Aston Bay: New high-grade copper zone discovered at Storm

Aston Bay (TSX.V: BAY, FSE: 6AY, WKN: A2AUFP) and partner American West Metals intersected grades of more than 7% copper at the Storm Copper Project on Somerset Island in the Canadian province of Nunavut during their spring drilling program. The new mineralization is very close to surface at depths of up to 50 metres, marking the first success of the 2024 drill program.

Hole SR24-03 was drilled to test an electromagnetic (EM) anomaly. The result of 2.3% copper over a length of 20 metres starting at a depth of 38 metres once again demonstrates the strong correlation between EM targets and the very high-grade copper sulphide mineralization at Storm. After only one meter, the average copper grade in this hole increased to 5.3% over a length of eight meters and peaked at 7% copper over three meters from a depth of 41 meters.

Further testing the identified electromagnetic anomalies with drill holes is proving to be a great success, as ten further EM anomalies have already been identified with the equipment used at Storm as part of this year’s exploration program. High-resolution devices that penetrate much deeper into the ground are to be deployed in July. These will be used to further investigate the zones around the existing Storm deposits and the regional areas of Tornado, Blizzard and Tempest.

A total of around 20,000 meters of drilling will be carried out at Storm over the course of the summer. Initially, two reverse circulation rigs will be used, and later a diamond drill rig will also be deployed. The work is aimed at resource definition, with particular interest being focused on the Thunder deposit. Here, the drilling carried out by American West in 2023 proved 3% copper over a length of 48.6 meters.

Nice initial successes at The Gap

The results of drill holes SR24-01, SR24-02, SR24-03, SR24-04 and SR24-05 from the program carried out in the spring are now available. They have a total length of 992.2 meters and confirm new exploration successes in The Gap area, which lies halfway between the Cirrus Prospect and the high-grade Thunder Prospect.

The Gap EM anomaly was the first in a series of high priority conductors in the South Graben area to be tested during the current drilling season. The hole highlights the potential for further discoveries along the four kilometers long structures that host the Cirrus and Corona properties as well as the Thunder (48.6m of 3% copper) and Lightning Ridge (30.4m of 2.1% copper) high-grade copper occurrences.

The fifth hole of the spring program (SR24-05) tested a historic geophysical anomaly with induced polarization in the central graben area, an area with very little previous drilling. This central graben area is interpreted to be a down-dip block between the two main faults to the north and south that host or are spatially associated with the bulk of the copper mineralization at Storm. The geology in the trench is considered to be as prospective as elsewhere at Storm, but is offset down dip by an unknown depth.

This fifth hole encountered a thick sequence of pyrite mineralization typical of the margin mineralization at Storm and is the likely source of the IP anomaly. The hole ended at 251.5 meters, the limit of RC drilling, without intersecting copper sulphides. This suggests that the suspected flat-lying copper mineralized horizon within the central trench may be stratigraphically displaced 250 metres below the mineralized zones, as is the case at Cyclone. Additional diamond drill holes will test the fixed-loop electromagnetic (FLEM) and moving-loop electromagnetic (MLEM) anomalies in this highly prospective area.

The next steps were initiated with the summer drilling program

“The grade and length of this intercept on the new Gap prospect is impressive and further evidence of the effectiveness of EM geophysics as a targeting tool for copper,” commented Thomas Ullrich, CEO of Aston Bay Holdings, on the results presented by American West. “The track-mounted RC drill rig, new to Storm this year, will improve the efficiency of delineation drilling and complement our helicopter-transportable RC and diamond drill rigs. Several anomalies are yet to be tested. We are just getting started, with additional geophysical surveys and 20,000 meters of reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling planned for the remainder of the season.”

Recent exploration and resource definition activities indicate that the Storm prospects and the extensive copper mineralization are only a small part of a very large, sediment-hosted copper mineral system. There therefore remains significant potential for further discoveries along strike and to depth.