The First Assay
Tuesday Drill Digest
TSX · TSX-V · CSE · NYSE-A · Nasdaq · July 28, 2026
10 companies · 87 qualifying holes · 9 jurisdictions
A heavy tape — eleven in-window releases plus three Sunday-evening catch-ups, and gold carried almost all of it. Lundin Gold's FDNS batch produced the largest absolute grade-thickness on the sheet by a factor of three, but at a C$19B market cap none of it is dilution-proof; the value-per-dollar story sits with Westhaven Gold, whose 27.51 m at 14.47 g/t Au is the best hole any sub-C$100M issuer has put out in weeks. Away from gold, Copper Giant's 584 m intercept at Mocoa is the widest hole of the day and the only Exceptional non-precious result, while Pacifica Silver and Mercado Minerals both posted silver-equivalent intercepts whose GT/market-cap ratios are arithmetically enormous and economically not comparable to anything else here.
⚑ Hole of the Day
▾ Deep · From 274mInfill · ResourceCanada · StableEpithermal-LS
Westhaven Gold WHN TSX-V · C$78M
Shovelnose (South Zone), Canada (British Columbia)
SNR26-99: 27.51m of 14.47 g/t Au & 52 g/t Ag ✓ from 274.27m
incl. 2.07m of 107.5 g/t Au & 334 g/t Ag from 283.12m
GT 398.1 g/t·m Exceptional | AuEq·m 412.9 Au basis | GT/MCap 5.10× (Au) | Deposit Epithermal |
Twenty-seven and a half metres grading 14.47 g/t gold is a bulk-minable width at underground-bonanza grade — that combination is rare, and it comes with a 2.07 m core at 107.5 g/t that alone would carry a Great rating. This is infill into the South Zone deposit rather than a step-out, so it confirms rather than expands, but at 274 m depth with an existing 35,000 m resource programme only 66% complete it points squarely at grade upside in the block model rather than a new discovery. The economics are conventional low-sulphidation epithermal: narrow-vein underground, but true widths are stated at 70–80% of downhole length, so roughly 20 m true — thick enough for mechanised mining. At 5.10× GT/market cap this is comfortably the best clean value-per-dollar result on the sheet, and it beats Lundin's far larger holes by a factor of 70 on that measure. Watch for the remaining third of the infill programme and whether the 274 m horizon repeats along strike — a single high-grade shoot at depth is interesting; a repeating one changes the resource.
True widths reported at 70–80% of downhole length.
GT/MCap Spotlight — Top 5
Au and Cu metrics are on different price bases — not directly comparable across metals.
MERC COP-26-019 Ag ◉191.91×
MERC COP-26-018 Ag ◉149.75×
MERC COP-26-019 incl. Ag ◉75.63×
PSIL 26CLAU112D Ag ◉ ✓ ~35.13×
PSIL 26CLAU115D Ag ◉ ✓ ~32.35×
All five are silver-equivalent intercepts, and the ratios are an artefact of unit scale: silver grade-thickness is measured in g/t·m against a C$7M (Mercado) or C$114M (Pacifica) market cap, so the arithmetic runs two orders of magnitude above any gold or copper result. Treat them as a screen for “small company, real grade”, not as a valuation. The best comparable clean ratio is Westhaven at 5.10× on gold, followed by Gemdale Gold at 1.85× and Copper Giant at 1.44× on copper.
◉ From depth ≤200m (shallow) · ~ Moderate jurisdiction risk · ✓ True width stated · ★ HOTD
Today’s Qualifying Intercepts — Top 14 of 87
| Rating | Company | Metal | Hole | m | Grade | GT | AuEq·m | GT/MCap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exceptional | Lundin Gold LUG | Au | FDN-C26-443 * ~ | 6.9 ◉ | 199.90 g/t | 1379.3 | 1379.3 | 0.072 |
| Exceptional | Lundin Gold LUG | Au | UGE-S-26-478 * ~ | 11.75 ◉ | 108.61 g/t | 1276.2 | 1276.2 | 0.066 |
| Exceptional | Lundin Gold LUG | Au | UGE-E-26-487 * ~ | 3.95 | 236.62 g/t | 934.6 | 934.6 | 0.049 |
| Exceptional ★ | Westhaven Gold WHN | Au | SNR26-99 ✓ | 27.51 | 14.47 g/t | 398.1 | 412.9 | 5.104 |
| Exceptional | Westhaven Gold WHN | Au | SNR26-99 (2nd) ✓ | 2.07 | 107.5 g/t | 222.5 | 229.6 | 2.853 |
