The Conversation (0)
American West Metals Limited (American West Metals or the Company) (ASX: AW1) is pleased to announce high-impact drilling and exploration activities at the high-grade Storm Copper and Seal Zinc-Silver Projects (Storm, Seal or the Projects) on Somerset Island, Nunavut.
- Diamond drilling scheduled to commence July 2022 and will test high-grade copper targets
- Drilling to focus on resource definition at the high-grade 2750N Zone
- Previous intersections at the 2750N Zone include 110m @ 2.45% Cu from surface and 56.3m @ 3.07% Cu from 12.2m
- Potential to also discover additional massive sulphide copper zones with drill testing of new, high-priority EM conductors
- A bulk sample of copper mineralisation at Storm will be acquired during the program for the second phase of direct shipping ore (DSO) and beneficiation test work, with initial ore sorting supporting the potential to produce a DSO with a grade >53% Cu
A major diamond drilling program is scheduled to commence at Storm next month, to test key resource and exploration targets. This drilling program will be the first since American West Metals became project operator, under the option agreement with Aston Bay Holdings (TSX-V: BAY).
The resource definition drilling will begin at the 2750N Zone where historical drilling has encountered significant 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). The 2750N Zone copper mineralisation is open at depth and along strike.
Drilling will also test a number of high-priority electromagnetic (EM) conductors that were identified by the 2021 fixed loop electromagnetic (FLEM) survey completed by American West over the Storm Project area. The survey identified multiple near surface anomalies, some of which are coincident with outcropping copper occurrences, that are consistent with the EM responses of known massive chalcocite mineralisation on the Storm property.
The 2021 survey also identified several large, flat lying EM conductors that may represent a deeper, stratigraphic source to the near surface mineralisation. These anomalies present compelling targets for the discovery of a major sedimentary copper mineral system. APEX Geoscience Ltd have been contracted to manage and execute the 2022 program.
Dave O’Neill, Managing Director of American West Metals commented:
“With a round of successful drilling at our West Desert Project already delivered this year, we are now excited to be preparing for our maiden drilling program at the Storm high-grade copper project.
“Drilling at Storm will commence in the coming weeks with logistics for the program well underway. Having a number of high-value targets planned for drilling, we look forward to expanding on the thick, high-grade copper already discovered.
“The drill program has a dual strategy. Firstly, to define resources that may support an initial low-footprint mining proposal utilising a DSO model that produced a 53% Cu product in our initial test work.
“Secondly, to confirm the outstanding growth potential of the Project by identifying further, undiscovered zones of high-grade copper mineralisation in unexplored areas.
“We are pleased to be working closely again alongside our partners Aston Bay Holdings and APEX Geoscience on this exciting project, and look forward to reporting news as drilling progresses.”
Figure 1: Diamond drilling underway at the Storm Copper Project during 2016. The diamond rig is at site and being prepared for the 2022 drill program (Photo credit Aston Bay Holdings Ltd)
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from American West Metals Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
AW1:AU
