American West raises $10m to tear into Canadian copper

American West Metals is cashed up and ready to tear into an exploration and resource expansion program at its Storm copper play in the Canadian territory of Nunavut after pumping up its bank account with $10 million in fundraising.

The company says the raise was oversubscribed, with several of its directors intending to stump up their cash and participate in the placement. The shares were also sold at a premium of up to 40 per cent.

Management says it is now planning to use its new funds to test several promising targets at Storm and nearby regional areas including the Blizzard, Tornado and Tempest prospects. It says the exploration activities will assist with expanding the known resources at the project.

The company is also planning to complete development and permitting activities at the project, in addition to exploration activities in the US State of Utah, which will include follow-up work at the Copper Warrior project and permitting studies at the West Desert play.

Its existing JORC 2012 mineral resource estimate for Storm contains 17.5 million tonnes at 1.2 per cent copper and 3.4 grams per tonne silver, comprising a total metal content of 205,000 tonnes of copper and 1.9 million ounces of silver. A total of 30 per cent of the resource is classified in the higher-confidence indicated category.

Management rates the project as potentially a low-cost and high-margin operation within a globally-significant copper district.

American West managing director David O’Neill said: “Major milestones are planned for 2024 including an upgrade of the Storm Resource and the completion of metallurgical processing and economic studies – which we believe will add significant value to American West.”

The company raised $6.977 million (C$6m) using the flow-through shares (FTS) provisions under Canadian tax law. FTS is defined under Canada’s Income Tax Act and is not a special class of share under Canadian corporate law.

The FTS will be placed at 14.71c per share, representing a 22.5 per cent premium to its closing price of 12c on February 16 and a 40 per cent premium to a concurrent institutional placement of shares at price of 10.5c each to raise a further $3.024 million.

O’Neill and fellow director Daniel Lougher today revealed their intention to participate in the placement. The issue of shares to the directors will be subject to shareholder approval at the company’s upcoming general meeting.

American West is an Australian company focused on the discovery and development of major base metal mineral deposits in tier-one jurisdictions of North America. The company plans to develop mines that have a low-carbon footprint and support the global energy transformation. It says its portfolio of copper and zinc projects include significant high-grade resources that can generate strong proposals for mining.

With the company now cashed-up and ready to storm onto its imposing Canadian copper play, plenty of positive news flow could be on the horizon.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au