ASX-listed American West Metals continues to deliver at its West Desert project in Utah after its third diamond drill hole intersected over 100 metres of visual zinc and copper mineralisation from just 20m downhole. According to the company, the initial results appear to confirm the continuity of shallow base metals in the first two holes and support the projects open pit mining potential.
Management says its latest drill hole was aimed at testing the limits of near surface ore lenses through a 233.8m probe that was curiously much shallower than its previous attempts.
According to the company, the hole intersected a brace of mineralised intervals that housed a collective 102m of anomalous copper and zinc in the drill core.
American West Metals’ Managing Director, David O’Neill said:“The drilling results continue to confirm our assumptions on the continuity of mineralisation and highlight the quality and scale of the West Desert Deposit”
The company says the base metals accumulations were intermittently weathered and housed both oxide and transitional-type ores. Interestingly, historical test work on the oxidised zinc and copper mineralisation has suggested the two minerals, along with indium, can be extracted economically using traditional sulphuric acid leaching.
The Perth-based company believes through additional work it could drive down extraction costs even further by using less acid in the ore separation process and subsequently upgrading the copper, zinc and indium grades.
American West argues leveraging the oxide zones at West Desert will provide it with the opportunity to significantly extend the life of the project. Prior work at West Desert had ignored the oxide zones and focused predominantly on sulphide ores and the production of magnetite.
The company has engaged the services of metallurgical advisory outfit Brian Arthur Consulting Metallurgy and is in the process of selecting a contractor for the test program.
The next round of exploration will see American West test the eastern extensions of thick high grade copper zones and infill areas of historical drill sections. The company says the target zone contains few drill holes and is open to the east, bolstering the project's growth potential.
American West is currently evaluating a variety of development opportunities, including one that focuses on mining the high-grade core through an open-pit operation that will then switch to underground mining at depth.
Copper is an integral part of the electric vehicle revolution and is used in electric motors, inverters, cabling, charging docks and lithium-ion batteries. With copper demand expected to rise around 30 per cent to 30 million tonnes by 2030 American West might be timing its run just right.
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By Matt Birney
