Good Chances for New and Increasing Resources

The success story of Aston Bay (TSX.V: BAY, FSE: 6AY, WKN: A2AUFP) and partner American West Metals on the Storm Copper Project on Somerset Island in the Canadian province of Nunavut continues. This year’s summer drilling program is far from over and can already be considered a success, as the latest drilling has intersected up to 121.2 meters of ore with continuous visually observable copper mineralization.

An additional 22 drill holes totaling 8,300 meters of the extensive drilling program, which is designed for more than 20,000 drill meters, have been completed in the meantime, and the first laboratory results are expected within the next two weeks. With anticipation, invested shareholders of American West and Aston Bay can therefore wait for the answer to the question of whether this year’s drilling can again match the outstanding drill results of the previous year, which included 3% Copper over 48.8 meters at a depth of only 32.4 meters.

The chances for this are good, as all nine step-out drill holes on the Thunder prospect intersected substantial zones with visible copper mineralization. This has extended the known Thunder mineralization along strike to over 300 meters and significantly increased the potential for resource definition.

Drill hole SR24-042 intersected a continuous 73.2-meter zone with visible copper sulfide mineralization at a depth of only 45.7 m, while drill hole SR24-034 showed a continuous 121.2-meter section with visible copper sulfide mineralization at 18.3 m depth. Despite these successes, the high-grade copper zone of the Thunder deposit remains open along strike and at depth. Particularly the depth potential has still not been precisely determined, as the drilling only reached a maximum vertical depth of about 100 meters.

Successes Also on the Cyclone Prospect Area

Aston Bay Holdings and American West also achieved very good successes in the Cyclone target area. Here, substantial sections with visible copper sulfides were intersected in several drill holes. These included several hits that were outside the known mineralization zone. They increase the potential to delineate a resource here as well.

Drill holes SR24-031 and SR-055 were drilled northeast of the Cyclone prospect. They extended the mineralization along strike with sections of 53.4 m (total) and 80.7 m of continuously visible copper mineralization, respectively. These successes were complemented by drill holes SR24-045 and SR24-049, which intersected substantial sections with visible semi-massive sulfides in the southern and western parts of the mineralized zone.

Visual observations and estimates of mineral abundance are a useful first indicator. However, they cannot replace the exact analyses from the laboratory. Therefore, Aston Bay and American West are understandably waiting with great anticipation for the arrival of the first results from the laboratory. However, they can be looked forward to with justified anticipation, as the results of the portable measuring devices used on-site currently point towards confirmation of the visual findings.

Of the planned drilling totaling 20,000 drill meters, about 60 reverse circulation drill holes with a length of approximately 7,660 meters and six diamond drill holes with about 677 meters have been completed so far. American West and Aston Bay Holdings are thus well on track to complete the program as planned and to be able to drill the intended 20,000 drill meters.