Aston Bay Announces New Large-Scale Copper Target Identified at the Storm Project, Nunavut, Canada Thick interval of visual copper sulfide identified in historical drilling supports the potential for discovery and highlights significant untapped
Aston Bay Announces New Large-Scale Copper Target Identified at the
Storm Project, Nunavut, Canada
Thick interval of visual copper sulfide identified in historical drilling
supports the potential for discovery and highlights significant untapped
regional potential
Highlights:
• More than 58m of visual copper sulfides identified in historical drill hole: Drill hole AB18-
04 was drilled in 2018 , approximately 5km west of the Storm Mineral Resource Estimate
("MRE") in an area now named the Midway Prospect. The drill hole was logged as intersecting
more than 58m in total of intermittent visual copper sulfides, but has yet to be sampled and
assayed.
• New Midway Prospect could significantly expand the graben -related copper
endowment: The 20 -kilometre ( "km") stretch of the 110km -long copper-mineralized belt
that hosts the Midway, Storm and Tornado prospects is located along the Storm Graben
Faults, known conduits for copper-mineralizing fluids and confirmed settings for high-grade
copper mineralization.
• Expansion of regional targets : Midway presents as another highly prospective regional
target to be tested in 2025, in addition to other priority regional targets, including the Tornado
and Blizzard Prospects.
• Review of historical geophysics deliver s new large -scale targets : Reinterpretation of
historical electromagnetic (EM) and induced polarization (IP) surveys, including the airborne
GeoTEM survey completed by Noranda in 2000, has identified numerous large-scale targets
for potential copper mineralization.
• Regional scale Mobile Magneto -Telluric (MMT ) Survey : Planned helicopter-borne MMT
survey, designed to see deeper and detect a broader EM spectrum than previous geophysical
surveys, will generate additional geophysical targets within the Storm and regional
exploration areas.
• 2025 multi-faceted drill program : In addition to testing priority regional targets, the 2025
drill program will include follow -up drilling at copper discoveries made in 2024 , such as
Squall and The Gap, and near-mine expansion drilling.
• Drilling preparations are well advanced : All fuel, salt, and other supplies for this year 's
program are already on site, delivered via Sealift in 2024.
TORONTO, Ontario, April 23, 2025 – Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSXV: BAY) (OTCQB: ATBHF) ("Aston
Bay" or the "Company ") is pleased to provide an update on the planned 2025 regional exploration
activities at the Storm Copper Project ( "Storm" or the "Project") on Somerset Island, Nunavut.
American West Metals Limited ("American West"), the Project operator, is conducting the
exploration program . Aston Bay and American West have formed a 20/80 unincorporated joint
venture with respect to the Storm Project property, with Aston Bay maintaining a free carried interest
until a decision to mine is made upon completion of a bankable feasibility study.
Thomas Ullrich, Chief Executive Officer of Aston Bay, commented:
"We are excited to share the planned exploration program for 2025 at Storm. It has been a milestone
year for the project, marked by the release of the initial Maiden Resource Estimate and
announcement of the strategic partnership with Ocean Partners to fund the majority of the initial
capital for the planned development of the near-surface copper and silver mineralization at Storm.
We look forward to completing a Preliminary Economic Assessment for the near -surface
mineralization while exploring for new dis coveries both deeper and outside of the MRE area. This
planned program will add the excitement of additional discovery potential throughout the year.”
Figure 1: Visual sulfide (dark grey mineral, interpreted to be chalcocite) at 390m downhole in drill
hole AB18-04. Chalcocite is a copper sulfide mineral that contains approx. 80% Cu. This drill hole
has not yet been sampled, and visual estimates of sulfide type, quantity and habit should not be
considered a substitute for laboratory assays . Laboratory assays are required to determine the
widths and grade of mineralization. Portable XRF has been used to assist logging.
REGIONAL EXPLORATION TARGETS
The Project covers over 110km strike length of stratigraphy that is host to multiple deposits and
occurrences of copper and zinc sulfide mineralization. While most work has been focused on
shallow mineralization in the immediate area of the Storm MRE, regional exploration has confirmed
the prospectivity of the entire stratigraphic horizon along the entire strike length. Each one of these
regional prospects has the potential to yield significant copper mineralization.
The immediate focus for the regional exploration will be to drill along the highly prospective Midway-
Storm-Tornado corridor. This >20km mineralized trend is centred on the known Storm copper
deposits and is controlled by the large -scale and laterally extensive Storm Graben. There is strong
geological and geophysical support for the prospectivity of this area and for potential expansion of
the known copper mineralization.
Figure 2: Plan view of the Midway-Storm-Tornado corridor with the 2018 drill holes that will be
sampled and assayed, overlaying regional geology and topography.
Midway Prospect
The Midway Prospect (Figures 2 & 5) has been recently identified as an area of high priority following
a reinterpretation of historical drilling, which identified thick intervals of intermittent visual copper
sulfide mineralization.
