Big Drill Hits: Canadian wildfires halt lithium explorers, Xanadu hits a new copper-gold zone

Welcome back to Weekly Big Drill Hits – A curated list of the most intriguing intersections made by ASX-listed explorers.

There were no lithium drill results this week and if I've missed any, free feel to reach out. It's worth noting that Canadian wildfires have delayed exploration activities for several companies including Patriot Battery Metals (ASX: PMT) and Winsome Resources (ASX: WR1).

Earlier this week, Winsome said that road access to the James Bay region is still being blocked by government authorities and the fires have damaged some of the drilling equipment left onsite when the evacuation was ordered on short notice.

Gold

The 'Interval' reflects the length of the core and 'From' reflects interval start. Only the highest grade thickness intercept is shown (per announcement. The data is for illustrative purposes only and may not be an exhaustive list of all drill hits. (Data date range: 17-21 July)

The price action for the big hitters this week like Antilles (ASX: AAU), Dateline Resources (ASX: DTR) and Tennant Minerals (ASX: TMS) was relatively choppy (e.g. a short lived share price spike on the announcement). This suggests the market want to see more exploration momentum.

Copper

The 'Interval' reflects the length of the core and 'From' reflects interval start. Only the highest grade thickness intercept is shown (per announcement. The data is for illustrative purposes only and may not be an exhaustive list of all drill hits. (Data date range: 17-21 July)

Xanadu Mines (ASX: XAM) experienced a 25% pullback after breaking out more than 100% in mid-late June. The stock is looking to finish this week around 13% higher after its recent breather.

Xanadu operates the Kharmagtai Project in Mongolia, which has a Contained Copper resource that's second to only that of Sandfire Resources. Approximately 27,000 metres of its Phase One diamond drilling program has been completed (out of a total 30,000 metres).

The company says the results to-date demonstrate the potential to enhance its Mineral Resource Estimate, which current stands at 3 million tonnes of contained copper and 8 million tonnes of gold.

Xanadu Mines chart (Source: TradingView)