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The First Assay
Thursday Drill Digest
TSX · TSX-V · CSE · NYSE-A · Nasdaq · September 17, 2026 |
22 companies 176 qualifying holes 8 jurisdictions |
The busiest sheet in a fortnight: 28 releases opened, 22 companies cleared the screen across eight jurisdictions, and the metal mix is real for once — silver from Americas Gold & Silver (20.5 m of 654.7 g/t Ag + 1.5% Cu at Cosalá, the day's only Exceptional silver), Silver One and Thunder Mountain; copper from Abitibi's B26 (60.2 m of 1.25% CuEq); near-surface nickel from Magna at Levack (32.9 m of 1.7% Ni); tungsten from American Tungsten's IMA veins; and shallow uranium radiometrics from Xcite at Don Lake. Gold still sets the headline scale: Wesdome's 106.5 m of 3.1 g/t at Kiena is the biggest gram-metre hole of the day but sits on a C$4.8B producer, so the value-per-dollar leaders are the juniors — Norsemont's 41 m of 4.59 g/t in Chile (Hole of the Day), Newcore's 69 m of 2.59 g/t in Ghana and Pan Global's 83 m of 1.74 g/t from 9 m in Spain, all above 2× GT/MCap. Caveats worth carrying: Norsemont, Americas and A2Gold published their assay tables as images, so depths and component grades for those rows could not be machine-verified; ATEX's Phase VI wrap-up re-tabulated previously released holes and was not screened.
⚑ Hole of the Day
◉ Shallow · Hole ended 88.5 mExtension · Step-outChile · StableEpithermal-HS
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Norsemont Mining NOM CSE · C$87M
Choquelimpie – Vizcacha Zone, Chile
MV26-DD13: 41m of 4.59 g/t Au* within the top 88.5m
incl. 18m of 9.7 g/t Au |
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Vizcacha Zone hole MV26-DD13 returned 41 m of 4.59 g/t Au including 18 m of 9.7 g/t in altered hydrothermal breccia at Choquelimpie, a past-producing high-sulphidation system in northern Chile. The hole was abandoned at 88.5 m for ground conditions, so the whole interval sits inside the top ~90 m — open-pit depth by any measure — and it is the highest-grade interval of the Phase 3 program, which is pushing below the 2025 resource model. At 2.16× GT/MCap on a C$87M market cap it is the best clean (gold-basis) ratio on today's sheet, ahead of Newcore (2.0×) and Pan Global (2.0×). Against the local archive since Sept 4 it ranks #11 of ~300 primary gold intercepts by gram-metres. The caveats are not small: true thickness is unknown, the assay table was published only as an image so from/to depths could not be read, silver and base-metal over-limits are pending, and three of the eight holes in this batch (DD06/08/12 step-outs) were barren. Chile carries no jurisdiction flag. Watch for the deferred over-limit assays and the next Vizcacha holes at depth.
* Drilled width — true thickness unknown; from/to depth not published in machine-readable form.
GT/MCap Spotlight — Top 5 (one per company)
Au, Ag and Cu metrics are on different price bases — not directly comparable across metals.
37.57×SVE SO-C-26-196A Ag ✓
23.01×ASTR LMD-150 Ag ◉ ✓ ~
14.98×THM SM26-055 Ag ◉ ✓
5.71×USA SR583 Ag ✓
2.16×NOM MV26-DD13 Au ◉ ★ HOTD
Silver dominates the ratio board — Silver One's 25.9 m of 215 g/t Ag (250 g/t AgEq) 400 m down-dip at Candelaria prints 37.6× on a C$148M cap, Astra 23.0× and Thunder Mountain 15.0× — but silver gram-metres are on a different unit scale and are not comparable to the gold names. The best clean ratio is Norsemont at 2.16×, with Thunder Gold's 589 m of 0.195 g/t (2.12×, a whole-hole bulk composite at the MRE cut-off — treat with care), Pan Global 2.02× and Newcore 2.01× immediately behind.
