Aston Bay Holdings (TSX.V: BAY, FSE: 6AY, WKN: A2AUFP) has made the search for high-grade copper and gold deposits in North America its priority. Together with Australian partner American West, it is developing the Storm copper project in the Canadian province of Nunavut. On its own, the company is searching for copper, zinc and gold in the US state of Virginia. All three metals are highly sought after as precious metals or critical raw materials.
On the subject of gold and crisis protection, most investors need no introduction. They know that gold protects, is still in demand and represents a high value even when other “values” have long since disappeared from view. Most investors also believe they know their way around copper. They know about the elementary importance of the red metal for the energy transition. What is often overlooked, however, is that the available stocks are declining dramatically and many of the large producing mines will be exhausted between 2030 and 2035.
Therefore, the question already arises as to where the required copper will come from even without the energy transition. Aston Bay -is in the process of providing part of the answer to this existential question with its projects in Canada and the USA. The situation is similar for zinc. It is almost like the forgotten metal of mankind. The whole world needs it, but hardly anyone is interested in zinc. The result is a looming future shortage that surpasses that of copper, because copper is actively sought, while zinc is considered merely a byproduct.
In view of the expected demand, Aston Bay – could hardly be better positioned. This also applies to the regions in which the company operates, as it only explores projects in Canada and the USA. Both are safe and mining-friendly countries where it is possible continue to work in peace even when it has long since become too dangerous elsewhere.
Joint development of the power copper project with American West
High in Canada’s Arctic north, Aston Bay – is developing the Storm copper project with Australian partner American West. Located 112 kilometers south of the community of Resolute Bay in the province of Nunavut, the Storm project consists of 118 mineralized claims primarily encountering the metals copper and zinc. The 268,744 hectare property contains four high-grade mineralized copper zones (2200N, 2750N, 3500N and the 4100N zone) discovered by both historical and recent drilling.
In the two historic deposits, starting from surface, 110 meters of 2.45 percent copper, 56.3 meters of 3.07 percent copper and 41 meters of 4.18 percent copper were identified, among others. Common to all drill holes are the very shallow depths of mineralization. It either begins directly at surface or at shallow depths of just a few metres.
In addition to the near-surface deposits, the chalcocite-bornite-chalcopyrite-pyrite-sphalerite mineralization encountered on the project is typical of sedimentary copper mineralization and can be seen as evidence of an extensive copper system at greater depths. This discovery has made investors sit up and take notice, as it means no more and no less than that Congo-style copper deposits hidden at depth could possibly now be encountered in this part of Canada.
New gravity surveys have defined several large gravity anomalies along the existing graben faults which serve as the plumbing system for the known mineralization. The higher-density anomalies are associated with strong electromagnetic and IP anomalies already known to contain copper mineralization. Historical drill core is sparse at depth, but drilling in 2023 intersected copper mineralization spatially associated with these anomalies for the first time at approximately 300m depth. Importantly, density measurements taken with the drill cores have indicated that sulphide mineralized intersections are assumed to be the only plausible source of the modeled gravity anomalies; several kilometre-scale anomalies remain untested by drilling, providing significant potential discovery upside.