{australien_flagge}Following last year’s high-grade discovery at the Storm copper project on Somerset Island, Nunavut, American West Metals Limited (ASX: AW1; OTCQB: AWMLF; FRA: R84) will drill approximately five times as much in the drilling season now underway.
{australien_flagge}Following last year’s high-grade discovery at the Storm copper project on Somerset Island, Nunavut, American West Metals Limited (ASX: AW1; OTCQB: AWMLF; FRA: R84) will drill approximately five times as much in the drilling season now underway.
Two different drill rigs will be used for the planned 10,000 m of drilling, a reverse circulation (RC) drill and, a little later, a diamond drill. The two drills have different tasks: With the RC drill, about 8,000 meters of near-surface drilling is planned, reaching a maximum depth of 150 meters, which corresponds to about 50 drill holes. The company intends to use this to determine a near-surface resource of high-grade copper in the 4100N zone and the neighboring 2750N and 2200N zones in the shortest possible time, which may be suitable for low-cost open-pit mining by direct shipping. The speed of drilling is a factor in favor of the RC unit. Historic drilling in the 4100N zone has intersected large volumes of high-grade copper near surface, including: 15m @ 3.88% Cu from 72.4m (ST99-47); 27.2m @ 1.9% Cu from 78.8m (ST00-62); and 5.8m @ 3.6% Cu from 38.6m (ST99-53). The footprint of near-surface, high-grade copper mineralization at Storm has been defined over an area of 40 hectares, with an average thickness of mineralization of 24m @ 2.15% Cu (weighted average grade from 32 drill holes). Four main zones of mineralization have been identified to date.
Approximately 2,000 m of diamond core drilling will follow. This drilling will be advanced to greater depth to follow up on the large discovery of stratabound sedimentary copper sulphides with potentially regional scale. American West sees the potential on Storm to follow up on a large sedimentary copper system on the project area. To support the drilling, the company will conduct ground gravity surveys and surface electromagnetic surveys.
Dave O’Neill, Managing Director of American West Metals, commented, “Exploration and drilling activities are expected to commence in early April. The first phase of drilling is expected to define the initial JORC resources in the 4100N, 2750N and 2200N zones. We believe significant copper resources are present here with excellent potential for low-cost open pit mining. Exploration will also follow up on the groundbreaking discovery of stratabound sedimentary copper mineralization below the known copper occurrences. Drilling in 2022 indicated that we may have encountered the edge of a large sedimentary copper system, and we will use ground gravity and EM to define the core of the mineralization. Additional diamond drilling with rigs currently on site will be used to test these deeper targets.”
Figure 1: Top view of Storm prospect area showing drilling, major trench faults, deep electromagnetic plates, and induced polarization anomalies overlaying the Fourier gravity image (Falcon).
Large sedimentary copper system suspected at depth
The recent discovery in drill hole ST22-10 (see ASX news release September 28, 2022: New copper system confirmed at the Storm Project, Canada) suggests that the known near-surface copper occurrences at Storm may be associated with a large sedimentary copper system at depth.
Interpretation of geochemical and geological data from hole ST22-10 suggests that the hole intersected the margins of a mineralized system. This interpretation is supported by a series of large coincident electromagnetic (EM), induced polarization (IP), and gravity anomalies. The near-surface copper occurrences at Storm are located above or in close proximity to the large geophysical anomalies, further emphasizing the potential link between the two types of mineralization.
To calibrate new high-resolution geophysical surveys, close-meshed ground gravity surveys and EM surveys are planned on known occurrences. The company then plans to expand its exploration regionally based on these survey results. The new areas include the Blizzard, Tornado and Tempest prospects (see Figure 2). The Tempest prospect is located approximately 40 kilometers south of the Storm deposit and contains large (>250 m long) oxidized copper mineralization exposed at surface that returned up to 32% Cu. Its location and distance from Storm illustrate the extent of the prospective copper horizon in the project area.
Figure 2: Prospecting map of the Nunavut project highlighting the main prospective stratigraphic copper and zinc horizons.
Summary: The Storm Project has all the ingredients that could make it a real company maker for American West: high-grade copper and stratabound regional potential. So far, the company has literally only discovered the tip of the iceberg on Somerset Island in the Arctic archipelago off the west coast of Greenland. High-grade, near-surface copper mineralization at 4100N and neighboring targets could enable rapid development of a potentially open-pit resource. Geologists have strong arguments for believing that the high-grade discoveries are part of a much larger regional structure with an underlying system of sedimentary copper. Just how extensive this system might be can be surmised by relating the Storm discoveries to the Tempest target 40 kilometers to the south (32% copper at surface). With all that said, Somerset Island is remote, yet – similar to neighboring mining projects – extremely conveniently located with direct access to the ocean. After this season, we will have a much sharper picture of the potential: If geologists can confirm their hypothesis of a regional sedimentary copper system, Storm will certainly be of interest to major mining companies. American West wouldn’t need to depend on that, though, because a distinctive feature of the Storm project is that it might offer a quick, low-cost path to initial cash flow that would be manageable for a small company.
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