10 additional EM anomalies have already been identified
American West Metals (ASX: AW1; OTCQB: AWMLF; FRA: R84) is taking advantage of the Arctic summer for by far the largest drill program ever at the Storm Copper Project on Somerset Island, Nunavut, Canada. Two RC drill rigs and one diamond drill rig are working around the clock until the end of the season. The new track-mounted RC drill rig is exceeding expectations in terms of production capacity and operational flexibility. The company is therefore confident that it will be able to complete the entire 20,000 meters of planned drilling.
Approximately 12,000 to 15,000 meters of drilling is planned for resource expansion in the Storm area. This will focus on resource expansion at the high-grade Thunder discovery, where drilling in 2023 intersected 48.6m @ 3% Cu from 32.4m (ST23-03), and resource definition and expansion at the Cyclone (12.1Mt @ 1.2% Cu, 3.8g/t Ag) and Chinook (2.2Mt @ 1.5% Cu, 4g/t Ag) deposits. Approximately 5,000 to 8,000 meters of drilling is planned for the exploration of new targets.
In the meantime, the results of the first five drill holes SR24-01, SR24-02, SR24-03, SR24-04 and SR24-05 from the spring – together 992.2 m – are available. Two of the holes (SR24-03 and SR24-04) confirm the excellent potential in The Gap area, located midway between the Cirrus deposit and the high-grade Thunder copper deposit (Figure 1). Drilling at The Gap has intersected a thick interval of high-grade copper sulphides. The 20m interval of 2.3% Cu from 38m downhole contains copper grades up to 7.3% Cu (from 41m downhole) and further confirms the association of EM anomalies with very high-grade, semi-massive copper sulphides. Additional drilling is planned for the 2024 summer drilling season to determine the extent of copper mineralization at The Gap property. The Gap has a very strong MLEM anomaly over an area of approximately 300m x 200m. This anomaly is located within a much larger zone of moderately conductive EM, suggesting that the footprint of copper mineralization in The Gap area could be significant.
The success at Gap once again highlights the strong correlation between EM targets and very high-grade copper sulphide mineralization. As part of the 2024 EM program, 10 additional EM anomalies have already been identified. Deep penetrating, high resolution EM surveys around the existing Storm deposits and the regional Tornado, Blizzard and Tempest areas are due to commence this month. The immediate focus of the survey is to search at depth, below the known copper deposits, for a repeat of Cyclone-style mineralization at depth and then to extend the EM coverage to Tornado, Blizzard and Tempest. American West geologists suspect large-scale copper targets beneath the Cyclone deposit, where drilling in 2023 discovered high-grade copper sulphides up to 2.7% Cu at approximately 300 m vertical depth (ST23-02). All five deep diamond drill holes drilled in the 2022 and 2023 programs had intersected copper sulphide mineralization at approximately the same stratigraphic horizon (270-320m vertical depth) over an area of 5km².
Dave O’Neill, Managing Director of American West Metals, commented: “The results from the spring phase of the program have immediately followed up on last year’s great discoveries. They confirm a new zone of thick, near-surface copper mineralization on the Gap property with grades in excess of 7% copper. Drilling at The Gap clearly shows that the southern Gap area hosts multiple high-grade copper deposits along the largely untested fault network. Several high-priority EM targets remain to be tested in this area, highlighting the exceptional exploration opportunities and potential for further discoveries.”
Summary: American West Metals only delivered its maiden JORC Code 2012 resource estimate (MRE) for the Storm project in January this year. In just 10 weeks last year, the company drilled 10,000 m, defining 17.5 million tons at 1.2% Cu and 3.4 g/t Ag for 205,000 Kt of copper and 1.9 million ounces of silver. Around twice as much drilling is planned this year, around two thirds of which will serve to expand resources, while the remaining third will be used to explore new targets. The near-surface, favorable geometry and high copper grades of the Storm deposits have laid the foundation for what the company believes could become a large-scale, long-life copper mining camp in the Storm area. Recent exploration and resource definition activities indicate that the Storm deposits and extensive copper mineralization are only a small part of a very large sediment-hosted copper mineral system - the proverbial tip of the iceberg. American West and its partner Aston Bay have just raised around AUD 18.8 million from the sale of a less than 1% royalty to Storm. The fresh cash will make it easier to plan ahead for the coming year. Fuel and other drilling equipment as well as heavy mechanical equipment for the 2025 season have already been delivered to the port of Montreal and will be shipped to Storm in September. In the background, studies continue on processing methods for a variety of ores from the Cyclone and Chinook deposits.
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