The First Assay
Tuesday Drill Digest
TSX · TSX-V · CSE · NYSE-A · Nasdaq · July 21, 2026 · 8 companies · 93 qualifying holes · 3 jurisdictions
A heavy Tuesday — eight names cleared the screen across Canada, Alaska, Nevada and Brazil, the busiest sheet in weeks. Brixton's 20.00m of 5,015 g/t silver at Langis is the number everyone will quote, and deservedly so, but it is a Cobalt-camp native-silver vein and its grade-thickness does not translate to the copper and gold names on the same page. The substance is in the wide stuff: Q2 Metals' 185.7m of 1.54% Li₂O at Cisco, Freegold's 176.8m of 1.48 g/t Au at Golden Summit, and Discovery Mining's 47-hole Pamour batch confirming a 4 km strike in the Timmins camp.
⚑ Hole of the Day
Q2 Metals QTWO TSX-V · C$611M
Cisco Lithium Project, James Bay, Quebec · Pegmatite · Extension · Canada (stable)
CS26-092: 185.7m of 1.54% Li₂O*
and 73.5m of 1.54% Li₂O in the same hole
GT 286.0 %·m (Exceptional) · AuEq·m 416.9 · GT/MCap 0.47×
Nearly 186 metres of spodumene pegmatite at 1.54% Li₂O is a very large intercept by any standard — above the 1.36% Li₂O grade of the April 2026 inferred resource, and Q2 says more than 100 metres of it sits outside the conceptual open pit used in that estimate. That is the part that matters: this is not confirmation drilling, it is pit-shell expansion ahead of a PEA due this fall. Against a C$611M market cap the hole prices at 0.47× GT/MCap, the best clean ratio among the large-tonnage names today and comfortably ahead of Freegold's 0.30×. The caveat is geometric: these are core widths on a pegmatite body whose modelled geometry is still being refined with every hole, so true width is unknown and could be materially less. Watch whether the summer program — four rigs running since June 17 — closes the gap between CS26-092 and the existing pit outline, because that is what converts a wide intercept into mineable tonnes.
* Drilled widths — true width not determined pending geological modelling.
GT/MCap Spotlight — Top 5
Au, Ag, Cu and Li metrics are on different price and unit bases — not directly comparable across metals.
BBB LM-26-377 Ag — 2290.07×
BBB LM-26-353 Ag — 85.42×
SKP H26005 Au — 3.93×
HM PI-26-007 Cu — 1.95×
PUMA MK25-20 Au — 0.53×
Brixton's silver holes occupy the top of this list by a factor of hundreds, and the ratio is an artifact of silver's unit scale against a C$44M shell — a gram-per-tonne of silver is not a gram-per-tonne of gold. Three further Brixton holes (LM-26-352, -363, -344) also outrank everything below them and are omitted here for readability. The best clean ratio on the sheet is StrikePoint's H26005 at 3.93×, which is a genuine C$9M micro-cap drilling 67m of oxide gold-silver — followed by HM Exploration's VMS discovery hole at 1.95×.
Today's Qualifying Intercepts — Top 10 of 93
| Rating | Company | Metal | Hole | m | Grade | GT | AuEq·m | GT/MCap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exceptional | Freegold FVL | Au | GS2622* | 176.8 | 1.48 g/t | 261.7 | 261.7 | 0.30 |
| Great | Freegold FVL | Au | GS2617* | 5.3 | 35.30 g/t | 187.1 | 187.1 | 0.22 |
| Great | Discovery Mining DSV | Au | PAM26-0278* | 5.9 | 17.36 g/t | 102.4 | 102.4 | 0.01 |
| Good | StrikePoint Gold SKP | Au | H26005* | 67.1 ◉ | 0.53 g/t + 11.7 Ag | 35.5 | 43.6 | 3.93 |
| Good | Cabral Gold CBR | Au | RC748* | 17.0 ◉ | 1.93 g/t | 32.8 | 32.8 | 0.11 |
| Good | Puma Exploration PUMA | Au | MK25-20* | 20.1 ◉ | 0.64 g/t | 12.9 | 12.9 | 0.53 |
| Exceptional | Brixton Metals BBB | Ag | LM-26-377* | 20.0 ◉ | 5,015 g/t | 100,303 | 1034.2 | 2290.07 (Ag) |
| Great | Brixton Metals BBB | Ag | LM-26-353* | 13.0 ◉ | 287.8 g/t | 3,741 | 38.6 | 85.42 (Ag) |
| Good | HM Exploration HM | Cu | PI-26-007* | 23.0 ◉ | 1.21% + 1.67 Zn | 27.8 | 58.3 | 1.95 (Cu) |
| Exceptional ★ | Q2 Metals QTWO | Li₂O | CS26-092* | 185.7 | 1.54% | 286.0 | 416.9 | 0.47 (Li₂O) |
↗ View all 93 intercepts in Google Sheets
+83 not shown — incl. FVL GS2622 45.8m @ 3.09 (Great), BBB LM-26-377 14m @ 7,150 (Exceptional), QTWO CS26-088 137.6m @ 1.47% (Exceptional), DSV PAM26-0158LR 30m @ 3.05 (Great)
Near-Miss
HM PI-26-005 — 18.0m of 0.34% Cu (poly sum 0.98, just misses) · HM PI-26-007 — 0.66m of 2.45% Cu with 92.2 g/t Ag and 5.89 g/t Au · SKP H26005 — 32.0m of 0.20 g/t Au
HM's 0.66m fails the GT screen on width alone, but it is the first assay from a newly identified lower sulphide lens — geologically the most consequential number in that release. Seven near-misses today; four more from Cabral and Puma are in the sheet.
* Drilled width — true width not determined · ◉ From ≤200m (shallow)
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 · Li₂O: Good >16, Great >36, Exceptional >75 %·m
AuEq: Au $3,200/oz · Ag $33/oz · Cu $13,700/t · Li₂O $15,000/t · GT/MCap uses C$ mkt cap at July 21, 2026
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 · Li₂O: Good >16, Great >36, Exceptional >75 %·m
AuEq: Au $3,200/oz · Ag $33/oz · Cu $13,700/t · Li₂O $15,000/t · GT/MCap uses C$ mkt cap at July 21, 2026
Not Screened
Atlas Critical Minerals (ATCX · Nasdaq · ~C$39M) — Minas Gerais, Brazil. All 20 maiden drill holes confirmed mineralization, best intercept 33.78m at 7.97% graphitic carbon. Graphite — no GT threshold defined in the current framework.
North American Niobium (NIOB · CSE · ~C$24M) — Seigneurie, Quebec. Hole seven returned 842.3 ppm and 453 ppm Nb₂O₅ over 10.0m and 7.3m, plus 2,701.7 ppm Cu over 3.0m. Niobium — no GT threshold and no AuEq conversion; the copper interval (0.81 %·m) is far below the Cu Good threshold.
North American Niobium (NIOB · CSE · ~C$24M) — Seigneurie, Quebec. Hole seven returned 842.3 ppm and 453 ppm Nb₂O₅ over 10.0m and 7.3m, plus 2,701.7 ppm Cu over 3.0m. Niobium — no GT threshold and no AuEq conversion; the copper interval (0.81 %·m) is far below the Cu Good threshold.
THE FIRST ASSAY
thefirstassay.com
Au $3,200/oz · Ag $33/oz · Cu $13,700/t · Li₂O $15,000/t
Not investment advice.
Not investment advice.
Archived: Google Sheets