Aston Bay Announces Accelerated 2023 Exploration and Resource Delineation Program at Storm Copper Project, Nunavut
Aston Bay Announces Accelerated 2023 Exploration and Resource Delineation
Program at Storm Copper Project, Nunavut
TORONTO, Ontario, January 24, 2023 – Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSXV: BAY) (OTCQB: ATBHF)
("Aston Bay" or the "Company”) today reports plans for a proposed expansion of drilling and
exploration activities at the Storm Copper Project (“Storm” or the “Project”) on Somerset
Island, Nunavut, Canada. This will be the second drilling program for American West Metals
Limited (“American West”), who are the project operator, since entering an option agreement
with Aston Bay in March 2021.
Highlights
• Multi-faceted program planned for 2023 - including drilling, geophysics, and studies for a potential
direct shipping product (“DSP”) mining operation
• Extensive drilling program planned with a focus on:
o Resource definition and e xpansion of the near surface, high-grade copper mineralization
across several prospects
o Exploration to follow-up the major discovery of a sediment hosted copper system identified
in 2022 program
• Reverse Circulation (RC) drill rig to join the two diamond drill rigs currently on site
• Surface geophysic al programs are expected to commence during March at Storm and at the
underexplored Blizzard, Tornado and Tempest prospect areas
• Permitting roadmap underway for the potential direct shipping product mine development with
baseline environmental survey to begin in Q2 2023
“We are excited to have our exploration partners American West Metals embark on a significantly
expanded exploration program for this upcoming season,” stated Thomas Ullrich, CEO of Aston Bay.
“Surface geophysics is expected to commence in March, followed by a major drilling program. The
addition of a reverse circulation drill rig will facilitate lower-cost delineation drilling at the known zones
of near-surface copper mineralization, while the high-resolution geophysical surveys will generate
targets for new discoveries with the diamond drill. This ambitious program, in parallel with permitting,
beneficiation and baseline studies, will significantly advance the project in 2023.”
Figure 1: Massive bornite from approximately 50.9m downhole in 2022 drill hole ST22-05 (see September
1, 2022 news release), which returned assays of 41m* @ 4.18% Cu from 38m downhole (*core length).
RESOURCE DEFINITION AND EXPANSION
The footprint of near-surface, high-grade copper mineralization at Storm has been defined over an area
of approximately 400,000 square metres. Four main zones of mineralization have been identified to date
(Figures 2 and 3).
The recent drilling at the 2750N Zone has highlighted the continuity of the copper zones, and the near-
surface mineralization remains a focus for resource drilling due to its high grades, shallow position, and
potential to provide a significant resource base for an initial low-cost open-pit mining scenario.
Outside of the 2750N Zone, the areas of immediate interest are the 2200N Zone and 4100N Zone, where
thick intervals of copper mineralization have also been defined over a broad area. The planned drilling is
designed to expand and test the continuity of these zones with a view to significantly increase the
resource potential of the high-grade copper mineralization.
A Reverse Circulation (RC) drill rig will be used this year for the first time at the Storm Project. The drill
rig is capable of drill depths up to 200m, ideally suited to shallow resource definition and will work in
parallel with the diamond drill rigs currently onsite.
The RC rig is expected to drill until September and has the potential to complete over 10,000m of drilling
during the 2023 program.
2200N Zone
The 2200N Zone is located approximately 540m to the south of the 2750N Zone. The zone is
characterised by extensive outcropping fractured massive chalcocite mineralization and copper gossans
over several hundred metres and is located within an area of strong faulting related to the main graben
structures, which are an important control on mineralization.
Historical drilling has intersected bornite and chalcocite mineralization including 6.4m @ 7.38% Cu from
surface and 22.35m @ 1.56% Cu from 22.9m downhole (ST97-03; all lengths are core length). The
mineralogy and style of mineralization are similar to that of the 2750N Zone. Drill hole and geochemical
data indicate that the main part of the 2200N Zone may be up to 300m long, 60m wide and 40m thick,
giving strong encouragement for further drilling success in this area.
Potential extensions to this zone are supported by the presence of a shallow and strong Fixed Loop
Electromagnetic (FLEM) anomaly that was defined in a 2021 survey (see December 14, 2021 news
release).
Both the 2750N and 2200N Zones are located above a large, flat-lying and deeper 1,800m x 1,000m
FLEM anomaly that was also identified in the 2021 EM program. This feature is coincident with strong
gravity anomalism between the major graben faults, which is an ideal location for the accumulation of
sedimentary copper mineralization.
Figure 2: Plan view of the 2200N and 2750N Zones showing copper grade distribution within drilling, EM
anomalies, outcropping copper mineralization overlaying regional geology. Stated drill hole intersections
are all core length, and true width is expected to be 60% to 95% of core length.
