational progress comes with a plainly stated funding constraint. NAE reported $728,000 in cash at 30 September after $502,000 of exploration expenditure and $339,000 of operating cash outflows during the quarter. On its own calculation, that equates to 0.87 quarters of available funding, with no unused finance facilities reported.
The company said it expects to maintain its current level of net operating cash flows and will rely on existing resources and future debt or equity capital raising, including placements under its ASX placement capacity. That makes the timing and structure of any funding transaction a material part of the exploration story, particularly as Wallah assays, Lammerlaw trenching and 2027 drilling all compete for the same limited cash balance.
Wagyu IP test closes one exploration avenue
At the Wagyu Gold Project in Western Australia, a ground IP survey at Target 10 returned a weak response, which NAE attributes as likely reflecting insufficient sulphide mineralisation associated with the known alteration and gold mineralisation. The company considers the survey an adequate test and will not deploy the method further at Wagyu. That does not remove the project’s earlier drilling results, but it does narrow the geophysical toolkit available for follow-up work.
Bottom Line?
Wallah assays are the immediate catalyst, but the more consequential question may be whether NAE can fund the next round of drilling without materially diluting shareholders.
Questions in the middle?
- Will laboratory assays confirm silver grades in Wallah’s broad visually altered and sulphide-bearing interval?
- Can Lammerlaw’s 2027 trenching convert a promising Bella intercept into a coherent exploration target across the mineral trend?
- When will NAE raise capital, and what funding structure will support its 2027 programs?