Aston Bay: Summer drill program at Storm brings further success

Under the operative leadership of American West Metals, this year’s summer drilling programme at the copper project Storm on Somerset Island in the Canadian province of Nunavut continues with further successes. This week, Aston Bay (TSX.V: BAY, FSE: 6AY, WKN: A2AUFP) is able to announce that previously unknown thick copper intercepts have been identified at the Cyclone and Lightning Ridge deposits.

Within the program, 30 reverse circulation drill holes with a total length of approx. 4,453 metres have already been fully drilled and completed. Diamond drilling has now also begun and is being continued with determination. The upcoming work is to be accelerated again over the next few weeks.

The success proves Aston Bay Holdings and American West right, as of the 16 drill holes visually inspected to date, all can be considered hits, as copper sulphides have been recognised in all of them. The drill holes on Thunder and Chinook have not yet been assessed.

Copper mineralisation on Lightning Ridge has now reached a length of 150 metres

At the Lightning Ridge prospect, drill hole SR24-014 intersected a total of 30.5 metres of visible copper sulphide mineralisation within three zones from 57.9 metres downhole. Drill hole SR24-016 also intersected a total of 21.3 metres of visible copper sulphide mineralisation within three main zones from a downhole depth of 38.1 metres. It contains very strong copper sulphide mineralisation of five metres in length at a depth of 44 metres.

The copper mineralisation in the Lightning Ridge zone has now been defined over a strike length of 150 metres. However, this is not the last word, as there is excellent potential to extend the deposit even further.

All 13 drill holes at the Cyclone deposit, including those drilled outside the current mineralised area, are also showing new mineralised intersections. Drill hole SR24-009, for example, was drilled approximately 80 metres southwest of the Cyclone deposit and intersected strong, highly visible copper sulphides over a length of 32 metres.

Holes SR24-011 and SR24-013 also intersected thick intervals of semi-massive sulphides in the southern part of the currently known mineralisation. This has increased the chance of soon being able to delineate a separate resource in this part of the project as well, as the sourcing of the copper mineralisation is robust and continuous.

Exciting mineralisation on the other side of the Cyclone fault

As visual estimates of mineral abundance are no substitute for accurate laboratory analyses, there is great excitement and anticipation as the company awaits the arrival of the first results from the laboratory.

Thomas Ullrich, Chief Executive Officer of Aston Bay Holdings, pointed out that the partners are well on the way to drilling the 20,000 metres planned for this season. “The summer drilling phase is encountering visible copper mineralisation in every hole, expanding the already large zone of high-grade copper mineralisation at Cyclone and confirming additional mineralisation near last year’s discovery at Lightning Ridge. Most exciting to me is the intersection of a thick zone of copper sulphide mineralisation on the other side of the Cyclone fault in the dipping Central Graben. This extensive area has the potential for significant additional discoveries hidden below surface in this fault-rich block.”

The ongoing 2024 drilling programme will continue in the coming weeks with two reverse circulation drill rigs and one diamond drill rig. Thanks to the excellent results from the drilling to date, American West and Aston Bay Holdings are on track to complete the planned 20,000 metres of drilling by the end of the program.