Australia dominated the global ranking of best gold assays this year to June 30 with six holes in the top 10 and nine in the top 20 – but it was a Canadian miner that bested all rivals with a bonanza hit at midyear. Assays are ranked according to grade multiplied by width.Wesdome Gold Mines’ (TSX: WDO) drilling program at its Kiena property in Val-d’Or, Quebec, is starting to pay dividends – big time.Hole N127-7035 in the Kiena Deep zone cut 2.9 metres grading 2,349.88 grams gold per tonne from 76.6 metres depth, Wesdome said June 25. That was enough for a score of 6,815 and first place in The Northern Miner’s top 20 best gold assays this year’s first half.Wesdome CEO Anthea Bath said the completion of new underground drill platforms at Kiena last year has significantly expanded the company’s reach, improved drill angles and provided access to targets that were previously unavailable to drill from underground.By midyear, the company had completed about 21,000 metres of exploration drilling at Kiena, whose underground operation already produces gold. Toronto-based Wesdome expects to churn out between 90,000 and 100,000 oz. at the property in 2025 – almost half of its overall target of 190,000-210,000 ounces.Exploration work “is progressing exceptionally well,” Bath said in the statement. “Drilling year-to-date has confirmed the validity of our geological models, further reinforcing the potential to expand existing resources.”Garden GullyComing in at No. 2 was hole NGGRCDD974 at New Murchison Gold’s (ASX: NMG) Garden Gully project in Australia, which intersected 0.28 metres grading 17,563.69 grams gold per tonne from 251.4 metres downhole, according to an April 30 statement from the company. That gave it a score of 4,918.Located in Western Australia’s prolific Murchison gold district, close to numerous operating mines and within 200 km of five gold processing facilities, Garden Gully is part of a 677-sq.-km land package that includes the Abbotts Greenstone Belt.The project has multiple gold prospects along the belt, the most advanced of which is Crown Prince. A November 2024 update for Crown Prince showed 1.51 million indicated tonnes grading 4.6 grams gold per tonne for contained metal of 226,000 oz., and 693,000 inferred tonnes grading 2.4 grams gold for contained metal of 53,000 ounces.The total updated resource, at 279,000 oz. of contained metal, represents a 16% increase from a February 2024 estimate, according to the company.Gold Top 20. Credit: The Northern MinerGwalia mineThird on the list was a drill result from Genesis Minerals (ASX: GMD) at Western Australia’s Gwalia mine. Hole UGD2504 intersected 0.4 metre grading 10,800 grams gold per tonne from 374.5 metres depth, Genesis said in an April 8 statement. That gave it a total score of 4,320.Gwalia, which Genesis acquired from St. Barbara in mid-2023, is Australia’s deepest underground gold mine and the deepest trucking mine in the world. It has a depth of 1,600 metres.Measured resources at Gwalia total 3.7 million tonnes grading 4.3 grams gold per tonne for contained metal of 520,000 oz., according to an August investor presentation posted on the company’s website. “Extensive” opportunities exist to increase the mine’s reserves through the conversion of 2.6 million measured and indicated oz., the company says.Two Canadian miners rounded out the Top 5 – Alamos Gold (TSX: AGI) and OceanaGold (TSX: OGC) with results showing more mineable intervals when it’s generally considered stopes should be at least 6 metres.Ontario mineHole 89046142 at Alamos’ Island Gold operation in northern Ontario cut 6.8 metres grading 584.2 grams gold per tonne from 153.6 metres depth, the company said Jan. 13.Drilling activities at Island Gold over the past year have been among the most successful in the history of the project when looking at the magnitude of high-grade intercepts, CEO John McCluskey said as he announced the drill results.“With the main structure open laterally and down-plunge, and significant high-grade results being intersected within emerging and yet to be defined zones in proximity to the main structure, we see excellent potential for this pace of growth to continue,” he added.OceanaGold’s exploration results at its Haile mine in South Carolina also ranked highly. Hole UGD0073 returned 22.95 metres averaging 149 grams gold from 244.5 metres downhole, the Vancouver-based company said Feb. 24.Buoyed by this success, OceanaGold boosted its exploration budget in the area by 20% to $10 million, CEO Gerard Bond said in announcing the assays. This will be Haile’s largest annual exploration budget since the mine began production in 2017.
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