Assay Results Confirm Outstanding Growth Potential Of West Desert

• WD22-19 has intersected high-grade mineralisation 250m south-west of the West Desert Deposit confirming the potential for a major new zone of mineralisation
  • Assays for WD22-19 have returned:
    • 4.58m @ 5.21% Zn, 0.46% Cu, 0.6g/t Au, 18.68g/t Ag, 88.05g/t In from 455.65m, including,
    • 0.92m @ 20.42% Zn, 0.76% Cu, 1.04g/t Au, 33.13g/t Ag, 54.47g/t In from 459.31m
  • WD22-19 drilled into a magnetic anomaly with a geophysical signature similar to the West Desert Deposit, supporting the potential for further drilling to delineate significant new high-grade mineralisation along strike
• WD22-01C has intersected a new high-grade copper lens to the north of the known West Desert Deposit within an exceptional interval of molybdenum porphyry mineralisation
  • Assays for WD22-01C have returned:
    • 417.55m @ 0.019% Mo, 2.49g/t Ag from 360.87, including,
    • 42.37m @ 0.5% Cu, 0.13g/t Au, 12.88g/t Ag, 5.23g/t In from 398.35m, including;
    • 4.12m @ 3.4% Cu, 0.74g/t Au, 91.22g/t Ag, 17.06g/t from 421.21m
  • This style of mineralisation is highly analogous to the world class Bingham Canyon mine in Utah (Rio Tinto, ASX: RIO), located 130km north-east of West Desert

Figure 1: Chalcopyrite rich magnetite skarn in drill core from 422m (1,385ft) dowhole in WD22-01C

Dave O’Neill, Managing Director of American West Metals commented:

“We are extremely pleased to announce significant drilling results at the West Desert Project while we wait for the return of further assay results from the Storm drilling program.

“The latest assay results continue to show the exciting growth potential of the West Desert mineral system.

“WD22-19 was our first drill hole exploring in areas away from the West Desert Deposit and the assays confirm it has intersected high-grade zinc and copper. The mineralisation looks very similar to that on the margins of the Deep Zone at the existing deposit, so we believe we are on the edge of a major new zone of mineralisation.

“WD22-19 is located over 250m south-west of the deposit, so this has huge implications for the growth potential along strike of West Desert.

“Drill hole WD22-01C has also delivered for us with more than 400m of porphyry style molybdenum-silver mineralisation which remains open at depth. This is an exciting development as the style, thickness and grade of the mineralisation shows similarities to that of the giant Bingham Canyon Deposit.

“Imoprtantly, the broad zone of mineralisation also contains a newly discovered high-grade copper, gold and silver lens which sits outside the current West Desert resource.

“Work continues at West Desert and we are making excellent progress with the metallurgical test work and maiden jORC compliant resource estimate, which we hope to be able to provide an update on shortly.“

DRILL HOLE WD22-19 - A SIGNIFICANT DISCOVERY

Exploration drill hole WD22-19 was designed to test a large magnetitic anomaly which is centered approximately 250m to the south-west of the existing West Desert Deposit (Figure 4), and is the first exploration drill hole to be completed by AW1 at the West Desert Project.

The drill hole has intersected high-grade zinc and copper sulphides within a broad lower-grade mineralised envelope. The style of mineralisation and host rock package is similar to that of the Deep Zone of the West Desert Deposit.

The observations from WD22-19 suggest that the drill hole may have hit the margin of another significant ore system, which likely lies to the north and closer toward the interpreted porphyry contact (Figures 3 & 4).

The WD22-19 discovery has confirmed the potential for further significant resources to the west of the West Desert Deposit, and the prospective porphyry/skarn contact now has intersections of high-grade zinc and copper along 1.6km of strike. This area remains underexplored and offers an excellent opportunity to further increase the scale of the resource footprint at the Project

Further exploration drilling will now aim to test to the north of WD22-19, and closer to the interpreted main mineral system.

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