Aston Bay and American West Metals Announce Field Season Summary for Storm Copper Project, Canada
Aston Bay and American West Metals Announce Field Season Summary for Storm Copper
Project, Canada
• Spring and Summer geophysical and drilling programs in 2023 have significantly
advanced the Storm Project on several fronts:
Sediment Hosted Copper Discovery
• Discovery of multiple regional scale sediment hosted copper systems, as evidenced by
intersections of what appears to be stratiform chalcocite (copper sulfide) mineralization
as predicted by both the geological and geophysical models - the discovery has
similarities to the world-class copper belts in Central Africa and Botswana
• Confirmation of geophysical methods effective at targeting sediment-hosted copper
mineralization: both gravity and deeper electromagnetic (EM) anomalies have been
shown to be strongly associated with sulfide mineralization
• Significant kilometre-scale historical gravity anomalies that conform to the predictive
geological model remain untested and are priority targets for follow-up modern
geophysical surveys this coming spring and drilling in summer 2024
New Near-Surface Copper Discoveries
• 76 metres (m) of visual heavily mineralized breccia to massive copper sulfide
(chalcocite, bornite and chalcopyrite) at "Thunder" and 19m of strong visual copper
sulfide mineralization at "Lightning Ridge"
Ground Truthing of "Tempest" Copper Gossans
• Chalcocite, malachite and sphalerite at surface along 4km gossan trend, 40km south of
Storm mineralization
Delineation Drilling and Near-Term Development Potential
• Continuity of the near-surface copper mineralization confirmed in over 10,000m of
Reverse Circulation (RC) and core drilling: 41m @ 4.18% Cu from 38m downhole,
including 5m @ 24.28% Cu from 48m downhole (ST22-05) and 46m @ 2.2% Cu from
64m downhole, including 15.6m @ 4.2% Cu from 65m downhole (SM23-02) (all core
lengths).
• Maiden copper resources anticipated Q4 2023, with environmental, processing and
metallurgical studies underway
• American West has completed the exploration expenditure requirement to earn an 80%
interest in the Storm Project
• Assays are pending for 29 drill holes from the 2023 drill program - including those for
the deep sediment hosted copper discovery holes as well as those from the Thunder and
Lightning Ridge discoveries - with results expected over the coming weeks
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2023 / Aston Bay Holdings Ltd.
(TSXV:BAY)(OTCQB:ATBHF) ("Aston Bay" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an
interim summary of the spring and summer 2023 exploration programs at the Storm Copper
Project ("Storm" or the "Project") on Somerset Island, Nunavut, Canada with the field
component now concluded. The program was conducted by American West(as defined below),
who is the operator of the Project. Aston Bay is also pleased to report that American West has
successfully completed the minimum exploration expenditure required to earn an 80% undivided
interest in the Project.
As previously disclosed, Aston Bay entered into an Option Agreement dated March 9, 2021 (the
"Option Agreement") with American West Metals Limited and its wholly-owned subsidiary,
Tornado Metals Ltd. (collectively, "American West") pursuant to which American West was
granted an option (the "Option") to earn an 80% undivided interest in the Project by spending a
minimum of CAD$10 million on qualifying exploration expenditures ("Expenditures"). The
parties amended and restated the Option Agreement as of February 27, 2023 to facilitate
American West potentially financing the Expenditures through flow-through shares but did not
change the commercial agreement between the parties.
The Expenditures were completed during the 2023 drilling program and American West is
expected to exercise the Option in accordance with the terms of the Option Agreement, as
amended. Upon exercise of the Option, American West and Aston Bay will form an 80/20
unincorporated joint venture and enter into a joint venture agreement. Under such agreement,
Aston Bay shall have a free carried interest until American West has made a decision to mine
upon completion of a bankable feasibility study, meaning American West will be solely
responsible for funding the joint venture until such decision is made. After such decision is
made, Aston Bay will be diluted in the event it does not elect to contribute its proportionate share
and its interest in the Project will be converted into a 2% net smelter returns royalty if its interest
is diluted to below 10%.
"The highlights outlined above speak to the quality of the work completed by American West and
to their commitment to the partnership," stated Thomas Ullrich, CEO of Aston Bay.
"In addition to the discoveries made this season, two developments are critical: we have both a
confirmed predictive geological model, as well as geophysical methods that produce anomalies
that can only be explained by sulfide mineralization. This combination is very powerful in
exploration, already providing discoveries and, we anticipate, more to come.
"We believe we have tapped into a significant stratiform sediment hosted copper system at depth
at Storm but have so far only grazed the edge. The deep holes drilled this season have
intersected chalcocite and other copper sulfides, confirming the model, but we believe this may
be just a hint of what is to come. The combination of the predictive geological model, known
mineralogical zonation and proven geophysical methods will allow refinement of our drill
targeting to get to the cores of these mineralized zones in future programs.
"We are very pleased that American West has so successfully advanced Storm in such a short
time. It is no surprise, given the calibre of their leadership. We look forward to further
advancement and additional discovery with our ongoing partnership. With no expenditures
required by Aston Bay until a positive production decision, Storm offers excellent optionality
with potentially significant upside for Aston Bay's shareholders."
