First diamond hole hits paydirt for American West in USA

American West Metals has hit a cocktail of mixed metals in the USA with its very first diamond hole at the company’s West Desert project in Utah. Notably, new copper and molybdenum results have occurred outside the existing resource and the company says the drill program has confirmed the “exceptional quality” and “significant volume” of the mineralisation. Wide intercepts of decent grade zinc were also encountered and interestingly, indium, that is used in solar panels, touch screens and TV screens was also discovered.

Best results include 21.95m at 1 per cent copper, 0.33 grams per tonne of gold, 6.9 g/t silver, 28 g/t indium and 0.03 per cent molybdenum from 306.31m.

Another 32m intersection came in at 4.43 per cent zinc, 0.27 per cent copper, 0.1 g/t gold, 7.59 g/t silver and 24.23 g/t indium from 150.56m.

Other interesting results include 2.45m at 3.5 per cent copper, 0.85 g/t gold, 38.83 g/t silver, 81.6 g/t indium and 0.14 per cent molybdenum from 308.14m and 2.13m at 3.15 per cent copper, 1.44 g/t gold, 5.58 g/t silver, 56.64 g/t indium and 0.04 per cent molybdenum from 314.08m.

One 6.4m intersection contained an impressive 11.42 per cent zinc, 0.53 per cent copper, 0.26 g/t gold, 14.66 g/t silver and 48.23 g/t indium from 150.56m and another 5.18m intersection graded 8.66 per cent zinc, 0.54 per cent copper, 0.17 g/t gold, 16.05 g/t silver, 60.57 g/t indium in from 162.15m.

Another 21.5m hit came in at 0.6 per cent molybdenum and 23.4 g/t silver from 758.46m, which included 3.35m at 1.2 per cent molybdenum, 48.8 g/t silver, 1.1 per zinc from 759.83m and 7.31m at 1.1 per cent molybdenum, 31.7 g/t silver from 768.67m, including 3.05m at 2.3 per cent molybdenum, 70.9 g/t and silver from 768.67m.

American West says the initial diamond drill program is testing the upper continuation of high-grade mineralisation within the project in what is seen as the historical West Desert deposit.

It says the multiple lenses of high-grade copper and zinc mineralisation were intersected within broader halos of lower-grade mineralisation.

American West Metals Managing Director, David O’Neill said: “Overall we see thick intervals of copper and zinc within the Main Zone and Deep Zone, with encouraging new mineralisation identified outside of the current resource model.”

“The assays have also highlighted an outstanding interval of high-grade molybdenum immediately adjacent to the West Desert Deposit. This interval is two to three times higher in grade than typical molybdenum ores, is largely unexplored and further highlights the huge upside potential of the regional scale mineral system.

“The assay results from the current drill program will be used for American West’s maiden JORC compliant resource estimation for West Desert. With zinc and indium listed as critical metals by the US Government, and prices for the metals in West Desert’s commodity suite at multi-year highs, the development potential of West Desert is a stand-out for investors looking for emerging opportunities.”

The new results come on the back of the company’s recent announcement that an ore-sorting program using material from its high-grade Storm copper project on Somerset Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut delivered “extraordinary results that could be a game-changer for the project”.

And the market appears to be taking notice too with the company’s share price jumping from about $0.17 a week ago to touch $0.26 in intra-day trading today.

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