en.Wedoany.com Reported - NewPeak Metals' shares surged following the discovery of large-scale gold-zinc-silver mineralization in the first drill hole of its 2026 drilling program at the wholly-owned Las Opeñas gold project in San Juan Province, Argentina.
The stock hit A$0.031 in early trading, up approximately 107% from the previous session's close of A$0.015. As of 1:00 p.m. local time, the intraday gain stood at 66.6%.
Assay results from discovery hole 26-LODH-023 returned 0.41 g/t gold equivalent over the entire 663-meter hole, containing 0.16 g/t gold, 0.65% zinc, and 4.53 g/t silver from surface to the bottom of the hole.
Within the broader mineralized envelope, the first drill hole identified several higher-grade zones, including 84 meters at 0.72 g/t gold equivalent from 20 meters, 282 meters at 0.65 g/t gold equivalent from 7 meters, and 426 meters at 0.50 g/t gold equivalent from surface.
NewPeak confirmed that mineralization of this large-scale polymetallic system extends across the entire drill hole. The hole is located approximately 5 meters from historical hole 12-LODH-03, which returned 115 meters at 0.58 g/t gold, 0.65% zinc, and 3.5 g/t silver from 18 meters to the bottom of the hole.
The results from the two holes, in terms of spatial proximity and consistency, provide early confidence in the scale and continuity of the system and its potential for future resource definition.
Managing Director Mark Purcell stated that the first drill hole confirmed the company's exploration model at Las Opeñas. He noted that the first hole at the project since 2019, and the first diamond drill hole since 2014, confirmed a large-scale gold-zinc-silver system discovered from surface, with polymetallic mineralization extending across the entire hole. Discovering a system of this scale is exactly what the company hoped to achieve, and the meaningful zinc and silver values are very encouraging, as both metals were officially recognized as critical minerals by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 2025.
Las Opeñas is located in San Juan Province, approximately 70 kilometers southeast of Barrick/Shandong Gold's Veladero mine and about 110 kilometers north-northwest of Challenger Gold's Hualilan mine.
The project features a reinterpreted 800-meter by 600-meter breccia zone, with previous drilling at relatively shallow depths. NewPeak's recent drilling program tested deeper portions of the breccia zone, which appears to form part of a rhyolite complex associated with phreatic breccias and intense argillic alteration.
Between April and June 2026, a total of six holes were completed for 2,464 meters of diamond drilling, with the program designed to test large-scale, gold-dominant polymetallic mineralization.
NewPeak emphasized that the zinc and silver values are a significant component of the Las Opeñas project. Zinc has been included on the USGS 2025 Critical Minerals List, and silver was also added due to its industrial demand, particularly from the solar and electronics sectors, as well as constraints on by-product supply.
NewPeak expects assay results from the remaining five drill holes (26-LODH-024 to 26-LODH-028) to be released within the next three to six weeks. If results are favorable, the company could advance toward an initial resource estimate for Las Opeñas. Permits are already in place to recommence drilling for up to 7,500 meters, subject to contractor availability, enabling NewPeak to further test this large-scale mineralized zone relatively quickly.