| Great | Cambria Gold CAMB | Au | P26U-0023 ✓ | 6.3 ◉ | 24.36 g/t | 153.5 | 157.4 | 0.368 |
| Great | Cambria Gold CAMB | Au | P26U-0026 ✓ | 10.6 ◉ | 13.17 g/t | 139.6 | 147.9 | 0.335 |
| Great | Southern Cross Gold SXGC | Au | SDDSC235 * | 0.8 | 141.0 g/t AuEq | 112.8 | 112.8 | 0.049 |
| Great | Westhaven Gold WHN | Au | SNR26-113 ✓ | 0.52 ◉ | 200 g/t | 104 | 104.8 | 1.333 |
| Great | Cambria Gold CAMB | Au | P26U-0025 ✓ | 8 ◉ | 12.08 g/t | 96.6 | 103.4 | 0.232 |
| Great | Pacifica Silver PSIL | Ag | 26CLAU112D ✓ ~ | 17.75 ◉ | 226 g/t AgEq | 4011.5 | 41.4 | 35.127 (Ag) |
| Good | Mercado Minerals MERC | Ag | COP-26-019 * | 3.4 ◉ | 403 g/t AgEq | 1370.2 | 14.1 | 191.905 (Ag) |
| Exceptional | Copper Giant CGNT | Cu | MD-066 * ~ | 584 ◉ | 0.40 % | 233.6 | 567.9 | 1.443 (Cu) |
| Great | Hot Chili HCH | Cu | DKP053 * | 250 ◉ | 0.39 % | 97.5 | 166.5 | 0.249 (Cu) |
↗ View all 87 intercepts in Google Sheets
+73 not shown: LUG ×8 more Exceptional/Great, CAMB ×18, GEMG PONT082 Great 1.85×, HCH ×7, PSIL ×11, CGNT ×3, LEGY ×3
Near-miss — 21 intercepts fell between 50% and 100% of their Good threshold, led by Hot Chili DKP028D (27.4m @ 0.63% Cu, 0.86×) and Gemdale PONT081 (17.23m @ 0.53 g/t Au, 0.91×). Banyan Gold’s Roaring Fork discovery hole (5.0m @ 1.62 g/t Au from 84.9m, 0.81×) is the one to watch: first-ever drilling on a greenfields target 25 km west of AurMac, visible gold logged in three holes, assays pending for the lower half of NT-26-001 and all of NT-26-002 and -006. Full list in the Sheet.
✓ True width stated in PR · * Drilled width — TW not determined · ◉ From ≤200m (shallow)
~ Moderate jurisdiction risk
GT thresholds — Au: Good >10, Great >50, Exceptional >200 g/t·m · Ag: Good >500, Great >2,000 g/t·m · Cu: Good >20, Great >40, Exceptional >150 %·m
AuEq: Au $3,200/oz · Ag $33/oz · Cu $13,700/t · GT/MCap uses C$ mkt cap at July 28, 2026
Reported AgEq/CuEq grades are converted to AuEq at the reference prices above.
~ Moderate jurisdiction risk
GT thresholds — Au: Good >10, Great >50, Exceptional >200 g/t·m · Ag: Good >500, Great >2,000 g/t·m · Cu: Good >20, Great >40, Exceptional >150 %·m
AuEq: Au $3,200/oz · Ag $33/oz · Cu $13,700/t · GT/MCap uses C$ mkt cap at July 28, 2026
Reported AgEq/CuEq grades are converted to AuEq at the reference prices above.
Not Screened
Avanti Gold (AGC · CSE) — Akyanga, Tanzania. Best result: 29.4 m at 1.43 g/t Au from surface, plus 9.9 m at 4.13 g/t Au. Re-logging and assay of previously unsampled historical core — not new drilling.
FireFly Metals (FFM · TSX/ASX) — Green Bay, Newfoundland. Best result: 42.0 m at 6.1% CuEq incl. 9.8 m at 16.5% CuEq. Investor summary re-publishing intercepts first announced on ASX 2 July 2026 — no new assays.
SAGA Metals (SAGA · TSX-V) — Radar Critical Minerals, Labrador. Best result: 53.72% Fe₂O₃, 8.24% TiO₂, 0.377% V₂O₅ in R-0055 to R-0057. Fe-Ti-V — no GT threshold or AuEq conversion in the current framework.
Fox Tungsten (FOXT · TSX-V) — Fox tungsten deposit, Yukon. Scheelite logged in 100% of holes; widest mineralized interval 5.7 m in F26-008. Visual logging only — assays pending, no WO₃ grades reported.
FireFly Metals (FFM · TSX/ASX) — Green Bay, Newfoundland. Best result: 42.0 m at 6.1% CuEq incl. 9.8 m at 16.5% CuEq. Investor summary re-publishing intercepts first announced on ASX 2 July 2026 — no new assays.
SAGA Metals (SAGA · TSX-V) — Radar Critical Minerals, Labrador. Best result: 53.72% Fe₂O₃, 8.24% TiO₂, 0.377% V₂O₅ in R-0055 to R-0057. Fe-Ti-V — no GT threshold or AuEq conversion in the current framework.
Fox Tungsten (FOXT · TSX-V) — Fox tungsten deposit, Yukon. Scheelite logged in 100% of holes; widest mineralized interval 5.7 m in F26-008. Visual logging only — assays pending, no WO₃ grades reported.
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.
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