Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate at Storm Project, Canada

American West Metals Ltd (American West or the Company) (ASX: AW1 | OTCQB: AWMLF) is pleased to announce the maiden JORC Code 2012 compliant Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for its 80% owned Storm Copper Project (Storm or the Project) on Somerset Island, Nunavut, Canada.

• Maiden independent JORC 2012 Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) defines 17.5Mt @ 1.2% Cu and 3.4g/t Ag (0.35% Cu cut-off)1, comprising:
  • A total metal content of 205Kt of copper and 1.9Moz of silver
  • 30% of metal is classified in the high-confidence indicated category
• The MRE contains a higher-grade core of 11.2Mt @ 1.5% Cu, 4.3g/t Ag (0.7% Cu cut-off) with 173Kt of copper and 1.5Moz of silver¹
• Near-surface resource indicates potential for low-cost development:
  • Mineralisation commences at, or very close to surface, and can potentially be accessed with open-pit mining
  • 100% of the MRE is categorised as fresh, chalcocite dominant copper sulphide with preliminary studies showing amenability to low-cost beneficiation processing, including ore sorting
• Located in a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction in Canada with strong Territorial and Federal Government support for critical minerals projects including copper
• Extraordinary growth and upside potential:

1. Open in all directions – the Storm resource remains open in all directions, creating confidence in the potential for significant and rapid growth during 2024 and beyond

2. MRE does not include several discoveries – high-grade 2023 copper discoveries at Thunder (48.6m @ 3% Cu in ST23-03), Lightning Ridge (15.2m @ 2.3% Cu and 15.2m @ 2.1% Cu in ST23-52) and Cyclone North (7.6m @ 1% Cu in ST23-55) have not yet been included in the MRE

3. Emerging camp – potential copper mining camp with multiple deposits already defined and numerous large targets to be tested in 2024 including six near-surface, high-priority EM anomalies where there has been a 100% correlation between geophysical anomalies and high-grade copper sulphides

4. Belt scale – less than 5% of the 100km long prospective copper bearing horizon within the Project area has been drill tested, including the Tempest Prospect which has a 4km long copper-zinc gossan identified at surface

• Major drilling program planned for 2024 to significantly expand the Mineral Resource, and to test the Storm area as well as other discoveries and regional exploration targets

¹ Detailed supporting information for the MRE is presented in Appendices A and B of this ASX announcement.

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

“The maiden JORC compliant mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Storm Project has exceeded our expectations and delivered the foundations to what we believe will be a globally significant copper district.

“Within only a single season of resource drilling we have rapidly defined four robust copper deposits very close to surface: Cyclone, Chinook, Corona, and Cirrus. The setting and scale of the mineralisation gives us the opportunity to potentially mine 100% of the resource with open-pit methods and use cut- off grades much lower than underground deposits. The outcome is more copper metal.

“The initial resource is blessed with outstanding and immediate growth potential. The known copper deposits remain open and the high-grade Thunder, Lightning Ridge and Cyclone North discoveries of 2023 are not yet included in the MRE.

“A major drilling program has been planned to drill out the 2023 discoveries, expand the known deposits and test new, high-priority exploration targets that appear to be analogues to the known copper mineralisation. Work is also underway on the Canadian NI 43-101 compliant MRE, which will also be released soon.

“The maiden JORC MRE has underlined the exceptional opportunity presented by Storm to create further significant value for American West Metals shareholders. We look forward to updating investors and discussing our 2024 exploration and resource expansion plans via a Webinar tomorrow, and through further news updates in the coming weeks.”

Click here for the full ASX Release

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