Aston Bay Holdings Ltd V.BAY

“Further impressive results from the spring RC program

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“Further impressive results from the spring RC program continue to expand the footprint of near-surface copper mineralization at Storm,” stated Thomas Ullrich, CEO of Aston Bay. “The program conducted by our partners America West has outlined a significant system over 1.3 kilometres long and 300 metres wide at the 4100N Zone alone. More drilling on the zone is now underway and further delineation drilling at other zones is planned for later this summer.

“Diamond drilling of the large geophysical targets below the 4100N Zone will also begin soon. Geological and geophysical modeling point to a sediment hosted copper system, the type of mineralization responsible for the very large and high-grade copper deposits of central Africa. The potential for discovery is enormous here, making this one of the most exciting drill programs of the summer.”


Figure 1: Plan view of the 4100N Zone showing interpreted copper mineralization footprint (defined by drilling, MLEM and VTEM), historical and recent drilling details, overlaying regional geology. Stated drill hole intersections are all core length, and true width is expected to be 60% to 95% of stated length.


COPPER MINERALIZATION OPEN LATERALLY IN ALL DIRECTIONS
The data validation and interpretation have been completed on drill holes SR23-10, SR23-11, SR23-12, SR23-16, SR23-17, and SR23-18. Most of the drill holes are extensional to the known mineralization, significantly increasing the surface footprint of the 4100N Zone and, importantly, demonstrating that the mineralization is open laterally in all directions.

The drilling results continue to demonstrate consistent copper grades and excellent lateral continuity of the known copper mineralization. The mineralization is defined by broad intervals of vein and fracture-style chalcocite, bornite and lesser chalcopyrite hosted within distinct, horizontally extensive dolomite layers.

The potential for further expansion of the high-grade, near-surface mineralization at the 4100N Zone is supported by strong Moving Loop Electromagnetic (MLEM) and Vertical Time domain Electromagnetic (VTEM) anomalism in areas outside of the current drilling (Figure 1).




DRILL HOLE SR23-10 DETAILS
SR23-10 was drilled to a downhole depth of 125m and is the westernmost drill hole of the 2023 program to date.

The drill hole is located west of historical drill hole ST00-62 (25.5m core length @ 1.9% Cu) and was planned to test for extensions of the copper mineralization into a zone of strong MLEM anomalism (Figure 1).

SR23-10 intersected two horizontal zones of strong vein and fracture-style copper sulfide mineralization hosted within fractured dolomite (Figure 2). The grade and mineralogy are identical to that of the nearby historical drill holes and confirm the excellent lateral continuity of the mineralization in the western part of the deposit.


Figure 2: Geological section view at 464,64E showing the interpreted mineralization envelopes (>0.5% & >1% Cu), MLEM conductor (off section to west of drill hole) and recent drill hole assays. Stated drill hole intersection is downhole width, and true width is expected to be 90%-100% of stated length.


The upper zone of strong mineralization is located at the same stratigraphic depth as the modeled MLEM anomalies, which suggests these plates are likely to be associated with the higher grade (>2.5% Cu) intervals. The MLEM conductors are located to the west of drill hole SR23-10 and indicate that the high-grade mineralization is likely to continue at least 100m to the west. MLEM has not yet been completed to the west of the known conductors, which offers a significant opportunity for expansion of the orebody in this direction.


Table 2 through Table 6 below summarise the significant intersections in drilling. Intersections are expressed as downhole widths and are interpreted to be approximately 90-100% of true width. A cut-off grade of 0.5% copper is used to define a significant intersection and is based on ore mineralogy, mineralization habit and expected beneficiation performance.




DRILL HOLE SR23-11 DETAILS
SR23-11 was drilled to a downhole depth of 140.2m and is located to the east and south of drill hole SR23-10 (Figure 1).

SR23-11 intersected a very thick, 42m zone of copper sulfide mineralization. The broad interval contains three narrower zones of strong mineralization, supporting the lateral continuity in this location. The lower overall grade of the interval is due to a lower volume of sulfide veining.

The mineralogy is identical to that of the 4100N Zone and consists of mostly chalcocite, with lesser amounts of bornite and chalcopyrite, hosted within fractured dolomite.



DRILL HOLE SR23-12 DETAILS
SR23-12 was drilled to a downhole depth of 149.3m and is located in the north-central area of the 4100N Zone.

The drill hole was completed to test the extent of the copper mineralization along the northern part of the known mineralized footprint (Figure 1), and in an area with strong EM anomalism.

