Australian Gold and Copper (ASX:AGC) has wrapped up depth-extension drilling at its Achilles deposit in New South Wales and kicked off an 8,000 metre program at the nearby Evergreen prospect, setting up a busy back half of the year for the emerging South Cobar Basin silver-gold explorer. The company plans to update the Achilles resource and hand down an initial estimate for Evergreen during the December quarter, giving ASX silver miners two meaningful catalysts to watch before year end.
Achilles Confirms Mineralisation to 540 Metres
Achilles already hosts a maiden resource of 10.3 million tonnes at 116 grams per tonne silver equivalent (AgEq) for 38.5 million ounces, with about 7.9 million tonnes sitting in open pit territory. The just completed depth-extension drilling pushed well beyond that footprint. Hole A3RCD086 returned 6m at 2,474g/t AgEq from 212.65m, one of the strongest single intercepts reported at the project, while deeper step-out drilling confirmed mineralisation continuing to at least 540m down dip, roughly 250m below the base of the current resource. Managing Director Glen Diemar said the results point to a previously underexplored domain within a mature mining belt that the company is now systematically working through.
Evergreen Program Targets a Maiden Resource
Attention is now shifting to Evergreen, part of the 6.5km Browns Reef-Evergreen silver-gold-base metal system AGC picked up in August 2025. The newly launched 8,000m diamond and reverse circulation program is aimed squarely at defining Evergreen’s first mineral resource estimate, which the company hopes to declare alongside the updated Achilles numbers in the December quarter. AGC also began maiden drilling at its Junee gold project during the same period, adding a third exploration front across its 2,600 square kilometre South Cobar landholding.
What It Means for ASX Silver Investors
AGC ended the June quarter with A$5.7 million in cash and no debt, giving it enough runway to fund the current drilling campaigns without an immediate raise. The newsflow lands at a strong moment for silver, with the metal trading near multi-decade highs and global silver demand running well ahead of mine supply for a fifth straight year, according to industry estimates. For investors tracking the silver price, a company advancing a near 40 million ounce AgEq resource toward its next upgrade, in a district close to Evolution Mining’s Cowal operation, is one of the more concrete stories among the smaller end of the ASX silver space. As always with pre-resource explorers, intercepts and MRE targets can shift and the December quarter timeline depends on drilling and assay turnaround staying on schedule.
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