Aston Bay Announces Drill Targets at Storm Copper
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TSX-V: BAY
Aston Bay Announces Drill Targets at Storm Copper
Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX-V: BAY) (“Aston Bay” or the “Company”) is pleased to
announce additional results of targeting at its 100% owned Aston Bay Property. Based
on modeling and inversion of the >15,000 line-kilometre (km) airborne gravity
gradiometry (AGG) survey flown in 2017, and integration with existing VTEM,
geochemical and geological datasets, the Company has generated multiple priority drill
targets at the Storm Copper prospect for testing during the summer drill program.
Reprocessing and modeling of the AGG data was performed by geophysicists at Gedex
Systems Inc. (“Gedex”). Storm Copper lies within the Company’s >1,000,000 acre (4,145
km2) Aston Bay Property in the Polaris Mining District, Somerset Island, Nunavut. Drill
targets were previously announced for the Seal Zinc deposit and surrounds (see the
Company’s news release dated May 31, 2018).
Description of Storm Copper
The Storm Copper prospect contains high-grade copper mineralization hosted in gently
dipping Paleozoic carbonate rocks, along and adjacent to the northern and southern
margins of a west-northwest to east-northeast trending, ~1 km wide, fault-bounded
valley or graben (Figure 1). The mineralization is constrained by geochronological dating
as part of a regional copper and zinc mineralization event that also formed the past-
producing (21 Mt at 13.4% Zn (Dewey et al., 2007)) Polaris mine, and by analogy, the
Seal Zinc deposit. At Storm, disseminated and fracture-controlled chalcocite is present
over a strike length of >4 km at the sub-cropping, 2200N, 2750N and 3500N and sub-
surface 4100N zones. Highlights from previous drilling are shown in the accompanying
Table 1, and include 32.8m grading 5.40% Cu (ST97-08), 24.6m grading 6.17% Cu (ST99-
19) and, most recently, 8.0m grading 5.45% Cu (STOR1601D). The 2017 gravity survey
detected anomalies coincident with known zones of mineralization and identified
additional anomalies beyond the previous limits of drilling.
Figure 1. Location of Storm Copper prospect (2200N, 2750N 3500N and 4100N Zones)
and location of subsequent detailed figures.
Storm West Drill Targets
A series of new gravity targets partly coincident with VTEM conductive anomalies have
been identified along strike to the west (Storm West, Figure 2) and to the southeast
(Storm East, Figure 3) of the Storm mineralization. To the west, four discrete anomalies
(SW1-SW4) occur adjacent to the northern fault bounding the Storm graben, along
strike from the 4100N zone. These lie partially to completely within a previously
identified ~4 km x 2 km VTEM conductive anomaly, where surface soil samples returned
anomalous results of up to 221 ppm Cu. Two historical and relatively shallow (~150m)
drill holes in the easternmost part of the VTEM anomaly were drilled between the newly
defined gravity features (see inset, Figure 2); the remaining areas have not previously
been drilled. On the southern flank of the Storm graben, two gravity anomalies (SW5
and SW6) have been identified along strike from the 3500N zone, which, although
associated with surface rock and drill core copper mineralization, lacks a significant
associated gravity or VTEM anomaly. The eastern of these (SW5) is coincident with soil
samples that returned up to 303ppm Cu and has a strike length of ~1km immediately
adjacent to the 3500N zone, whereas the western, ~2 km long anomaly (SW6) is subtle
and may represent a deeper target.
Figure 2. Storm West area: gravity targets, vertical gravity gradient, VTEM anomalies
and soil geochemistry.
Figure 3. Storm East area: gravity targets, vertical gravity gradient, VTEM anomalies and
soil geochemistry.
Storm East Drill Targets
East of the 4100N and 2200N zones, the Storm graben turns southeastwards and has
received only limited drilling (Figure 3). Coincident with the change in strike is a ~4 km x
1.5 km VTEM anomaly within which the gravity survey identified three separate
anomalies (SE1 to SE3). The northernmost of these (SE1) has associated anomalous Cu
values in soil samples (up to 592 ppm); two holes drilled in 2016 were collared to the
south of and oriented away from the gravity feature (inset, Figure 3). The other two
gravity features within the VTEM anomaly (SE2 and SE3) are untested. Further south,
four gravity anomalies lie within the projected trend of the graben (SE4 to SE7, and
additional anomalies flank the graben to the east (SE8) and west (SE9 to SE11).
“We are pleased with Gedex’s ability to delineate large, kilometre-scale, near-surface
density anomalies from within the broader anomalies defined by the original AGG
survey,” stated Thomas Ullrich, CEO of Aston Bay. “These are the priority targets for our
summer drill program.”
Dr. David Broughton, Chief Geologist for Aston Bay, commented “We are very
encouraged by the success of the gravity survey both in detecting known mineralization
as proof-of-concept and in identifying new targets within the prospective Storm graben
trend.”
