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.

Unfortunately, it was a very quiet week for drilling results. If I've missed any names, please feel free to reach out.

Last week, we recapped the best hits from May, which includes names like Patriot Battery Metals (ASX: PMT), Leo Lithium (ASX: LLL), Catalyst Metals (ASX: CYL) and Northern Star (ASX: NST).

Lithium

Data range: 5-9 June

Gold

Data range: 5-9 June

Gascoyne (ASX: GCY) has topped the leaderboards on several occasions. To recap its story so far:

• Last December, Gascoyne suspended open pit mining and ore processing operations at its Dalgaranga mine

• It's shares were suspended for around 4 months to secure a $50 million funding package to progress its Never Never discovery

• The stock resumed trading on 9 March and fell 40% to 10 cents

Gascoyne shares traded sideways for around two months despite gold hit after gold hit. But now the market's started to take notice, with its shares up around 30% since late May.

Gascoyne 3-month price chart (Source: Market Index)

Copper

Data range: 5-9 June

Xanadu Mines (ASX: XAM) operates the Kharmagtai Project in Mongolia, with a Mineral Resource of 1.15 billion tonnes, comprising of 3.0 million tonnes of contained copper and 8.0 million ounces of gold. On a container copper basis, it's second to only Sandfire Resources. But trades at a market cap of just $90 million.

The company is currently carrying out two drilling programs: A 30,000 metre expansion drilling program and a 24,000 metre discovery exploration program at Kharmagtai. The programs are expected to contribute to upgrade the project's resource confidence category from Inferred to Indicated as well as contribute to an updated Mineral Resource Estimate later this year.

Let's see if more positive hits can help this copper junior take the title of largest resource.

Xanadu Mines 3-month price chart (Source: Market Index)

Uranium

Data range: 5-9 June

Nickel

Data range: 5-9 June

Resources & Energy Group (ASX: REZ) received the almighty pump from Next Investors.

On 5 June, the stock rallied 175% following a) an announcement titled "Drilling Confirms Shallow Disseminated Nickel Sulphides" and b) Next Investors revealing a 18.75 million share stake in the company. Their rationale was:

"REZ’s ground has been explored in the past by the likes of BHP and Rio Tinto who, between 1969 and 1986, kept hitting nickel sulphides grading between 0.1-2.2%."

"Now, REZ has consolidated a land position in Menzies (a tiny gold mining town near Kalgoorlie). This land position is large enough that allows it to apply modern exploration methods across the entire holding to rapidly progress its exploration. Let’s see if they can unlock a discovery that others may have missed."

Resources & Energy Group 12-month price chart (Source: Market Index)