American West Metals has dropped a thunderclap on the Canadian copper exploration landscape after confirming a suite of giant geophysical anomalies at its Storm copper project on Somerset Island in Nunavut.
The final results from the company’s airborne mobile magnetotellurics (MMT) survey have lit up the ground north of Storm’s Cyclone deposit, revealing a conductor with more than 16 kilometres of strike at just 200 metres depth.
Notably, the anomaly sits in the Allen Bay formation - the same geological structure hosting thick, high-grade copper sulphides already picked up in earlier drilling campaigns. For explorers, that’s the equivalent of a giant neon sign flashing “dig here”.
Providing another piece of the puzzle, a sheet-like conductor has also been mapped at 400m depth and across a 10-square-kilometre area, which could be the same deeper copper horizon already intersected by earlier diamond drilling at the company’s Cyclone deposit.
Add in two more cross-cutting and highly conductive features in the Midway and Tornado/Blizzard areas of the Storm prospect - both backed by outcropping copper sulphides at surface - and American West is staring at a discovery pipeline most juniors could only dream of.
American West Metals managing director David O’Neill said: “These are very promising results. Any of these anomalies could represent a major copper deposit ready for discovery, particularly as many of the new MMT anomalies are proximal to known copper sulphides.”
O’Neill remains upbeat, pointing to Storm’s mix of shallow, flat-lying copper mineralisation and a growing pipeline of deeper, district-scale targets as the recipe for the kind of low-cost development opportunity the market is crying out for.
Armed with a vault of new insights from the phase one MMT survey, American West is now sketching out drilling plans to test its high-priority targets.
When the drill rods have had their say, the company plans to launch a second geophysical campaign to zero in on any hot spots revealed by drilling and push coverage across the remaining strike horizon in the southern end of its claims.
Meanwhile, American West is eagerly awaiting assays from earlier drilling programs designed to chase geophysical targets at its Cirrus Deeps, Cyclone Deeps, Midway and Tornado/Blizzard prospects. Early core inspections have already raised eyebrows at Cyclone Deeps, where one diamond hole intersected 47m of visible copper sulphide from 284m depth - a tantalising hint that the near-surface, 13-million-tonne Cyclone deposit may have a much larger extension at depth.
Results are expected within weeks and will provide the first taste of whether these anomalies have delivered the goods.
At the same time, mine permitting is advancing with the Nunavut Planning Commission, including applications to fast-track early works. The company’s pre-feasibility study is also gathering momentum, with financial modelling being modified to account for the stronger copper prices.
The results could not come at a better time. Global copper supply is tightening, inventories are shrinking and near-term development projects are thin on the ground.
If assays confirm even a slice of what the geophysics is suggesting, Storm could emerge as one of the most exciting copper development stories in the Arctic.
In a sector where timing and scale are everything, American West appears to have both. Punters are likely to be laser-focused as the rigs line up to drill into what could be a 16km-long game-changer.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By James Pearson
