Two hundred and twenty meters below workings a mining company walked away from in 1998, a drill bit found some of the best gold grades of the season. A high-grade discovery in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle kept adding visible gold to an already sprawling footprint. A Quebec copper deposit got wider and richer in the same batch of assays, which does not happen as often as press releases make it sound.
Trident Resources Drills 8.69 g/t Gold Below Historic Contact Lake Workings
Trident Resources Corp. (TSXV: ROCK) (OTCQB: TRDTF) (Frankfurt: 6BP0) reported on September 17 the first assay results from its 2026 summer drill program at the Contact Lake Project in Saskatchewan’s La Ronge Gold Belt, with hole CL26050 intersecting 8.69 g/t gold over 11.97 metres, including 31.98 g/t gold over 3.16 metres, 220 metres below the deepest workings mined by former operator Cameco. Two shallower holes in the Buffer Zone, CL26049 and CL26051, returned 3.46 g/t gold over 15.00 metres and 6.43 g/t gold over 7.45 metres.
Cameco mined Contact Lake to a depth of only 340 metres before closing the operation in 1998 amid low gold prices. True thickness has not been determined for CL26050; the company estimates true width at 70 to 75% of the drilled interval there and 80 to 85% for the two shallower holes. Contact Lake and the adjacent Greywacke Lake project host historical gold resources that predate NI 43-101 and have not been converted into a current mineral resource estimate. The 2026 program has now drilled 12,066 of a planned 20,000 metres, and Trident says it holds approximately $20 million in cash and marketable securities, funding work into 2027.
Goliath Resources Drills 9.12 g/t Gold Equivalent With Visible Gold at Surebet
Goliath Resources Limited (TSX-V: GOT) (OTCQX: GOTRF) (FSE: B4IF) reported on September 18 assay results from the Bonanza Zone at its Surebet discovery on the Golddigger property in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle, with hole GD-26-431 intersecting 9.12 g/t gold equivalent over 11.27 metres, including 13.89 g/t gold equivalent over 7.14 metres and a narrower 1.03-metre interval at 74.66 g/t gold equivalent. A second hole, GD-26-442, returned 8.35 g/t gold equivalent over 4.15 metres, including 31.42 g/t gold equivalent over 1.00 metre, on ground entirely outside previous drilling.
Visible gold has been logged in 52 of the 92 holes drilled at Surebet in 2026. The Bonanza Zone has grown 19% this season to 1.51 square kilometres, and the adjacent Golden Gate zone is up 38% to 1.17 square kilometres; both remain open. Surebet carries no formal resource estimate and stays a discovery-stage target. Of the 97 holes drilled in the 2026 campaign, 88 still have assays pending.
Abitibi Metals Expands High-Grade Copper Zone at B26 Deposit, Quebec
Abitibi Metals Corp. (CSE: AMQ) (OTCQB: AMQFF) (FSE: FW0) reported on September 17 new copper-gold intercepts from its resource-development program at the B26 polymetallic deposit in Quebec, with hole 1274-25-366-W1 returning 1.25% copper equivalent over 60.2 metres, including 2.45% copper equivalent over 18.8 metres and a higher-grade core of 3.72% copper equivalent over 9.2 metres. A second hole in the deeper Western Down-Plunge zone, 1274-26-378W2, intersected 1.45% copper equivalent over 14.1 metres starting at 985.3 metres depth.
B26 already carries a February 2026 NI 43-101 resource of 13.0 million tonnes indicated at 2.1% copper equivalent and 12.3 million tonnes inferred at 2.2% copper equivalent, calculated using conservative base-case metal prices of US$4.50 per pound copper, US$2,500 per ounce gold, US$30 per ounce silver and US$1.35 per pound zinc rather than spot prices. As with prior B26 releases, reported intervals are core lengths; the company did not restate true widths in this release. Up to three drill rigs remain on site through the rest of 2026, and Abitibi says these results will feed into a future resource update.
Follow-Up: Norsemont Mining Extends High-Grade Gold at Choquelimpie, Chile
Norsemont Mining Inc. (CSE: NOM) (OTCQX: NRRSF) (FWB: LXZ1), last covered here in June, reported on September 17 assay results from eight additional Phase 3 holes at its Choquelimpie gold-silver-copper project in northern Chile, with hole DD13 intersecting 41 metres at 4.59 g/t gold, including 18 metres at 9.7 g/t gold, the highest-grade interval drilled so far in the Vizcacha zone. A second hole, DD11, returned a 39-metre interval of gold, silver and base-metal mineralization, including 12 metres at 2.46 g/t gold equivalent.
Choquelimpie already carries an NI 43-101 resource filed in May 2025, with indicated resources of 81.9 million tonnes at 0.66 g/t gold and 12.6 g/t silver. Phase 3 drilling is testing higher-grade breccia targets at depth and expanding mineralization beyond that resource model. Norsemont flagged a laboratory backlog in Chile through June and August, worsened by inclement weather, and is now splitting samples between two labs to speed up turnaround.
