New assay results from diamond drilling at American West Metals’ Storm project in Canada have confirmed the continuity of shallow, high-grade copper at a highly prospective zone dubbed “2750N”. Headline results include a 57m parcel grading 2.5 per cent copper from 8m embracing a 1m intercept running an eye-catching 21.9 per cent copper from 14m downhole.
Some of the other notable strikes include 3m at 12.12 per cent copper from 34m within a longer 8m section going 7.86 per cent copper from 29m.
Another 2m hit ran a healthy grade of 10.24 cent copper from 48m.
The company says a raft of additional assay results are still outstanding and expected to trickle in over the next few weeks.
American West has sunk a little over 1,500m at Storm this year and almost two thirds of the outlay has been centred around the shallow, high-grade zone at 2750N.
Management believes drilling thus far in the zone is yet to define the boundaries of the area’s mineralisation which extends over 200m in strike length and is laterally open to the east, west and at depth.
The zone also offers plenty of exploration upside with copper sniffs found in soil and rock chip samples bagged in areas that sit over 1km away from the zone’s known mineralisation footprint.
Having beaten their own expectations with the year’s exploration Perth-based American West is now eyeing additional drilling at 2750N and says the area’s broad, near surface copper footprint could facilitate an open pit mining operation at the site.
Subsequent probes will look to expand 2750N’s mineralisation, establish a maiden resource at the site and drill test the nearby and historically productive “2200N” and “4100N” areas. 4100N is thought to be associated to an electromagnetic anomaly in the area and will be evaluated through geophysical surveys.
American West says plans are already in place to initiate beneficiation and metallurgical test work on drill core pulled from at 2750N.
Previous treatment on core pulled from the company’s wider Storm project yielded a direct shipping ore, or “DSO” product going over 53 per cent copper using minimal processing methods.
Ore earmarked as “DSO” can be shipped directly to consumers after negligible and moderately priced processing methods, including a simple blend of crushing, screening, sorting and ore blending.
The company is now looking to establish a definitive flow sheet for a DSO operation using ore from 2750N.
American West Metals’ Managing Director, David O'Neill said:“We are also eagerly awaiting the results for drill hole ST22-10, which has intersected a thick sequence of sedimentary copper mineralisation below the shallow high-grade zones. We believe this new style of copper deposit at Storm is a game changing discovery, which may have huge implications for the copper endowment in the region.”
Recent studies suggest that by 2030 copper demand could outstrip supply by over 6 million tonnes a year – a statistic that was likely not lost on American West’s brain trust.
The material is seen as key cog in meeting emissions targets owing to its use in low-carbon energy solutions such as electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines.
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By Matt Birney
