The First Assay
Tuesday Drill Digest
TSX · TSX-V · CSE · NYSE-A · Nasdaq · October 20, 2026
15 companies
101 qualifying holes
9 jurisdictions
Gold carried a busy Tuesday: 101 qualifying holes from 15 companies across nine jurisdictions. K2 Gold's DF26-031 at Mojave in California — 83.8 m at 3.40 g/t Au from surface — is the day's standout on both scale and value (1.57× its market cap), while Fortuna's Lindero pit drilling posted the biggest raw grade-thickness (336 g/t·m) but on a C$4.4B producer, so it is a mine-grade-control story, not a discovery. Outside gold, Prospectiva's 7.15 m at 4.78% Cu in Brazil and BP Silver's 142 m at 2.14% ZnEq in Bolivia were the only non-gold results to clear the screen. All sixteen enumerated numeric releases were read.
⚑ Hole of the Day
◉ Shallow · From 0mUSA · StableOxide Au
K2 Gold KTO TSX-V · C$182M
Mojave (Dragonfly), USA
DF26-031: 83.82m of 3.40 g/t Au* from 0m
incl. 19.81m of 7.58 g/t from 64.01m
GT
285.0 g/t·m
ExceptionalAuEq·m
285.0
Au basis
GT/MCap
1.57×
(Au)
Deposit
Oxide Au
K2 hit mineralization from surface to the bottom of the hole: 83.8 m at 3.40 g/t Au, ending in ore at 83.82 m, with 48.8 m at 4.98 g/t and 19.8 m at 7.58 g/t inside it. That is oxide gold at surface — open-pit geometry — though metallurgy has not been disclosed and the deposit model is still open (Carlin-type, epithermal and sediment-hosted all under consideration), so treat the shallow, high-grade profile as a target-quality signal, not an economic one. At GT 285 g/t·m it is Exceptional and works out to 1.57× GT/MCap against a C$182M market cap, ranking #45 of 1,155 gold intercepts in the last 30 days. The neighbouring DF26-032 returned 29 m at 3.11 g/t including 9.15 m at 8.53 g/t, and DF26-030 ran 100.6 m at 1.01 g/t from surface, so this is a coherent zone, not a one-hole result. Caveats: hole context and true widths are not stated, and the PR headline quotes 7.51 g/t for the high-grade sub-interval where its own table says 7.58. Watch for step-outs below 84 m (the hole did not exit mineralization) and first recovery tests.
* Drilled widths — true width not determined.
GT/MCap Spotlight — Top 5
Au, Cu and Zn+Pb metrics are on different price bases — not directly comparable. The #1 name (BP Silver) is a zinc-dominant epithermal result and is not comparable to the gold names; the best clean gold ratios are Bullion Gold's two Terragold holes, but on a C$8.8M market cap with thin trading, so treat them with care.
BPAG CO-0015 Zn+Pb ◉ ~3.46×
BGD TG-09 Au ◉3.14×
PSVA SF_26_003 Cu ◉2.92×
BGD TG-10 Au ◉2.51×
BBB THN26-394 Au ◉2.23×
◉ From depth ≤200m (shallow) · ⚠ High jurisdiction risk · ~ Moderate jurisdiction risk · ✓ True width stated
Today's Qualifying Intercepts — Top 10 of 101
| Rating | Company | Metal | Hole | m | Grade | GT | AuEq·m | GT/MCap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exceptional | Fortuna MiningFVI | AuAu porphyry | LDH-272* ~ | 350 ◉ | 0.96 g/t | 336.0 | 336.0 | 0.08 |
| Exceptional ★ | K2 GoldKTO | AuOxide Au | DF26-031* | 83.82 ◉ | 3.4 g/t | 285.0 | 285.0 | 1.57 |
| Exceptional | Fortuna MiningFVI | AuAu porphyry | LDH-260* ~ | 281 ◉ | 0.98 g/t | 275.4 | 275.4 | 0.06 |
| Great | Collective MiningCNL | AuBreccia-host | APC164-D3* ~ | 54 | 2.84 g/t AuEq | 153.4 | 153.4 | 0.10 |
| Great | Collective MiningCNL | AuBreccia-host | APC164-D4* ~ | 12.1 | 11.33 g/t AuEq | 137.1 | 137.1 | 0.09 |
| Great | Brixton MetalsBBB | AuIntrusion-re | THN26-394* | 138 ◉ | 0.8 g/t | 110.4 | 113.7 | 2.23 |
| Great | Miata MetalsMMET | AuOrogenic (qu | 26DDH-JT-025 ✓ ~ | 43 ◉ | 2.42 g/t | 104.1 | 104.1 | 0.85 |
| Great | K2 GoldKTO | AuOxide Au | DF26-030* | 100.58 ◉ | 1.01 g/t | 101.6 | 101.6 | 0.56 |
| Good | Prospectiva ResourcesPSVA | CuVMS | SF_26_003* | 7.15 ◉ | 4.78 % Cu | 34.2 | 48.3 | 2.92 (Cu) |
