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.

Lithium

Date range: 22-26 May

Leo Lithium is an intriguing lithium name for a several reasons. The company's Goulamina Project is set to hit production status around mid-2024. It's also exploring direct shipping ore exports, which could bring in revenues as early as the second-half of 2023.

Goulamina has a Mineral Resource estimate of 142.3 million tonnes (measures, indicated and inferred) at grades of 1.38%. This is comparable to Liontown's (ASX: LTR) Kathleen Valley, which has an MRE of 156 million tonnes at grades of 1.40%. So what's the catch?

Goulamina is located in Mali. The project is also 50% owned, so Leo Lithium's share of the resource is 72 million tonnes. Still, the company has a highly competitive resource to market cap ratio. But again, it's in Mali.

Prospect Resources is a funny one. The company sold its flagship Arcadia Lithium Project in Zimbabwe last year for US$343 million cash and returned most of those proceeds to shareholders. This was effectively a ~96% dividend or a hard 'reset' for the company. Following the sale, the company shifted its focus to a new lithium project, which was just 8 km north of Arcadia. They called it 'Step Aside'.

Gold

Date range: 22-26 May

Gascoyne has posted quiet a few high-grade gold hits in the past few weeks. There's an interesting image from the company uses an Airbus A380 to demonstrate the size and scale of the Never Never deposit. But this has failed to inspire any meaningful share price upside. The stock resumed trading in March after a five month suspension, where it raised $50 million to progress its Never Never deposit. When it resumed trading on 9 March, it fell around 40% to 10 cents.

Copper

Date range: 22-26 May

Nickel

Date range: 22-26 May