◉ From depth ≤200m (shallow) · ⚠ High jurisdiction risk · ~ Moderate jurisdiction risk · ✓ True width stated · ★ HOTD
Today's Qualifying Intercepts — Top 11 of 176 (one row per company, metal-balanced)
| Rating | Company | Metal | Hole | m | Grade | GT | AuEq·m | GT/MCap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exceptional | Wesdome Gold MinesWDO | AuOrogenic | SH-26-001* | 106.5 | 3.1 g/t | 330 | 330.2 | 0.07 |
| Great ★ | Norsemont MiningNOM | AuEpithermal-HS | MV26-DD13* | 41 ◉ | 4.59 g/t | 188 | 188.2 | 2.16 |
| Great | Newcore GoldNCAU | AuOrogenic | KBRC411 ✓ | 69 ◉ | 2.59 g/t | 179 | 178.7 | 2.00 |
| Great | Pan Global ResourcesPGZ | AuOther (carbona | PVD16* | 83 ◉ | 1.74 g/t | 144 | 144.4 | 2.02 |
| Great | Troilus MiningTLG | AuPorphyry-Au | 87-26-485 ✓ | 129.05 | 0.95 g/t AuEq | 123 | 122.6 | 0.10 |
| Great | Trident ResourcesROCK | AuOrogenic | CL26050 ✓ | 11.97 | 8.69 g/t | 104 | 104 | 0.64 |
| Exceptional | Americas Gold and SilverUSA | AgCRD | SR583 ✓ | 20.5 | 654.7 g/t Ag | 13,421 | 190.2 | 5.71 (Ag) |
| Great | Silver One ResourcesSVE | AgEpithermal | SO-C-26-196A ✓ | 25.91 | 215 g/t Ag | 5,571 | 66.8 | 37.57 (Ag) |
| Great | Abitibi MetalsAMQ | CuVMS | 1274-25-366-W1 ✓ | 60.2 | 1.25% CuEq | 75.25 | 100.5 | 0.54 (Cu) |
| Exceptional | Magna MiningNICU | NiMagmatic | MLV-26-68* | 32.9 ◉ | 1.7% Ni | 55.93 | 127 | 0.07 (Ni) |
| Good | American TungstenTUNG | WO₃Vein-Greisen | AT26-48S ✓ | 3.23 ◉ | 0.955% WO₃ | 3.08 | 98.9 | 0.03 (WO₃) |
↗ View all 176 intercepts in Google Sheets
+165 not shown: ROCK CL26049 15 m @ 3.46 (Great, 0.32×) · TGOL TM26-205 158.6 m @ 0.545 (Great, 1.59×) · BYN AX-26-891 169.2 m @ 0.56 (Great) · NMC TH-26-11 165 m @ 0.37 (Great, 1.13×) · TUD PS-26-23 101 m @ 0.98 (Great) · USA 120-26-G143 22 m @ 392 g/t Ag (Great, 3.67×) · ASTR LMD-150 3 m @ 9.23 AuEq (Great Ag, 23×) · THM SM26-055 22.5 m @ 86 g/t Ag (Good, 15×) · NAU LB26-007 42.7 m @ 1.06 (Good) · OGW, ICM, EMNT, AUAU, plus all 'including' sub-intervals
Near-Miss (14)
| Near-Miss | Tudor GoldTUD | CuPorphyry-Cu | PS-26-25* | 96.1 ◉ | 0.19% CuEq | 18.26 | 40.4 | 0.05 (Cu) |
| Near-Miss | American TungstenTUNG | WO₃Vein-Greisen | AT26-35 ✓ | 2.32 ◉ | 0.372% WO₃ | 0.86 | 27.7 | 0.01 (WO₃) |
| Near-Miss | American TungstenTUNG | WO₃Vein-Greisen | AT26-36 ✓ | 1.54 ◉ | 0.55% WO₃ | 0.85 | 27.2 | 0.01 (WO₃) |
| Near-Miss | American TungstenTUNG | WO₃Vein-Greisen | AT26-45* | 1.52 ◉ | 0.484% WO₃ | 0.74 | 23.6 | 0.01 (WO₃) |
| Near-Miss | Wesdome Gold MinesWDO | AuOrogenic | SH-26-001* | 2 | 4.3 g/t | 8.6 | 8.6 | 0.00 |
