Kuniko funds its next gold hunt ahead of a December resource update

Placement funds Commonwealth-Silica Hill exploration

Kuniko Limited (ASX:KNI) has raised approximately $600,000 before costs in a placement designed to keep its Commonwealth-Silica Hill exploration program moving, with Phase 3 drilling planned for the first quarter of 2027. The issue price is $0.015 per share, and the raising was described as strongly supported by existing shareholders and new investors.

The placement comprises approximately 39.75 million shares. About 34.33 million shares are to be issued under the company’s existing Listing Rule 7.1 capacity, while a further $81,250 of director participation remains subject to shareholder approval. The raise also includes one existing-class KNIOA option for every two shares subscribed, with the approximately 19.87 million attaching options carrying a $0.07 exercise price and expiring on 4 May 2029, if approved.

December resource update follows broad drilling results

The immediate test for Kuniko is an updated JORC Mineral Resource Estimate targeted for December 2026. It is expected to incorporate tonnage from both 2026 drilling campaigns, which covered 11 diamond holes and more than 2,700 metres, with every hole intersecting mineralisation.

The drilling included an 84-metre interval grading 2.6g/t gold equivalent at Silica Hill, including 0.5 metres at 347g/t gold equivalent. Results at Commonwealth South and Commonwealth Main Shaft included 7.1 metres at 9.7g/t gold equivalent and eight metres at 8.6g/t gold equivalent respectively. The Phase 2 program also extended Silica Hill mineralisation beyond the historical resource footprint, including 16.3 metres at 1.56g/t gold equivalent. The company’s latest results build on the Phase 2 Silica Hill extensions, which had already identified mineralisation outside the historical resource area.

Kuniko says the Phase 2 drilling confirmed mineralisation roughly 60 metres down-dip and 40 metres up-dip of the original high-grade Silica Hill discovery. That provides the geological basis for the planned resource update, although the announcement does not disclose the current resource size or indicate what the revised estimate will contain.

Phase 3 targets satellite deposits near existing resource

The next campaign will shift attention from extensions around the known system to potential satellite deposits within one kilometre of the existing resource. Welcome Jack, Walls and Stringers are the named targets: historical drilling returned up to 8g/t gold at Welcome Jack and 144g/t silver at Walls, while Stringers has encouraging historical surface samples but has not yet been tested by drilling.

Kuniko may also test further Silica Hill extensions and geophysical targets, including a prospective trend extending more than 500 metres to the southeast, untested induced-polarisation chargeability anomalies and deeper conductors. Those targets sit within a broader five-square-kilometre district that the company is seeking to establish as a multi-deposit system. Earlier geophysical work had already outlined new nearby drill targets, but their exploration potential remains untested by the planned program.

The funding comes with dilution and a second approval hurdle. Tranche 2 director shares, the attaching placement options and approximately 6.87 million broker options for GBA Capital all require shareholder approval, with the broker options also exercisable at $0.07 and expiring on 4 May 2029. The December resource estimate and the Q1 drilling timetable are planned milestones, not guaranteed outcomes, leaving the next valuation question tied to both the revised resource and the results from the new targets.