The First Assay
Friday Drill Digest
TSX · TSX-V · CSE · NYSE-A · Nasdaq · August 21, 2026
6 companies · 81 qualifying holes · 3 jurisdictions
Six companies cleared the screen on a day that was mostly about scale — until Lion One pulled 4.2 metres of 715 g/t gold at Tuvatu, the highest grade-over-width in that mine's history and a 40× GT-to-market-cap ratio nothing else this month approaches. Everything behind it is porphyry copper getting bigger: Irruptive's 795-metre CuEq intercept at Pimentón, Osisko's 312 metres at Gaspé, and Selkirk's 202 Lens at Minto. Coverage note — this issue clears a nine-release backlog from Thursday, and thirteen further releases remain unread and are named at the bottom, so read today's metal mix as partial rather than complete.
⚑ Hole of the Day
◉ Shallow · From 121.1m Extension · Step-out Fiji · Moderate Risk ~ Alkaline Epithermal
Lion One Metals LIO TSX-V · C$75M ~
Tuvatu, Zone 2 (Ura/Murau lodes), Fiji
TGC-0650: 4.2m of 715.15 g/t Au* from 121.1m
incl. 0.45m of 6,571.20 g/t Au from 123.9m — highest single assay in Tuvatu's history
GT 3,004 g/t·m Exceptional |
AuEq·m 3,003.6 Au basis |
GT/MCap 40.30× (Au) |
Deposit Alkaline-LS |
TGC-0650 returned 4.2 m of 715.15 g/t gold from 121 m, including a 0.45 m sample at 6,571 g/t — the highest single assay ever returned at Tuvatu. The interval is a shallow-dipping roscoelite-bearing “flatmake” in the Murau lode system, 55 m from the Western Decline and about two mining levels below current development, which is the difference between a curiosity and something that can be in the mine plan inside twelve months. Roscoelite–gold associations are the diagnostic high-grade assemblage in alkaline systems — Porgera's Zone VII produced 5.1 Moz at 27 g/t from the same mineralogy — so this reads as a signature rather than a nugget artifact. At a C$75M market cap the ratio is 40.3× GT/MCap, an order of magnitude above anything else on the sheet. The caveats are real: true width is unknown, the interval is 4.2 m wide, and this is grade-control drilling inside a producing mine, not a discovery — but Ura and Murau are open at depth and along strike.
* Drilled width — true width not determined.
GT/MCap Spotlight — Top 5
Au and Cu metrics sit on different price bases — not directly comparable across metals.
LIO TGC-0650 Au ★ HOTD ~40.30×
IRR IMP002 Cu3.27×
LIO TGC-0633 Au ~2.41×
LIO TGC-0625 Au ~1.98×
IRR IMP004 Cu1.19×
Lion One's TGC-0650 at 40.3× is not a close call: the next-best ratio on the sheet, Irruptive's 795-metre porphyry intercept, is 3.27×, and everything after that sits under 2.5×. Read it with care — a C$75M market cap divided into a bonanza-grade GT will always dominate this metric, and Lion One is a producer reporting on a 3 g/t cut-off. The cleanest large-scale ratio today is Irruptive at 3.27×: 795 m of 0.66% CuEq against C$160M, on a project both Rio Tinto and Anglo American drilled and walked away from.