| Near-Miss | Wesdome Gold MinesWDO | AuOrogenic | SH-26-001* | 3.6 | 2.4 g/t | 8.64 | 8.6 | 0.00 |
| Near-Miss | Troilus MiningTLG | AuPorphyry-Au | 87-26-515 ✓ | 7 | 1.15 g/t AuEq | 8.05 | 8 | 0.01 |
| Near-Miss | Banyan GoldBYN | AuOther (intrusi | AX-26-870* | 22.6 | 0.35 g/t | 7.91 | 7.9 | 0.01 |
| Near-Miss | Banyan GoldBYN | AuOther (intrusi | AX-26-887* | 11.3 ◉ | 0.68 g/t | 7.68 | 7.7 | 0.01 |
| Near-Miss | Thunder Mountain GoldTHM | AgCRD | SM26-055 ✓ | 7.4 ◉ | 52 g/t Ag | 385 | 7 | 2.98 (Ag) |
| Near-Miss | A2GoldAUAU | AuEpithermal-LS | ES-342* | 32 | 0.2 g/t | 6.4 | 6.4 | 0.09 |
| Near-Miss | Eminent GoldEMNT | AuCarlin | HSR2601* | 3 | 2.1 g/t | 6.3 | 6.3 | 0.16 |
| Near-Miss | Astra ExplorationASTR | AuEpithermal-LS | LMD-151 ✓ ~ | 2 ◉ | 2.76 g/t | 5.52 | 5.6 | 0.12 |
| Near-Miss | Ongwe MineralsOGW | AuOrogenic | BKR019* | 5 ◉ | 1.11 g/t | 5.55 | 5.6 | 0.07 |
Tudor PS-26-25 misses on copper (18.3 %·m) but its 0.17 g/t Au over 96.1 m clears the gold screen; Thunder Mountain's 7.4 m near-miss is a separate upper skarn zone in SM26-055; American Tungsten near-misses are sub-2.5 m vein cuts.
✓ 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 · Ag: Good >500, Great >2,000, Exceptional >10,000 g/t·m · Cu: Good >20, Great >40, Exceptional >150 %·m · Ni: Good >5, Great >10, Exceptional >40 %·m · WO₃: Good >1, Great >5, Exceptional >20 %·m (through-cycle APT basis)
AuEq: Au $3,200/oz · Ag $33/oz · Cu $13,700/t · Ni $17,000/t · APT $3,300/mtu · GT/MCap uses C$ mkt cap at September 17, 2026
Ni rows rated on Ni %·m; AuEq·m for CuEq/AgEq/AuEq rows uses the issuer's equivalent grade. Deposit type shown under metal symbol.
⚠ High jurisdiction risk · ~ Moderate jurisdiction risk
GT thresholds — Au: Good >10, Great >50, Exceptional >200 g/t·m · Ag: Good >500, Great >2,000, Exceptional >10,000 g/t·m · Cu: Good >20, Great >40, Exceptional >150 %·m · Ni: Good >5, Great >10, Exceptional >40 %·m · WO₃: Good >1, Great >5, Exceptional >20 %·m (through-cycle APT basis)
AuEq: Au $3,200/oz · Ag $33/oz · Cu $13,700/t · Ni $17,000/t · APT $3,300/mtu · GT/MCap uses C$ mkt cap at September 17, 2026
Ni rows rated on Ni %·m; AuEq·m for CuEq/AgEq/AuEq rows uses the issuer's equivalent grade. Deposit type shown under metal symbol.
⚡ Radiometrics — Assays Pending
Downhole gamma and scintillometer readings — not assays. Counts-per-second is instrument-specific and non-linear; it is not grade, and these holes are not screened, rated, or archived. Chemical assays typically follow in 3–8 weeks and are screened normally when they land.