Figure 1: Location and claims block of the Storm Project.
STORM PROJECT - AN EMERGING COPPER OPPORTUNITY WITH GLOBAL
SIGNIFICANCE
The Storm Project is located in a Tier 1 mining district with nearby past-producing mines
including the Polaris Zinc-Lead mine (22Mt @ 14.1% Zn, 4% Pb) and the Nanisivik Zinc-Lead-
Silver mine (18Mt @ 9% Zn, 0.7% Pb, 35g/t Ag).
Storm is located approximately 20km from the coast with access to a deepwater bay and a
designated shipping route, providing robust logistics. The land package at Storm comprises
219,257 hectares and hosts over 110km strike length of prospective stratigraphy, representing a
rare, district-scale opportunity.
Exploration at Storm has focused on two clear strategies: exploring the sediment-hosted copper
potential predicted by the geological model, as well as defining a maiden resource and expanding
the footprint of the high-grade, near-surface copper mineralization.
A broad range of geophysics has been deployed - including high-resolution Electromagnetics
(EM), ground gravity and ground magnetics surveys - to establish targets for both resource
expansion and exploration drilling. Approximately 11,290m of RC and diamond drilling have
been completed by American West for a total of 73 drill holes.
Geophysics has proven to be a very effective targeting tool with the discovery of the regional
scale sediment-hosted copper system as well as with expansion of the footprint of the near-
surface mineralization, including the discovery of the Thunder and Lightning Ridge deposits.
The positive gravity and EM anomalies extend for tens of kilometres within the Storm tenure and
highlight the potential size of the Storm copper system and the significant exploration potential.
Under the new joint venture agreement, Aston Bay and American West plan to increase both the
exploration and resource development programs at Storm with a ramp-up of activities during
2024.
Figure 2: Strong copper sulfide (chalcocite - dark grey) breccia fill and veining in exploration
diamond drill hole ST23-02 from approximately 358.2m downhole. This mineralization is
interpreted to be of the sediment hosted style and is one of five drill holes that have intersected
the same prospective unit to date.
EMERGING REGIONAL-SCALE SEDIMENT HOSTED COPPER SYSTEM
The exploration completed by American West Metals during the earn-in period has delivered the
significant discovery of stratiform sediment hosted-style copper sulfide mineralization as
predicted by the geological model (Figure 2). The discovery has built on the assumptions that the
near-surface more structurally controlled copper mineralization may be associated with a deeper,
and potentially much larger, stratiform and/or structurally controlled copper system.
Five deep diamond exploration drill holes have tested the deeper system to date, one completed
in 2022 and four drilled during the 2023 season, all to test the deeper stratiform sediment hosted
copper system, with each of the holes designed to test different geophysical and structural targets
(Figure 3). The drill holes were widely spaced between 600m and 2km apart over approximately
two square kilometres. Significantly, all drill holes have intersected visual copper sulfide
mineralization, including chalcocite (assays are still pending for the 2023 drill holes). The copper
mineralization and geology within the drill holes are highly similar and suggest that the
stratigraphy of the deeper mineralized system is laterally very extensive and potentially
represents a stratiform system.
Figure 3: Plan view of the Storm area showing the gravity data interpretation, near-surface
mineralization footprint (yellow), major faults, and diamond deep drill hole locations.
The Storm area shows clear geological similarities to many of the world's major stratiform
sediment-hosted copper systems, including the deposits of the Kalahari Copper Belt (Botswana)
and Central African Copper Belt (DRC, Zambia). These copper deposits typically have metre
scale thicknesses and kilometre scale strikes of the mineralized zones.
Building on the encouraging results to date, surface geophysics will be extended into the
Tornado and Blizzard areas - which extend for 10km from the known Storm discoveries - to
follow up and capture higher resolution data over existing gravity and EM anomalies (Figure 4).
Further drilling will be designed to scope out the extent of the large, stratiform sediment-hosted
copper system.
Figure 4: Map of the Storm and Tornado/Blizzard areas showing the ground gravity survey data
over Storm (2023 survey) and Tornado/Blizzard (2015 survey), overlaying the regional airborne
gravity survey data (2017 Falcon Survey).
TEMPEST COPPER- ZINC PROSPECT
The Tempest Prospect is located approximately 40 kilometres south of the known discoveries at
Storm. The area hosts widespread surface gossans with assays up to 32% copper. The copper
gossans were historically defined over 250m within an area of Storm-style stratigraphy proximal
to Proterozoic basement.
Reconnaissance sampling, EM surveys and field mapping during the 2023 field season was
aimed at expanding the understanding of the area. The work has now extended the strike of
Tempest to over 4km (Figure 5), with sampling identifying numerous copper and zinc gossans
along this prospective trend (assays are pending).
The nature and style of base metal mineralization at Tempest remains under investigation. An
extensive geophysical and proposed drilling program is planned to test this prospective area
during 2024.