Unico Silver on track for updated JORC resource at Joaquin Project in Santa Cruz

Unico Silver is advancing an updated JORC mineral resource estimate for its 100%-owned Joaquin Project in Santa Cruz, backed by a 30,000m drill program and recent $40m funding.

Unico Silver (ASX: USL) says it remains on track to deliver an updated JORC mineral resource estimate (MRE) this year for its 100%-owned Joaquin Project in Santa Cruz, Argentina.

The company has now received assay results for 29 drillholes, totalling 4,699m, as part of its ongoing drilling program. This brings the total reported since drilling began in September 2025 to 60 holes for 9,812m.

These results form part of a 30,000m drilling campaign focused on two key objectives:

• Regional exploration and new discoveries, and
• The delineation of high-confidence, pit-constrained, free-milling silver ounces at Joaquin.
• Additional outstanding assays are also expected to be received before year-end.

Next steps: growing the footprint and upgrading confidence

Unico Silver outlined several upcoming technical priorities at Joaquin, including:

• Expanding the mineralised footprint to the southeast and at depth.
• Infill drilling shallow, high-grade zones to upgrade them to Indicated resource status.
• Regional scout drilling targeting the covered extensions of both vein trends, with the aim of identifying repetitions of high-grade mineralised shoots.

The company will also carry out geotechnical drilling to support open pit mine design parameters, alongside ongoing mapping, soil sampling and rock chip sampling to extend the current area of interest towards adjacent, untested vein trends.

Funded to accelerate drilling and de-risk studies

In November 2025, Unico received $40 million in firm commitments for a placement from a mix of existing and new domestic and offshore institutional investors.

The funds were deployed immediately to accelerate drilling at Joaquin, increasing the number of rigs on site from three to five. This has enabled the company to push ahead with both extensional and infill drilling programs and to fast-track the conversion of the La Morocha SE and La Negra SE discoveries into Indicated resources, which will underpin a maiden Feasibility Study (FS) in H1 2026.

Moving directly to a PFS

Managing Director Todd Williams said that, given the evolving nature of the La Negra SE and La Morocha SE mineral resources, Unico has elected to advance the scoping study workstreams internally and move straight to a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) once a high-confidence resource is declared in Q1 2026.

The revised work program includes:

• A dedicated drill rig to fast-track metallurgical and geotechnical drilling needed to support project design and development decisions.
• A schedule designed to ensure critical PFS inputs are delivered on time, allowing the company to bring forward key technical and economic study workstreams.

Canaccord Genuity (Australia) acted as sole lead manager and bookrunner to the placement, while SCP Resource Finance served as co-manager.

With a strengthened balance sheet, an expanded drilling fleet, and a clear pathway towards an updated JORC resource and PFS, Unico Silver is positioning the Joaquin Project as a potentially significant free-milling silver asset within Argentina’s Santa Cruz mining district.