4100N Zone
The 4100N Zone is a blind zone of mineralization defined by a historical Versatile Time domain
Electromagnetics (VTEM) anomaly that is over 1km long, and multiple untested shallow FLEM anomalies
that were defined in the 2021 surface FLEM program. Given the lack of false-positive anomalies
encountered in drilling of EM targets to date, and extensive copper mineralization in historical holes,
these untested EM conductors have excellent potential to represent further occurrences of massive
copper sulfides.
Historical drilling at the 4100N Zone includes intersections such as 15m @ 3.88% Cu from 72.4m
downhole (ST99-47), and 4.8m @ 3.7% Cu from 20.3m and 5.8m @ 3.6% Cu from 38.6m downhole
(ST99-53; all lengths are core length). The copper mineralization intersected to date is dominantly
chalcocite, which occurs in steeply dipping veins and breccias.
The 4100N offers considerable room for expansion. The known mineralization in the zone extends over
an area of at least 1,000m x 400m and is open to the north, east and west, with potential for deep
extensions to the mineralization across a fault on the south side of the Zone. Seventeen holes have been
drilled at spacings of 100m to 200m, and all have encountered copper mineralization. The mineralization
drilled to date is extensive and lies at a predictable stratigraphic position, providing an opportunity for
close-spaced drilling to define further significant mineralization.
Figure 3: Plan view of the 4100N Zone showing copper grade distribution within drilling, EM anomalies
and faults overlaying regional geology. The 4100N Zone has drill hole copper intersections supported
by untested EM anomalies over 1km of strike. Stated drill hole intersections are all core length, and
true width is expected to be 60% to 95% of core length.
EXPLORING THE EMERGING SEDIMENT HOSTED COPPER DISCOVERY
The recent discovery in drill hole ST22-10 (see September 22, 2022 news release) suggests that known
copper prospects at Storm may be related to a large, sediment hosted style copper system below the
near-surface deposits (Figure 4).
The interpretation of the geochemical and geological data from drill hole ST22-10 indicates that the hole
has intersected the margins of a mineralized system (Figure 4). This interpretation is supported by a
series of coincident electromagnetic (EM), induced polarization (IP) and gravity anomalies that are over
5km long, and are associated with the 4100N Zone (Figures 3 and 5).
The other near-surface copper occurrences at Storm (2750N, 2200N and 3500N Zones) are also
associated with large geophysical anomalies, which further supports the potential association between
the two types of mineralization.
Figure 4: Conceptual geological and exploration targeting model for the Storm Project, showing depth of
current drilling and conceptual location of discovery drill hole ST22-10.
Figure 5: Plan view of the Storm Prospect area showing drilling, major graben faults, deep
electromagnetic plates and induced polarization anomalies overlaying regional Fourier gravity image
(Falcon). Note that the coincident IP, EM and strong gravity anomalies lay adjacent to, or between the
major graben faults – favourable locations for the accumulation of sedimentary copper mineralization.
EXPANSION OF EXPLORATION INTO NEW AREAS
New high-resolution geophysical surveys will commence during March and will involve a closely spaced
ground gravity survey and moving/fixed loop EM surveys. The surveys will cover the known prospects to
better define the existing Falcon airborne gravity and FLEM targets, and extend into new, previously
untested areas with the aim of expanding the prospective footprint of copper mineralization at the
project.
These new areas include the Blizzard, Tornado and Tempest Prospects. The Tempest Prospect is located
approximately 40 kilometres to the south of the Storm deposits, and it contains a large (>250m long)
copper gossan exposed at surface that has assayed up to 32% Cu (Figures 6 & 7). Its location and
distance from Storm highlight the extensive nature of the prospective copper horizon within the Project
area.
Figure 6: Map showing the planned surface geophysical surveys for 2023, highlighting the
expansion of activities into the Tornado, Blizzard, and Tempest Prospects.
PRELIMINARY ECONOMIC EVALUATION ON DSP OPERATION UNDERWAY
Work is continuing to progress the potential near-surface mine development pathway for the Storm
Project, in parallel with the accelerated exploration and delineation program.
Beneficiation and metallurgical test work on drill core from the 2022 field season (ST22-02) will create a
definitive processing flow sheet for a direct shipping product (DSP) from the representative near-surface
Storm mineralization. Previous test work on these mineralization styles has produced a >53% copper
direct shipping product using a full-scale ore sorter and with no further processing or optimisation (see
April 11, 2022 news release).
The potential to produce a high value and high margin DSP at Storm could present an opportunity to
provide a short lead time potential pathway to generating revenue from the project while continuing to
explore for further discovery. Ausenco has been engaged and has commenced work on defining and
initiating the permitting pathway for this style of operation at Storm.
This work will also include the commencement of environmental baseline studies during Q2 2023 within
the Storm Prospect area and a newly defined transport corridor between the Storm Prospect area and
the coast.
Figure 7: Prospect location map of the Nunavut Project highlighting the main prospective copper
and zinc stratigraphic horizons.