◉ From depth ≤200m · ⚠ High jurisdiction risk · ~ Moderate risk · ✓ True width stated · ★ HOTD
Today's Qualifying Intercepts — Top 10 of 81
| Rating | Company | Metal | Hole | m | Grade | GT | AuEq·m | GT/MCap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exceptional ★ | Lion OneLIO | AuAlkaline-LS | TGC-0650* ~ | 4.2 ◉ | 715.15 g/t | 3,004 | 3,003.6 | 40.30 |
| Exceptional | Artemis GoldARTG | AuEpithermal-LS | BWDD-26-0001* | 259 | 1.22 g/t | 316 | 361.6 | 0.03 |
| Exceptional | GoliathGOT | AuIntrusion-Rel | GD-26-436* | 39.7 ◉ | 6.70 AuEq g/t | 266 | 266.0 | 1.09 |
| Exceptional | GoliathGOT | AuIntrusion-Rel | GD-26-436* | 35.7 ◉ | 7.38 AuEq g/t | 263 | 263.5 | 1.08 |
| Great | Artemis GoldARTG | AuEpithermal-LS | BWDD-26-0001* | 85 | 2.29 g/t | 195 | 218.1 | 0.02 |
| Great | Lion OneLIO | AuAlkaline-LS | TGC-0633* ~ | 5.1 ◉ | 35.24 g/t | 180 | 179.7 | 2.41 |
| Exceptional | IrruptiveIRR | CuPorphyry-Cu | IMP002* | 795.2 ◉ | 0.66 CuEq % | 525 | 654.4 | 3.27 (Cu) |
| Exceptional | IrruptiveIRR | CuPorphyry-Cu | IMP004* | 406 | 0.47 CuEq % | 191 | 240.8 | 1.19 (Cu) |
| Exceptional | Osisko MetalsOM | CuPorphyry-Cu | 30-1223 ✓ | 312.5 ◉ | 0.56 % | 175 | 248.9 | 0.11 (Cu) |
| Great | Selkirk CopperSCMI | CuPorphyry-Cu | 26SCM190 ✓ | 33.2 | 1.49 CuEq % | 49 | 66.4 | 0.18 (Cu) |
↗ View all 81 intercepts in Google Sheets
+71 not shown, incl. GOT GD-26-424 (Great, 0.27×), IRR IMP001 (Exceptional, 1.10×), ARTG BWDD-26-0003 (Great, 0.02×), OM 30-1218 (Great, 0.04×), LIO TGC-0625 (Great, 1.98×)
Near-Miss
| Near-miss | Osisko MetalsOM | CuPorphyry-Cu | 30-1213 ✓ | 6.2 | 3.18 % | 20 | 27.8 | 0.01 (Cu) |
| Near-miss | Selkirk CopperSCMI | CuPorphyry-Cu | 26SCM179 ✓ | 12.7 | 1.25 CuEq % | 16 | 22.0 | 0.06 (Cu) |
| Near-miss | IrruptiveIRR | CuPorphyry-Cu | IMP003* | 42 ◉ | 0.25 CuEq % | 10 | 13.4 | 0.07 (Cu) |
| Near-miss | Artemis GoldARTG | AuEpithermal-LS | BWDD-26-0003* | 18 | 0.55 g/t | 10 | 12.4 | 0.00 |
| Near-miss | Lion OneLIO | AuAlkaline-LS | TGC-0633* ~ | 1.8 ◉ | 4.87 g/t | 9 | 8.8 | 0.12 |
✓ True width stated in PR · * Drilled width — TW not determined · ◉ From ≤200m (shallow)
⚠ High jurisdiction risk · ~ Moderate jurisdiction risk
GT thresholds — Au: Good >10, Great >50, Exceptional >200 g/t·m · Cu: Good >20, Great >40, Exceptional >150 %·m
AuEq: Au $3,200/oz · Ag $33/oz · Cu $13,700/t · Zn $3,000/t · GT/MCap uses C$ market cap at August 21, 2026
Where a PR reports its own AuEq or CuEq, GT is quoted on that equivalent and the AuEq·m column is recomputed at the prices above.
⚠ High jurisdiction risk · ~ Moderate jurisdiction risk
GT thresholds — Au: Good >10, Great >50, Exceptional >200 g/t·m · Cu: Good >20, Great >40, Exceptional >150 %·m
AuEq: Au $3,200/oz · Ag $33/oz · Cu $13,700/t · Zn $3,000/t · GT/MCap uses C$ market cap at August 21, 2026
Where a PR reports its own AuEq or CuEq, GT is quoted on that equivalent and the AuEq·m column is recomputed at the prices above.