Summer 2018 Drill Program
Mobilization of crew and equipment to the Aston Bay site via Yellowknife and the air
base at Resolute has commenced. Approximately 6000 m of drilling is planned for the
summer 2018 program. The Company expects to commence drilling before the end of
June, initially at the Storm Copper targets and subsequently at Seal Zinc. “The 2018 drill
program will soon be underway, and we look forward to updating investors on
developments and results as they become available,” remarked Mr. Ullrich. “The Storm
Copper and Seal Zinc areas examined thus far represent just 14% of our property on
Somerset Island. Targeting continues outside of these areas, and we expect to present
additional copper and zinc targets in the coming weeks.”
Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) Cu (%) Zone
ST97-02 0.0 19.0 19.0 3.41 2200N
includes 0.0 5.1 5.1 11.84
ST97-03 0.0 50.9 50.9 1.74 2200N
ST97-08 0.0 110.0 110.0 2.45 2750N
includes 25.2 58.0 32.8 5.40
ST97-09 62.3 86.9 24.6 2.16 2750N
ST99-19 12.2 68.5 56.3 3.07 2750N
includes 22.0 46.6 24.6 6.17
ST99-47 43.4 111.0 67.6 1.33 4100N
includes 72.4 87.4 15.0 3.88
ST99-53 17.3 43.0 25.7 1.66 4100N
includes 38.6 43.0 4.4 4.62
ST99-56 52.4 104.3 51.9 0.98 4100N
includes 52.4 67.8 15.4 2.48
ST00-60 54.0 58.9 4.9 2.26 4100N
ST00-60 73.4 76.6 3.2 3.33
ST00-62 78.8 106.0 27.2 1.87 4100N
STOR1601D 93.0 109.0 16.0 3.07 4100N
includes 93.0 101.0 8.0 5.45 4100N
STOR1602D 72.0 76.0 4.0 1.17 4100N
Table 1. Highlights from previous drilling, Storm Copper.
REFERENCE
Dewing, K., Sharp, R.J., Turner, E., 2007, Synopsis of the Polaris Zn-Pb District, Canadian
Arctic Islands, Nunavut, in Goodfellow, W.D., ed., Mineral Deposits of Canada: A
Synthesis of Major Deposit-Types, District Metallogeny, the Evolution of Geological
Provinces, and Exploration Methods: Geological Association of Canada, Mineral Deposits
Division, Special Publication No. 5, p. 655-672.
QUALIFIED PERSON
As per National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Michael
Dufresne, M.Sc., P.Geol., P.Geo., a Director of and a consultant to Aston Bay, is the
Qualified Person for the Company and has prepared, validated and approved the
technical and scientific content of this news release. The Company strictly adheres to
CIM Best Practices Guidelines in conducting, documenting, and reporting its exploration
activities on the Storm Project.
ABOUT ASTON BAY HOLDINGS LTD.
Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX-V: BAY) is a publicly traded mineral exploration company
exploring for large, high-grade, sediment-hosted copper and zinc deposits in Nunavut, a
mining-friendly Canadian jurisdiction. Aston Bay is 100% owner of the 1,024,345-acre
(414,537-hectare) Aston Bay Property located on western Somerset Island, Nunavut.
The Aston Bay Property hosts the Storm Copper Project and the Seal Zinc Prospect, with
historical drilling confirming the presence of sediment-hosted copper and zinc
mineralization.
The Company’s public disclosure documents are available on www.sedar.com.
ABOUT GEDEX INC.
Located in Mississauga, Ontario, Gedex is a leading developer of sub-surface imaging
technology with its new High-Definition Airborne Gravity Gradiometer (HD-AGG®). In
combination with proprietary processing and interpretation capabilities the patented
Gedex HD-AGG® technology is highly effective in substantially reducing the risk and cost
of mineral and petroleum exploration.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Statements made in this press release, including those regarding the closing and the use
of proceeds of the private placement, management objectives, forecasts, estimates,
expectations, or predictions of the future may constitute “forward-looking statement”,
which can be identified by the use of conditional or future tenses or by the use of such
verbs as “believe”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “should”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “project”,
“plan”, and words of similar import, including variations thereof and negative forms.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect, as of the date of this
press release, Aston Bay’s expectations, estimates and projections about its operations,
the mining industry and the economic environment in which it operates. Statements in
this press release that are not supported by historical fact are forward-looking
statements, meaning they involve risk, uncertainty and other factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-
looking statements. Although Aston Bay believes that the assumptions inherent in the
forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on
these statements, which apply only at the time of writing of this press release. Aston
Bay disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except
to the extent required by securities legislation. We seek safe harbour.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is
defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy
or accuracy of this news release.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Thomas Ullrich, Chief Executive Officer
Telephone: (416) 456-3516