4.00 out of 5 - 1 guest ratings
Thank you very much for rating this post. Following last year's high-grade discovery at the Storm Copper Project on Somerset Island, Nunavut, American West Metals (ASX: AW1; OTCQB: AWMLF; FRA: R84) in the drilling season that is now starting about five times as much as in the previous year!
For the planned 10,000 m of drilling, two different drill rigs will be used, a reverse circulation (RC) drill and a diamond drill bit a little later. The two drills have different tasks: With the RC drill, around 8,000 meters of shallow drilling are planned, reaching a maximum depth of 150 meters, which corresponds to around 50 boreholes. The Company aims to identify a near-surface resource of high-grade copper in Zone 4100N and adjacent zones 2750N and 2200N in the shortest possible time, potentially suitable for low-cost direct shipping open pit mining. The speed of the holes speaks for the RC device. Historic drilling at Zone 4100N has intersected near surface large quantities of high-grade copper including: 15m @ 3.88% Cu from 72.4m (ST99-47); 27.2m @ 1.9% Cu from 78.8m (ST00-62) and 5.8m @ 3.6% Cu from 38.6m (ST99-53). The footprint of near-surface, high-grade copper mineralization at Storm was defined over an area of 40 hectares, with an average mineralization thickness of 24 m @ 2.15% Cu (weighted average grade from 32 drill holes). To date, four main zones of mineralization have been identified.
This will be followed by approximately 2,000 m of diamond core drilling. These wells will be drilled to greater depth to pursue the large discovery of layered sedimentary copper sulfides at depth. American West sees the potential for a large sedimentary copper system on Storm in the project area. To support the drilling, the Company will conduct ground gravity surveys and surface electromagnetic surveys.
Dave O'Neill, Managing Director of American West Metals, commented, "Exploration and drilling activities are expected to commence in early April. The first phase of drilling is expected to define the initial JORC resources in zones 4100N, 2750N and 2200N. We believe there are significant copper resources here that have excellent potential for low-cost open pit mining. Exploration will also pursue the groundbreaking discovery of stratified, sedimentary copper mineralization beneath known copper occurrences. The 2022 drilling indicated that we may have encountered the edge of a large sedimentary copper system, and we will use ground gravity and EM to define the core of the mineralization. Additional diamond drilling with the drill rigs currently on site will be used to test these deeper targets."
Figure 1: Top view of the Storm prospect area with drilling, major trench faults, deep electromagnetic plates and induced polarization anomalies overlaying the Fourier gravitational image (Falcon).
Large sedimentary copper system suspected at depth
The recent discovery in drill hole ST22-10 (see ASX news release dated September 28, 2022: New copper system confirmed at the Storm Project, Canada) indicates that the known near-surface copper occurrences at Storm may be associated with a large, sedimentary copper system at depth.
Interpretation of the geochemical and geological data from hole ST22-10 indicates that the hole intersected the edges of a mineralized system. This interpretation is supported by a number of large, congruent electromagnetic (EM), induced polarization (IP) and gravity anomalies. The near-surface copper occurrences at Storm are located above or in close proximity to the major geophysical anomalies, further underscoring the potential connection between the two types of mineralization.
In order to calibrate new high-resolution geophysical surveys, close-meshed ground gravity surveys and EM surveys on known deposits are planned. Based on these measurement results, the Company will then expand its exploration regionally. The new areas include the Blizzard, Tornado and Tempest properties (see Figure 2). The Tempest prospect is located approximately 40 kilometres south of the Storm deposit and contains a large (>250 m long) oxidized copper mineralization exposed at surface that returned up to 32% Cu. Its location and distance from Storm illustrate the extent of the prospective copper horizon in the project area.
Figure 2: Nunavut Project prospect map highlighting key prospective copper and zinc horizons.
Conclusion: The Storm project has all the characteristics that could make it a true company maker for American West: high-grade deposits and regional potential. So far, the company has literally discovered only the tip of the iceberg on Somerset Island in the Arctic archipelago off the west coast of Greenland. High-grade, near-surface copper mineralization at 4100N and adjacent targets could allow for the rapid development of a potentially open pit resource. Geologists have strong arguments for believing that the high-grade discoveries are part of a much larger regional structure with sedimentary copper deposits. How extensive this system could be can be guessed by linking the discoveries of Storm to the target Tempest, 40 kilometers to the south (32% copper at surface). In all this, Somerset Island is remote, but extremely conveniently located due to the direct connection to the sea. After this season, we will have a much clearer picture of the potential: if geologists can confirm the hypothesis of a regional sedimentary copper system, Storm will certainly become interesting for large mining companies. However, American West would probably not be dependent on their interest, because the special opportunity of the Storm project is that the high-grade deposits could offer a fast, cost-effective route to initial cash flow that would also be manageable for a small company.
Risk warning: GOLDINVEST Consulting GmbH publishes comments, analyses and news on https://www.goldinvest.de. These contents serve exclusively to inform the readers and do not represent any kind of call to action, neither explicitly nor implicitly they are to be understood as an assurance of any price developments. Furthermore, they in no way replace individual expert investment advice, but rather advertising / journalistic publications. Readers who make investment decisions and/or carry out transactions on the basis of the information provided herein act entirely at their own risk. The acquisition of securities, especially for shares in the penny stock area, involves high risks that can lead to the total loss of the capital invested. GOLDINVEST Consulting GmbH and its authors expressly exclude any liability for financial losses or the content guarantee for topicality, correctness, appropriateness and completeness of the articles offered here. Please also note our Terms of Use.
According to §34b WpHG and according to §48f paragraph 5 BrseG (Austria) we would like to point out that clients, partners, authors and employees of GOLDINVEST Consulting GmbH hold or may hold shares of American West Metals and thus a possible conflict of interest exists. We also cannot rule out the possibility that other stock market letters, media or research firms will discuss American West Metals during the same period. Therefore, symmetrical information and opinion generation can occur during this period. Furthermore, there is a consulting or other service contract between American West Metals and GOLDINVEST Consulting GmbH, which constitutes a conflict of interest.