Week in Review — August 17 to August 21
Top 10 holes of the week by AuEq·m. Built from the Tuesday, Thursday and Friday archives; Monday and Wednesday files were not re-parsed this run.
| Day | Rating | Company | Metal | Hole | GT | AuEq·m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri | Exceptional | Lion One MetalsLIO | Au | TGC-0650 | 3,004 | 3,003.6 |
| Fri | Exceptional | Irruptive MetalsIRR | Cu | IMP002 | 525 | 654.4 |
| Tue | Exceptional | American Eagle GoldAE | Cu | NAK26-87 | 250 | 464.8 |
| Thu | Exceptional | Critical One EnergyCRTL | Sb | HWL-2026-016 | 154 | 449.9 |
| Tue | Exceptional | American Eagle GoldAE | Cu | NAK26-87 | 234 | 443.4 |
| Fri | Exceptional | Artemis GoldARTG | Au | BWDD-26-0001 | 316 | 361.6 |
| Tue | Exceptional | Silvercorp MetalsSVM | Au | DH26M687 | 357 | 357.0 |
| Tue | Exceptional | American Eagle GoldAE | Cu | NAK26-87 | 160 | 310.4 |
| Fri | Exceptional | Goliath ResourcesGOT | Au | GD-26-436 | 266 | 266.0 |
| Fri | Exceptional | Osisko MetalsOM | Cu | 30-1223 | 175 | 248.9 |
Not Screened
Fitzroy Minerals (FTZ · TSX-V) — Buen Retiro, Chile. highest-grade copper to date; JMN URL over length limit and no wire mirror indexed on two attempts — carried to backlog a second day.
Troilus Mining (TLG · TSX) — Z87, Québec. 8.84 g/t AuEq over 4.8 m, 400 m beyond the resource pit shell — enumerated, not read this run.
Sirios Resources (SOI · TSX-V) — Cheechoo, Québec. 2.4 g/t Au over 48.5 m — enumerated, not read this run.
Westhaven Gold (WHN · TSX-V) — Shovelnose, B.C.. 10.04 m at 12.18 g/t Au and 103 g/t Ag — enumerated, not read this run.
Kingsmen Resources (KNG · TSX-V) — Las Coloradas, Mexico. 1.40 m at 433 g/t AgEq — enumerated, not read this run.
Nine older releases (—) — various. Stakeholder (SRC), Mercado (MERC), Juggernaut (JUGR), Metalsource (MSM), Pinnacle (PINN), Errington (EM), Soma (SOMA) and Kirkland Lake Discoveries (KLDC, KL West) remain on the carry-forward list from Aug 18–19.
Troilus Mining (TLG · TSX) — Z87, Québec. 8.84 g/t AuEq over 4.8 m, 400 m beyond the resource pit shell — enumerated, not read this run.
Sirios Resources (SOI · TSX-V) — Cheechoo, Québec. 2.4 g/t Au over 48.5 m — enumerated, not read this run.
Westhaven Gold (WHN · TSX-V) — Shovelnose, B.C.. 10.04 m at 12.18 g/t Au and 103 g/t Ag — enumerated, not read this run.
Kingsmen Resources (KNG · TSX-V) — Las Coloradas, Mexico. 1.40 m at 433 g/t AgEq — enumerated, not read this run.
Nine older releases (—) — various. Stakeholder (SRC), Mercado (MERC), Juggernaut (JUGR), Metalsource (MSM), Pinnacle (PINN), Errington (EM), Soma (SOMA) and Kirkland Lake Discoveries (KLDC, KL West) remain on the carry-forward list from Aug 18–19.
THE FIRST ASSAY
thefirstassay.com
Au $3,200/oz · Ag $33/oz · Cu $13,700/t · APT $3,300/mtu · Not investment advice.
Archived: Google Sheets