While American West Metals (ASX AW1 / FRA soon) recently announced its plans for the high-grade Storm Copper Project (Nunavut), the Australian company has now presented an initial resource estimate for its West Desert Project in Utah.
According to the JORC 2012 standard, the company reported 33.7 million tonnes with 3.83% zinc, 0.15% copper and 9 g/t silver in the indicated and inferred categories. As American West explained, 18.7 million tonnes with an average of 2.8% zinc, 0.12% copper and 11g/t silver are within a potential open pit. A higher-grade opportunity, the company continued, is also available underground near a possible open pit with 15 million tonnes averaging 5.2% zinc, 0.18% copper and 7 g/t silver.
The metal contained in this first estimate for West Desert amounts to 1.3 million tonnes of zinc, 49,000 tonnes of copper and 10 million ounces of silver, representing a 44% increase over an older, non-JORC compliant resource estimate.
American West Metals also points out that a large portion – 81% – of the resource is in the higher (i.e., more valuable) indicated category and that there is considerable potential to further expand this initial resource.
For example, indium occurrences have not yet been taken into account due to gaps in historical drilling data. Nevertheless, West Desert is considered the largest indium deposit in the USA, according to the company. Furthermore, the recently identified copper zone, including 17.22 meters with 1.04% copper, 0.58 g/t gold and 12.46 g/t indium, has not yet been included in the calculation – and this discovery is still open both along strike and at depth, according to the company.
In addition, the older resource estimate showed that 28 million tonnes of iron ore with up to 68% Fe could also be recovered.
In the short term, American West now wants to focus on expanding the resource base, with drilling set to resume as early as the second quarter of 2023. Subsequently, an initial economic assessment of West Desert is planned. This could be influenced by the fact that the project in Utah is located in a world-class mining region that offers considerable advantages in terms of infrastructure and operating costs, according to American West. Water and power are available near the site, as well as road and rail connections. The company also emphasized that it has strong support from both local and federal authorities.