Aston Bay completed drill hole AB18 -04 during the 2018 drilling program to test the geology
approximately 5km west of the known Storm Deposits.
The drill hole encountered 58.49m of visual intermittent mineralization, including two intervals with
up to 2.5% of sulfide mineralization (Table 1). The mineralized intervals show vertical zonation with
an interpreted chalcocite core, with pyrite and sphalerite on the periphery, typical of Storm -style
mineralization locally and sediment hosted copper deposits in general.
The visual copper sulfides are hosted within heavily brecciated dolomites of the Allen Bay Formation,
in a setting and stratigraphic level similar to the large Cyclone Deposit. The mineralized intervals also
contain abundant organic material, a critical component of copper mineralization in the sediment
hosted copper mineralization model.
Drill hole AB18-04 has not been sampled and will be processed along with four other historical drill
holes upon the commencement of the 2025 field program (Tables 1 and 2).
Tornado and Blizzard Prospects
The Tornado Prospect is located 5km along strike and to the east of the known Storm deposits. The
prospect is centred on an area with abundant chalcocite and malachite boulders within a 3.2km x
1.5km geochemical copper anomaly. The large copper anomaly shares the same linear trend as the
main structural features of the Storm Graben. Most of the anomalous copper samples are located
proximal to the interpreted Northern Graben Fault, which is a similar setting to that of the large and
laterally extensive Cyclone Deposit at Storm (Figure 2).
Figure 3: Oblique section view of the drill line at the Tornado prospect looking WNW. The image shows MLEM image
(CH18BZ) and geology (map view, top – warmer colours indicating higher conductivity) above 3D inversion shells
from the 2011 VTEM survey (cross-section view, bottom – cooler colours indicating higher conductivity). The section
location is illustrated as A – A' in Figure 4.
Visual estimates of mineral abundanc e, type or habit should never be considered a proxy or
substitute for laboratory analyses where concentrations or grades are the factor s of principal
economic interest. Laboratory assays are required to determine the presence and grade of any
contained mineralization within the reported visual intersections of copper sulfides.
The Moving Loop EM (MLEM) survey completed in 2024 has defined two strong anomalies at Tornado
that are also located within the prospective Allen Bay Formation. The interpretation of the 3D
modelling indicates that the EM anomalies may be flat -lying and located deeper than the current
limit of the recent RC drilling and GeoTEM/VTEM survey detection (>150m vertical depth, Figure 3).
MLEM anomalies are commonly located below the historical VTEM anomalies, supporting deep
copper potential at Tornado.
Historical drill hole AB18 -07 was drilled to a downhole depth of 300m and intersected brecciated
Allen Bay Formation throughout the entire hole with local logged visual copper oxide mineralization
(1-4% abundance between 19.40m and 20.50m downhole – Table 1). Further to the east, though not
covered by the recent MLEM survey, historical drill hole AB18 -01/01B also intersected multiple
intervals of disseminated and veinlet-hosted visual chalcocite (Figure 4). These drill holes have not
been sampled and assayed.
The Tornado and Blizzard areas contain a compelling coincidence of ideal structural and
stratigraphic setting, strong gravity and EM anomalies, and copper geochemistry, located just 5km
along strike from Storm.
Figure 4: MLEM image (CH18BZ) of the Tornado and Blizzard 400m loop survey overlaying geology
and interpreted major faults. Hotter colours indicate higher conductivity.
Visual estimates of mineral abundanc e, type or habit should never be considered a proxy or
substitute for laboratory analyses where concentrations or grades are the factor s of principal
economic interest. Laboratory assays are required to determine the presence and grade of any
contained mineralization within the reported visual intersections of copper sulfides.
Figure 5: Prospect location map of the Storm Project highlighting the main prospective
copper and zinc stratigraphic horizons.
LARGE-SCALE GEOPHYSICAL TARGETS
A recent review and reinterpretation of the historical regional-scale airborne GeoTEM and IP data has
also yielded significant results and defined numerous targets for the potential discovery of additional
copper mineralization (Figures 5, 6 & 7).
The interpreted data highlights a series of extensive EM and IP anomalies that coincide with the
known copper deposits and main structures of the graben fault system, the interpreted conduit for
copper-mineralizing fluids (Figures 6 and 7).
Of particular interest is a series of GeoTEM and IP anomalies that are located along the central
graben – an ideal setting for sediment hosted copper deposits. The anomalies are interpreted to be
at a deeper stratigraphic level (~100 -300m depth) than the known copper deposits and located in
an area of no drilling. These features may represent southern offset extension s of the Cyclone
copper mineralization.
Multiple other anomalies have been highlighted in these data sets, including strong coincident
anomalies with the Corona and Cirrus Deposits, as well as the Thunder, Lightning Ridge, and The
Gap Prospects.
Figure 6: Plan view of the Storm area showing the known copper deposits and drilling, overlaying IP
metal factor imagery (Hotter colours indicate higher conductivity contrast) at -100 to 200m depth.