SR23-12 intersected one main zone of strong vein and fracture-style copper sulfide mineralization hosted within a much broader interval (37m) of intermittent sulfide veins within fractured dolomite.

All drill holes along the northern extent of the known 4100N Zone (including SR23-12) have intervals of strong copper mineralization and are open to the north where MLEM data supports potential extensions to the mineralization in this direction.



DRILL HOLE SR23-16 and SR23-17 DETAILS
SR23-16 and SR23-17 were drilled to test the continuity of the 4100N Zone in an area of an interpreted fault/break in the mineralization (Figure 1). The holes were drilled to a downhole depth of 132.6m and 129.5m respectively.

The drill holes have successfully confirmed the presence of a large fault as well as further outstanding thicknesses of high-grade copper mineralization (Figure 3).


Figure 3: Geological section view at 465,140E showing the interpreted mineralization envelopes (>0.5% & >1% Cu) and recent drill hole assays. Stated drill hole intersection is downhole width, and true width is expected to be 90%-100% of stated length.

Drill hole SR23-16 has intersected the very top of the mineralized horizon which is abruptly cut-off by a thick interval of clay. The thickness of the clay zone and discrete lateral nature of the known faults in the area suggest the drill hole intersected the fault at a high angle. It is interpreted that the faults are brittle, have sharp contacts and do not significantly offset the mineralization.

Drill hole SR23-17 was drilled to the south of SR23-16 and was designed to test the continuity of the known ore zone south of the interpreted fault.  The drill hole intersected two zones of strong mineralization. The upper zone contains copper grades up to 5.3% Cu and is characterized by a thick and coherent high-grade copper core including 3.1m @ 4.8% Cu.

The lower mineralization horizon is narrower and related to other, lower sequence horizons in the area, demonstrating outstanding lateral continuity of the mineralized horizons.




DRILL HOLE SR23-18 DETAILS
SR23-18 was drilled to a downhole depth of 182.9m in the central east of the 4100N Zone (Figure 1).

SR23-18 intersected one main zone of strong vein and fracture-style copper sulfide mineralization hosted within a much broader interval (27m) of intermittent sulfide veins within fractured dolomite.

The grade and mineralogy of the upper, strong zone of mineralization are identical to that of the other drill holes in this area. Importantly, the nearest drill holes to the east of SR23-18 are located over 200m away and contain exceptional intervals of >2% Cu mineralization (ST99-53 contains 4.8m core length @ 3.7% Cu from 20.3m downhole and 4.4m core length @ 4.6% Cu from 38.6m downhole).



DELINEATION DRILLING PROGRAM RECOMMENCES
After a pause to allow for the spring melt, the RC delineation program is once again underway at the 4100N Zone. Further delineation drilling is planned this summer at the 2750N and 2200N Zones.


DIAMOND DRILLING OF LARGE COPPER TARGETS
Diamond drilling is set to commence targeting the outstanding copper targets that have been defined beneath the near-surface mineralization at Storm (see June 13, 2023 news release).

Evidence from drilling and geologic and geophysical modeling strongly supports the potential for a large-scale copper system within the Storm Project area. The recent gravity survey has defined a series of dense features that are spatially associated with the interpreted graben fault architecture and known copper sulfide mineralization at Storm. These geological features are similar to the typical sediment-hosted copper deposits of central and southern Africa and are therefore high priority exploration targets.


Figure 4: Geophysical interpretation map showing the focus areas (numbered) for the deep drilling.

The first of the copper targets to be tested is a large and dense body underlying the 4100N Zone which is interpreted to represent a larger accumulation of copper sulfides similar to that intercepted in the shallow drilling (Areas 1 & 2 on Figure 4). The 2.3 km-long target commences at approximately 200m depth and is intersected by a strong IP anomaly on its upper contact. This is a highly significant association and indicates a both dense and electrically chargeable body.  The only known dense and chargeable geological feature at depth in the Storm area is sulfide mineralization.

The diamond drilling will then move into other high-priority areas that have been defined with geological interpretation using a range of geophysical techniques including gravity, Induced Polarization (IP) and EM.

These other targets include a coincident gravity/IP/EM target that is located to the west of the high-grade 2750N Zone, where historical drill hole ST00-66 hit an interval over 20% Cu near the surface (Area 3 on Figure 4). Other high-priority areas include key geological locations with strong geophysical support.

Approximately 2,500m of drilling is planned with holes depths between 400m and 600m. Additional drill holes will be added to follow up any encouraging results.