American West Metals has unveiled a maiden mineral resource for its Storm project in Canada of 17.5 million tonnes at 1.2 per cent copper and 3.4 grams per tonne silver after just one season of resource drilling.
The JORC-compliant estimate holds 205,000 tonnes of copper and 1.9 million ounces of silver in terms of total metal content at the operation on Somerset Island in the Canadian province of Nunavut. Management says the maiden resource contains a higher-grade core of 11.2 million tonnes going 1.5 per cent copper and 4.3g/t silver for 173,000 tonnes of contained copper and 1.5 million silver ounces.
The Storm deposit remains open in all directions and does not include several high-grade discoveries where drilling has delivered 48.6m at 3 per cent copper from the Thunder prospect, or 15.2m going 2.3 per cent copper in addition to 15.2m reading 2.1 per cent copper from the Lightning Ridge target. The Cyclone North discovery that unearthed a 7.6m hit at 1 per cent copper has also not been included.
American West says the maiden resource includes data from 50 reverse-circulation (RC) and 53 diamond drill holes, 52 per cent of which were completed during the 2023 field season.
Four high-grade, indicated and inferred copper-silver deposits have been defined, including the Cyclone, Chinook, Coroan and Cirrus deposits that were previously known as the 4100N, 2750N, 2200N and 3750N zones, respectively.
The company has already kicked off mining and processing studies, which are a critical step in the preparation of future mine permitting applications. Early studies suggest the deposits may be suitable to be mined with traditional open-pit methods, using lower cut-off grades than underground deposits and resulting in more copper metal.
Ongoing metallurgical studies have confirmed the amenability of ores to a range of low-cost ore-sorting and beneficiation process methods, with excellent recoveries of copper. Management says the shallow nature, favourable geometry and high copper grades of the Storm deposits have set the foundation for what it believes will be a large-scale, open-pit copper mining camp in the Storm area.
American West Metals managing director David O’Neill said: “The maiden JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Storm Project has exceeded our expectations and delivered the foundations to what we believe will be a globally significant copper district. Within only a single season of resource drilling we have rapidly defined four robust copper deposits very close to surface.”
A major drilling program has already been planned to drill out last year’s discoveries, expand the known deposits and test new, high-priority exploration targets. Work is also underway on the Canadian NI 43-101-compliant mineral resource, which is expected to be released soon.
Management says the open mineralisation of the known deposits, recent discoveries of high-grade copper mineralisation in the Storm area and the largely untested 100km prospective copper horizon, highlight the potential for the discovery and definition of further resources within the project.
American West has flagged that additional electromagnetic surveys will be conducted this year to extend the coverage outside of Storm and into the Blizzard and Tornado areas, with the potential for discovery of additional targets both in the near-surface and at depth.
The company holds an 80 per cent share of the project with Aston Bay Holdings after completing its exploration spend requirement. As part of an option agreement in 2021, American West was granted the chance to grab the commanding slice of the project once exploration expenditure of C$10 million (AU$11.475 million) was completed.
Management says it reached the spending milestone during this year’s drill program and it then decided to exercise its option. An unincorporated joint venture (JV) between the two companies is now expected to be formed, with Aston Bay holding 20 per cent and American West talking the role of project operator.
With less than 5 per cent of the 100km-long prospective copper-bearing horizon within the project area already drill-tested, including the Tempest prospect that has a 4km long copper-zinc gossan identified at surface, American West could be looking at significant upgrades to its already impressive resource at Storm as exploration continues during the next 12 months.
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By Michael Philipps