Xcite Uranium XRI CSE · C$29.8M Extension · Step-outCanada · Stable
Don Lake (C Zone), Uranium City, Saskatchewan · Beaverlodge-style basement-hosted pitchblende veins
DN26008: 0.7 m averaging 10,403 cps from 22.03 m,
incl. 0.2 m averaging 21,907 cps, peak 29,586 cps
incl. 0.2 m averaging 21,907 cps, peak 29,586 cps
Also 1.6 m averaging 3,518 cps from 16.43 m (peak 11,802 cps) in the same hole · Mount Sopris 2SNA-1000 spectral gamma probe · assays pending
Xcite Uranium XRI CSE · C$29.8M
Don Lake (C Zone), Saskatchewan
DN26009: 2.2 m averaging 4,517 cps from 25.83 m,
incl. 0.6 m averaging 12,473 cps, peak 21,485 cps
incl. 0.6 m averaging 12,473 cps, peak 21,485 cps
Hand-held scintillometer 18,000 cps on core at 26 m · assays pending
Xcite Uranium XRI CSE · C$29.8M
Don Lake (B Zone), Saskatchewan
DN26005: 1.3 m averaging 2,898 cps from 68.03 m, peak 15,180 cps
assays pending
None of these readings is described as off-scale. Xcite defines an anomaly as >3× background (>900 cps on the downhole probe, >800 cps on the RS-230 hand-held) and gives no high-grade cps definition or cps→grade calibration, so nothing here can be sanity-checked against the U₃O₈ screen. Very shallow (16–28 m) beneath historic C Zone trenches; DN26004 and DN26007 returned nothing significant. Eagle Plains (EPL · TSX-V · C$21M) owns the ground and published the identical dataset today — Xcite is earning up to 80%.
Not Screened
ATEX Resources (ATX · TSX · C$855M) — Valeriano, Chile. Phase VI wrap-up re-tabulates 26 holes released Dec 2025–Aug 2026 (best 86 m of 3.84% CuEq in ATXD25C); no new assays, so nothing archived today.
Group Eleven Resources (ZNG · TSX-V · C$224M) — Ballywire, Ireland. Germanium re-assays of previously reported core (up to 94.6 g/t Ge); Ge has no GT threshold and the Zn-Pb-Ag intervals were published earlier.
Eagle Plains Resources (EPL · TSX-V · C$21M) — Don Lake, Saskatchewan. Identical radiometric dataset to Xcite (above); not double-counted.
Dryden Gold (DRY · TSX-V · C$64M) — Mud Lake North, Ontario. Visible gold in DML-008, assays pending for all three holes.
Cassiar Gold (GLDC · TSX-V · C$69M) — Cassiar, BC. Campaign and permit update, no new assays.
Partial reads: Norsemont (NOM), Americas Gold & Silver (USA) and A2Gold (AUAU) published assay tables as images — headline intercepts are archived from the release text, but from/to depths (NOM, USA) and the non-highlight holes (AUAU Table 1) could not be extracted. Iconic Minerals (ICM) market cap is approximate (not from the JMN sidebar).
Group Eleven Resources (ZNG · TSX-V · C$224M) — Ballywire, Ireland. Germanium re-assays of previously reported core (up to 94.6 g/t Ge); Ge has no GT threshold and the Zn-Pb-Ag intervals were published earlier.
Eagle Plains Resources (EPL · TSX-V · C$21M) — Don Lake, Saskatchewan. Identical radiometric dataset to Xcite (above); not double-counted.
Dryden Gold (DRY · TSX-V · C$64M) — Mud Lake North, Ontario. Visible gold in DML-008, assays pending for all three holes.
Cassiar Gold (GLDC · TSX-V · C$69M) — Cassiar, BC. Campaign and permit update, no new assays.
Partial reads: Norsemont (NOM), Americas Gold & Silver (USA) and A2Gold (AUAU) published assay tables as images — headline intercepts are archived from the release text, but from/to depths (NOM, USA) and the non-highlight holes (AUAU Table 1) could not be extracted. Iconic Minerals (ICM) market cap is approximate (not from the JMN sidebar).
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 · Raw CSV also saved to Drive · 28 releases read (5 subagent batches), none carried to backlog.