Aston Bay identifies two new highly prospective copper targets at Seabreeze and Hailstorm on Storm

The Storm copper project’s copper belt on Somerset Island in the Canadian province of Nunavut is 110 kilometres long. Given its size, it is not surprising that Aston Bay (TSX.V: BAY, FSE: 6AY, WKN: A2AUFP) and its partner American West Metals are repeatedly coming across new and highly interesting copper targets when exploring the project. The latest new discoveries are the Seabreeze and Hailstorm deposits.

The Storm project is thus growing on the one hand through the expansion of the copper deposits already identified in the past at depth and at the edges. At the same time, the partners are also succeeding in identifying new deposits in parts of the project that have not yet been explored. The new Seabreeze target area is one of them.

It is located at the northwestern end of the 110-kilometre-long copper belt and covers an area of ten by two kilometres. A ground gravity survey conducted here has revealed many of the characteristics of a promising Allen Bay formation. This means that the stratigraphic host formation with high copper, silver and zinc contents, known from the other Storm copper deposits, also recurs at this location.

The Hailstorm deposit is also still largely unexplored. Its geological setting is also very similar to that of the near-surface, high-grade copper deposits of Chinook, Thunder, Lightning Ridge and Corona. During geological mapping, American West was able to take rock samples with copper contents of more than 50%. This enabled the discovery of a previously unknown copper anomaly measuring 250 by 250 metres.

Tornado and Tempest confirmed as compelling drill targets

The partners are also making good progress in expanding the deposits that have already been identified. For example, the Moving Loop Electromagnetics (MLEM) survey at Tornado has defined new conductors below the limit of current drilling. The new discovery is approximately five kilometres along strike from the known Storm deposits.

Encouragingly, all reverse circulation drill holes completed this year have been collared in favourable locations and have intersected anomalously high copper, silver and zinc values. The drilling has confirmed the model of mineralisation developed by American West and demonstrates that the Tornado deposit continues to be an extremely prospective drill target.

The Tempest prospect, located approximately 40 kilometres south, has also returned anomalous copper, zinc and silver values, and is stratigraphically similar to the style of the known Storm deposits. The target area is defined by a four-kilometre-long zone with iron caps that have a copper content of 38.2% and a zinc content of 30.8%. This makes the target area sufficiently interesting to warrant follow-up drilling in the future.

Resource update is getting closer and closer

The many small but important successes that American West and Aston Bay Holdings have achieved in the past in developing the Storm project pave the way for the next, major success: the eagerly awaited resource update. It is currently being prepared together with various development studies and should be the highlight of the coming months.

It will give shareholders and interested investors a more definite impression of the size of the project and the scope for development for both partners. It is almost a given that further drilling will follow to develop the project and that the partners expect to be able to expand the resource steadily in the future, given the size of the Storm project.

Aston Bay Holdings and American West are therefore on the right track with the development of the project, because the surveys and drilling carried out so far confirm the geological model and the current understanding of the structure of the ore body. This provides a good basis not only for being able to define a first resource soon, but also for being able to expand it step by step afterwards.