| Great | BP SilverBPAG | Zn+PbEpithermal | CO-0015* ~ | 142 ◉ | 1.42 % Zn (+0.07 Pb) | 211.6 | 90.3 | 3.46 (Zn+Pb) |
↗ View all 101 intercepts in Google Sheets+91 not shown: 20 more Lindero (FVI) holes, 13 more Sela Creek (MMET), 18 Axo (AXO), 8 Slumber (NVX), 13 Kirkland Lake/Bullion/Emperor/Cabral/White Gold/Collective rows and 9 Nagambie (ALK) intervals
Near-Miss — narrow (<3 m) bonanza intervals
| Near-miss | Collective MiningCNL | AuCarbonate ba | APC164-D4* ~ | 1.3 ◉ | 74.58 g/t AuEq | 97.0 | 97.0 | 0.07 |
| Near-miss | Collective MiningCNL | AuBreccia-host | APC164-D2* ~ | 1.1 | 67.9 g/t AuEq | 74.7 | 74.7 | 0.05 |
| Near-miss | Kirkland Lake DiscoveriesKLDC | AuShear-hosted | KLM26-039 ✓ | 1 | 73.86 g/t | 73.9 | 73.9 | 0.90 |
| Near-miss | Kirkland Lake DiscoveriesKLDC | AuShear-hosted | KLM26-041 ✓ | 1.45 ◉ | 36.43 g/t | 52.8 | 52.8 | 0.64 |
| Near-miss | Collective MiningCNL | AuCarbonate ba | APC164-D3* ~ | 1.3 | 26.01 g/t AuEq | 33.8 | 33.8 | 0.02 |
Sub-3 m intervals are rated near-miss regardless of GT. Collective's vein hits (1.0–1.3 m at 26–75 g/t AuEq) and Kirkland Lake's 1.0 m at 73.86 g/t are the notable ones.
✓ True width stated · * Drilled width — TW not determined · ◉ From ≤200m (shallow) · ⚠ High / ~ Moderate jurisdiction risk
Table shows at most 3 rows per company and is balanced across metals; Fortuna (22 qualifying holes) is capped. Collective Mining grades are the company's reported AuEq.
GT thresholds — Au: Good >10, Great >50, Exceptional >200 g/t·m · Cu: Good >20, Great >40, Exceptional >150 %·m · Zn+Pb: Good >50, Great >150, Exceptional >300 %·m
AuEq: Au $3,200/oz · Ag $33/oz · Cu $13,700/t · Zn $3,000/t · Sb $30,000/t · GT/MCap uses C$ market cap at October 20, 2026
Table shows at most 3 rows per company and is balanced across metals; Fortuna (22 qualifying holes) is capped. Collective Mining grades are the company's reported AuEq.
GT thresholds — Au: Good >10, Great >50, Exceptional >200 g/t·m · Cu: Good >20, Great >40, Exceptional >150 %·m · Zn+Pb: Good >50, Great >150, Exceptional >300 %·m
AuEq: Au $3,200/oz · Ag $33/oz · Cu $13,700/t · Zn $3,000/t · Sb $30,000/t · GT/MCap uses C$ market cap at October 20, 2026
Not Screened
Bravo Mining (BRVO · TSX-V · C$323M) — Canaã Copper Project, Brazil. Best intercept: 28.45 m of 2.43% Cu, 0.78 g/t Au (OPCTD-011). Historic drilling from prior operators, not new results; excluded.
Emperor Metals (AUOZ · CSE · C$76M) — Duquesne West, Canada. Table of eleven earlier 2026 pit-shell intersections (best 21.3 m of 3.0 g/t, DQ26-43) restated alongside the new holes; only the new holes are screened above.
White Gold (WGO · TSX-V) — QV13-011 (21.4 m of 2.43 g/t) is a 2013 hole recalculated by the company; not new drilling and not screened.
Drill-start and programme updates with no assays — Gladiator Metals, Thunderstruck, Q-Gold, Inventus, GoldInxs, Fox Tungsten, Guardian Exploration, Klondike Gold and ESGold. Market caps for White Gold, Axo and BP Silver are approximate.
Emperor Metals (AUOZ · CSE · C$76M) — Duquesne West, Canada. Table of eleven earlier 2026 pit-shell intersections (best 21.3 m of 3.0 g/t, DQ26-43) restated alongside the new holes; only the new holes are screened above.
White Gold (WGO · TSX-V) — QV13-011 (21.4 m of 2.43 g/t) is a 2013 hole recalculated by the company; not new drilling and not screened.
Drill-start and programme updates with no assays — Gladiator Metals, Thunderstruck, Q-Gold, Inventus, GoldInxs, Fox Tungsten, Guardian Exploration, Klondike Gold and ESGold. Market caps for White Gold, Axo and BP Silver are approximate.
THE FIRST ASSAY
thefirstassay.com
Au $3,200/oz · Ag $33/oz · Cu $13,700/t · APT $3,300/mtu
Not investment advice.
Not investment advice.
Archived: Google Sheets