The Australian exploration company American West Metals (WKN A3DE4Y / ASX AW1) reports drilling results from the Canadian copper project Storm that could make many competitors green with envy.
These are thick, partially extremely high-grade mineralization sections near the surface, which underpin the high continuity of copper mineralization at Storm and thus also demonstrate the potential scope of the project located in the Canadian province of Nunavut.
American West is focusing its current drilling on the so-called 4100N Zone, and with the results now presented, according to their own statement, has further expanded the volume of near-surface copper mineralization. Moreover, the mineralization apparently remains open in all directions, suggesting potential for further growth. And according to the company, the potential of the recently proven gravity anomaly at depth below 4100N (we reported) is further substantiated by the new drilling data.
Peak Grades of up to 8% Copper Drilled!
The highlight of the now published drill holes is undoubtedly SR23-13 with 1.2% copper over 29 meters thickness from only 62.5 meters depth. This includes a section of 3 meters with 5% copper and another 1.5 meters with 8% copper!
However, drill hole SR23-14 also shows very strong metal grades with 1.3% copper over 25 meters from 61 meters depth, including 2.1% copper over 9.1 meters and 3.7% copper over 3 meters. The same applies to SR23-07 with 1.3% copper over 10.7 meters, including 4.6 meters with 2.9% copper and 1.5 meters with 6.5% of the red metal! In addition, there’s drill hole SR23-09 with 1% copper over 10.6 meters including 2% copper over 4.6 meters!
In our view, it is also telling that American West’s Managing Director Dave O’Neill, on the occasion of publishing these figures, speaks of observing thick sections of copper mineralization in “predictable” stratigraphic horizons. We believe this bodes well for further drilling activities. Especially since O’Neill also emphasizes that there is potential to expand the higher-grade zones. Already now, the American West boss continues, it is becoming apparent that Storm could become a “globally significant” copper project with low costs!
To substantiate this thesis, American West wants to prove an initial resource at Storm as soon as possible. Therefore, the now reported drillings were drilled in the central part of the 4100N Zone and prioritized to continue resource modeling on drill sections with complete datasets.
As the company also announced, the new data from the 4100N Zone has helped to further improve the understanding of the geological conditions and mineralization processes of the Storm copper system. They also indicate that a large-scale copper system is present within Storm, with the geology of the area exhibiting all elements necessary for the ore formation process in sedimentary rock. Moreover, according to American West, a pronounced zonation of metal and mineralogy is also observed at Storm, appearing as a large copper-rich core that transitions laterally and vertically into thinner marginal zones with copper-iron, iron, zinc, and minor lead – which is a strong vector for further exploration.
In our view, it is also promising that these features are similar to many of the world’s large sediment-hosted copper systems, including deposits in the Kalahari Copper Belt and the Central African Copper Belt.
Further Work
Drilling within the 4100N Zone is expected to continue well into the summer. Subsequently, American West Metals plans to test the 2200N and 2750N zones with drilling, where the company also encountered high-grade copper mineralization near the surface last year.
In addition, the company plans to conduct diamond core drilling in the foreseeable future to investigate large, geophysical copper targets recently discovered at depth below the near-surface copper mineralization through various surveys. At the same time, processing and process optimization studies are being continued on a range of different ore types.
Conclusion: Consistently high copper grades near the surface that continue ‘predictably’ and the potential for even significantly larger deposits at depth below the 4100-Zone suggest that 2023 could be a very eventful and successful year for American West Metals at Storm. Especially since there is still potential to establish an independent DSO (Direct Shipping Ore) operation at Storm, which means that unlike many competitors, the company has the opportunity to become a producer with a permanently high margin in a relatively short time, with low investment costs. Currently, American West’s stock is suspended from trading, as the company has also announced that it is ‘considering’ conducting a financing.
