Big Drill Hits: The best lithium, gold and copper hits of the week

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

It was a very quiet week on all fronts, with only one nickel hit and no uranium results. We take a closer look at the disappointing result from Lord Resources and the choppy price action that followed some positive gold hits.

Lithium

Date range: 8-12 May

Lord Resources hits a dud: Lord Resources announced the assays from its first-pass Reverse Circulation drilling at its Horse Rocks Lithium Project in WA. Before we talk about the result, here's a little bit of context:

• There were five high priority geochemical anomalies that the company wanted to test

• The targets have areas that have mapped 'multiple pegmatite swarms'

• Recent surface sampling demonstrated indicative lithium-caesium-tantalum pegmatite systems, with sampling demonstrating 0.15% lithium grades

• The project is located within close proximity to Mineral Resources and Essential Metals

When the assays were received, it showed grades mostly between 0.10% and 0.20%. To add some perspective, our Lithium Drill Hit list for April contained 13 drill results with average grades of 1.57%. This was a massive disappointment and Lord shareholders paid for it dearly, with the stock down 46% on the day of the announcement (Monday, 8 May).

Gold

Date range: 8-12 May

No bonanza hits this week. Price action for some of the bigger hitters like Golden Rim and Siren Gold was pretty choppy, which might reflect the incremental nature of the drill result (e.g. the company has announced several drilling updates for the same project) or the volatile moves in gold prices.

Golden Rim: Trenching at Massan Returns 128m @ 3.1 g/t gold

• Announcement date: Friday, 12 May

• Open: +9.1% to 3.6 cents

• Current: +3.0% to 3.4 cents (12:00 pm AEST)

Siren Gold: First hole at Auld Creek intersects 20.8m @ 12.0 g/t

• Announcement date: Monday, 8 May

• Open: +25.0% to 12.5 cents

• Session high: +40.0% to 14 cents

• Close: +5.0% to 10.5 cents

Copper

Date range: 8-12 May