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American West Metals Limited (American West Metals or the Company) (ASX: AW1) is pleased to announce the commencement of high-impact drilling and exploration activities at the Storm Copper Project (Storm or the Project) on Somerset Island, Nunavut. This drilling program is the first since American West Metals became project operator, under the option agreement with Aston Bay Holdings (TSX-V: BAY).
- American West’s maiden diamond drilling program is underway at the Storm Copper Project with multiple high-grade copper targets to be tested
- Previous drilling has confirmed high-grade copper from surface with intersections that include 110m @ 2.45% Cu from surface and 56.3m @ 3.07% Cu from 12.2m
- Extensional and infill drilling is planned to advance Storm towards a resource estimate
- Drilling will also test a number of new, high-priority EM conductors that have potential to deliver massive sulphide copper discoveries
- Shallow high-grade copper mineralisation has potential to support a low-footprint direct shipping ore (DSO) operation with further beneficiation test work to be completed with samples to be collected in this program
Figure 1: Outcropping massive chalcocite (copper sulphide) at the 2750N Zone, where drilling is in progress.
Dave O’Neill, Managing Director of American West Metals commented:
“We are very pleased to report that drilling is underway at the Storm Copper Project in Nunavut, Canada.
“This initial phase of drilling is designed to define copper resources within the 2750N Zone where high- grade copper starts from surface. We believe that a shallow resource here has excellent potential to support a low-footprint DSO mining proposal, with initial test work already producing a >53% grade copper DSO product.
“We are also excited to drill test a number of newly identified EM conductors. We are seeing extensive chalcocite outcrop at surface, with coincident geophysical anomalies that are consistent with copper sulphides. These are compelling targets for a new discovery.
“The start-up of the program has gone smoothly with favourable weather conditions. We look forward to reporting on the results as drilling progresses.”
Figure 2: Storm Copper Project – Drill rods being delivered to drill hole ST22-01, 2750N Zone
Figure 3: Plan view of the 2750N and 2200N Zones and surrounding areas. Copper gossans, shallow FLEM anomalies, and previous and planned drilling is shown overlaying aerial photography
RESOURCE DEFINITION DRILLING
The resource definition program is initially focusing on defining potential shallow resources within the 2750N Zone (Figure 3). The first drill hole - ST22-01 – is now underway.
Historical drilling within the 2750N Zone has encountered thick intervals of high-grade copper mineralisation, including 110m at 2.45% Cu from surface (drill hole ST97-08), and 56.3m @ 3.07% Cu from 12.2m (drill hole ST99-19). Given the outstanding width of these intervals and the distance between drill holes (>100m), extension and infill drilling in the 2750N Zone gives the potential opportunity to quickly define large volumes of further copper mineralisation.
Drilling is also planned at the 4100N and 2200N Zones. A total of 15-20 drill holes are initially planned in this program, with hole depths between 100-160m due to the shallow nature of mineralisation. Table 1 shows drill hole details for ST22-01. The order for drilling will be selected based on drill results and logistics.
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