The First Assay — October 8, 2026

⚑ Hole of the Day

WI26-104 returned 153.2 m at 2.33% TREO from just 3.8 m, so effectively from surface: wide, shallow, carbonatite-hosted light rare earth mineralisation, with the company reporting assays about 34% above its block model on the southern pit wall. At a drilled-width GT of 357.0 %·m against a C$49.9M market cap it scores 7.16× GT/MCap, far above the 0.25× floor. This is resource-upgrade infill rather than discovery, so the value is conversion and grade reliability: 19 inferred-block holes (2,887 m) averaged 87% of predicted grade, and six of seven western pit-wall holes beat prediction by an average 24%. The basket is cerium- and lanthanum-heavy (Nd₂O₃ 0.27%, Pr 0.10% in this hole), and NdPr% of TREO is not reported, so AuEq is not computed and the rating rests on TREO %·m alone. It ranks #5 of 25 TREO intercepts in our archive over the last 30 days (Volta SL26-35 at 557.6 %·m still leads). Canada: stable. Watch the resource upgrade this drilling feeds. Runner-up on the rules: NorthWest Copper K-26-263, 108.7 m at 2.53% CuEq (3.32× GT/MCap, second day running on the sheet).

GT/MCap Spotlight — Top 5

One entry per company. REE, Li, Cu and Au metrics are on different price bases — not directly comparable across metals. Defense Metals leads by a wide margin on a small market cap; Equity Metals is an Ag/Zn-rich polymetallic AuEq on narrow veins, so treat its ratio with caution. Best clean Au ratio: Spanish Mountain.

◉ From depth ≤200m (shallow)  ·  ⚠ High jurisdiction risk  ·  ~ Moderate jurisdiction risk  ·  ✓ True width stated  ·  ★ HOTD

Today’s Qualifying Intercepts — Top 10 of 168

✓ True width stated  ·  * Drilled width — TW not determined  ·  ◉ From ≤200m (shallow)
⚠ High jurisdiction risk  ·  ~ Moderate jurisdiction risk (Kazakhstan is not in our tier list and is treated as moderate)
GT thresholds — Au: Good >10, Great >50, Exceptional >200 g/t·m  ·  Cu: Good >20, Great >40, Exceptional >150 %·m  ·  Li₂O: Good >16, Great >36, Exceptional >75 %·m  ·  TREO: Good >50, Great >200, Exceptional >500 %·m
AuEq: Au $3,200/oz · Ag $33/oz · Cu $13,700/t · Li₂O $15,000/t · GT/MCap uses C$ mkt cap at October 8, 2026; some market caps are approximate. Rows where the company reports an equivalent grade (CuEq, AuEq) are rated on that equivalent. REE AuEq requires NdPr% disclosure; “N/A” if basket not specified.

Not Screened

IMC Rare Earths (IMC · NYSE American · approx. C$1,043M) — Itarantim, Brazil. Best intercept: 7.0 m of 0.57% TREO from 2 m (AD-00555, Block H). Ionic-clay TREO is below the 50 %·m Good threshold (GT 4.0); NdPr% of TREO is not reported, so AuEq is not computed. Market cap converted from US$ at 1.4233 and approximate.

Altamira Gold (ALTA · TSX-V · C$71M) — Maria Bonita, Brazil. Trench results of 114 m at 0.7 g/t Au (incl. 36 m at 1.3 g/t) are trench sampling, not drilling, and are not archived; the drill intercepts are in the table.

Metalsource Mining (MSM · CSE · C$53M) — Silver Hill. Phase 2 drilling launch; drill assays pending. Only surface rock-chip sampling reported.

Kenorland Minerals (KLD · TSX-V · C$195M) — South Uchi, Ontario. Phase 4 drill program start; previously reported intercepts restated, not re-counted.

Daura Gold (DGC · TSX-V · C$21M), Nicola Mining (NIM · TSX-V · C$149M), Alaska Silver (WAM · TSX-V · C$51M), Decade Resources (DEC · TSX-V · C$38M) — Program start/completion updates or visual core observations only; assays pending.

Silver X Mining (AGX · TSX-V · C$249M), Eureka Metals (ERKA · CSE · C$10M) — Production update (no drilling) and surface grab-sample scandium results (no drilling).

Benton Resources (BEX), AuMEGA Metals (AUM), Spark Energy Minerals (SPRK) — Surface, channel or grab sampling headlines (no drill assays); not itemised.

Coverage gaps — Arras and Altamira publish parts of their assay tables as images, so Arras end-depths are derived from reported intervals and some sub-intervals are not itemised. Market caps for Spanish Mountain, Arras, Melkior and IMC are approximate. Equity Metals’ AuEq figures are reported composites on select intervals. Discovery Silver omitted ten lower-grade holes from its table. Sub-intervals (“including”) are archived only where they are the headline result. Oroco S050 (6.0 m, Zn-Pb-Ag skarn-style) is below its 10 m reporting minimum and is not itemised. Defense Metals WI26-102 was reported earlier and is not re-counted.

Archived: Google Sheets