Frequently Asked Questions
The 2026 program has drilled 12,066 of a planned 20,000 metres. Trident says it is funded to keep testing depth extensions below the historic workings through the balance of 2026 and into 2027.
No. Surebet remains a discovery-stage target with no NI 43-101 resource. Assays are still pending on 88 of the 97 holes drilled there in 2026, so the size of the system is not yet defined.
The company has up to three drill rigs on site through the rest of 2026 for resource-conversion and expansion drilling, and says these results will be incorporated into a future update to B26’s existing NI 43-101 resource.
Phase 3 drilling continues testing higher-grade breccia targets at depth. The company is now splitting samples between two labs after a mid-2026 assay backlog in Chile, aiming to speed up reporting on the remaining holes.
Abitibi Metals’ B26 deposit and Norsemont’s Choquelimpie project both carry existing NI 43-101 resources that this drilling is working to expand or convert. Trident’s Contact Lake project has historical, non-43-101 gold resources only. Goliath’s Surebet discovery has no resource estimate of any kind.
Sources
- GlobeNewswire: Trident Intersects High-Grade Gold Over Significant Widths 220.00 Metres Below Historical Mine Workings at Contact Lake, September 17, 2026
- GlobeNewswire: Goliath Drills Up To 9.12 g/t AuEq Over 11.27 Meters With Visible Gold and Expands Bonanza Zone at the High-Grade Gold Surebet Discovery, September 18, 2026
- NewsDirect / Newsfile: Abitibi Metals Intersects 3.72% CuEq over 9.2 m Within a Broader 1.25% CuEq over 60.2 m at the B26 Deposit, September 17, 2026
- Newsfile: Abitibi Metals Delivers Significant Increase in B26 Mineral Resource, Advancing to 13.0 Mt Indicated at 2.1% CuEq and 12.3 Mt Inferred at 2.2% CuEq, February 5, 2026
- IRW-Press / ACCESS Newswire: Norsemont Hits 41 Meters of 4.59 g/t Gold as Phase 3 Drilling Continues to Expand the Choquelimpie System, September 17, 2026
Editorial Disclosure
This analysis is based entirely on publicly available information including company press releases sourced directly from named wire services and company websites, and verified market data. Securities discussed include Trident Resources Corp. (TSXV: ROCK; OTCQB: TRDTF), Goliath Resources Limited (TSX-V: GOT; OTCQX: GOTRF), Abitibi Metals Corp. (CSE: AMQ; OTCQB: AMQFF), and Norsemont Mining Inc. (CSE: NOM; OTCQX: NRRSF). aktiego.com has not received any compensation from any company mentioned, their management, investor relations representatives, or any third party. No staff member or principal of aktiego.com holds a position in any security mentioned at the time of publication. All four companies were screened against the Distress Threshold rule; none carry a reverse stock split, negative stockholders’ equity, an active securities investigation, a recent leadership departure, a delayed filing, or a single-digit-million market capitalization, so no additional distress disclosure applies. Trident Resources’ Contact Lake and Greywacke Lake projects host historical gold resources that predate NI 43-101 (National Instrument 43-101, the Canadian standard governing disclosure of mineral project information) and have not been converted into a current resource estimate; true thickness for hole CL26050 has not been determined and is estimated at 70-75% of the drilled interval, with 80-85% estimated for the two shallower holes reported. Goliath Resources’ Surebet discovery carries no NI 43-101 resource estimate of any kind and remains discovery-stage; reported intervals are drilled widths. Abitibi Metals’ B26 deposit carries an existing NI 43-101 resource (13.0 Mt indicated at 2.1% CuEq, 12.3 Mt inferred at 2.2% CuEq) calculated using conservative base-case metal prices of US$4.50/lb copper, US$2,500/oz gold, US$30/oz silver and US$1.35/lb zinc rather than spot prices; reported intervals in the September 17 release are core lengths, and the company did not restate true widths for the new holes. Norsemont Mining’s Choquelimpie project carries an existing NI 43-101 resource filed May 2025 (81.9 Mt indicated at 0.66 g/t gold, 12.6 g/t silver); the company has disclosed an assay laboratory backlog in Chile between June and August 2026, attributed to sample volume and inclement weather, and is now using a second laboratory to reduce turnaround. All company data verified against original press releases from named wire services. Forward-looking commentary regarding exploration outcomes, resource estimates, and financing is opinion only. References to individual companies are for market context and analytical purposes only and do not constitute investment recommendations. All securities carry significant investment risk including total loss of capital. Coverage on aktiego.com is provided for informational and educational purposes only. aktiego.com is not a registered investment advisor. Nothing in this article constitutes financial, investment, or professional advice. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own due diligence and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. For more information please see our full DISCLAIMER.
