The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
American West taps deep copper indicative of large system North of 60 Mining News – August 26, 2022
Core with chalcopyrite (metallic yellow copper sulfide mineral) drilled at a depth of 318 meters in hole ST22-10 at Storm.
Massive bornite cut a depth of roughly 50.9 meters in hole ST22-05, drilled at 2750 Zone on the Storm Copper project.
Drill hole ST22-10 cut copper mineralization that is interpreted to be associated with the area labeled "Copper Target: Stratiform Copper Mineralization" on this Storm-Seal exploration concept diagram.
American West Metals Ltd. Aug. 23 announced that its drilling to test deep electromagnetic anomalies at Storm cut 68.8 meters of strong copper mineralization on this high-grade project on Somerset Island in the northern reaches of Nunavut, Canada.
"This is a game changing discovery at the Storm Copper Project," said American West Metals Managing Director Dave O'Neill. "Exploration drilling has intersected stratiform copper sulphide mineralisation at depth which supports our geological assumptions that there is a major copper system lying below the high-grade near surface mineralisation."
Having optioned Storm and the neighboring Seal Zinc project from Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. last year, American West launched its inaugural drill program on the project this year.
This program began with drilling of near-surface, high-grade copper in the 2750N zone at Storm that could potentially be converted to a direct shipping ore product with ore sorting technology.
Indications of large copper system
Having successfully confirmed and expanded upon the shallow copper mineralization, the Australia-based company is now testing high-priority electromagnetic conductors identified with geophysical programs completed at Storm during 2021. American West says these deep EM targets may represent the source of the near-surface copper mineralization.
Aiming for these deep EM conductors, hole ST22-10 cut 68.8 meters of mineralization dominated by the copper mineral chalcopyrite starting at a depth of 277 meters.
American West says this newly discovered mineralization and setting at Storm shares features very similar to many large volume, sedimentary hosted copper systems. With ST22-10 intersecting this mineralization in the first zone drilled and six similar zones yet to be tested, the company is encouraged by the potential of a large-scale copper mineral system.
"The new copper mineralisation is associated with a large EM plate that is one of six untested plates, most of which are located in highly prospective positions – below or adjacent to the known high-grade copper prospects and fault system," said O'Neill. "The importance of this discovery for the project cannot be overstated, as it has hugely positive implications for the copper endowment within the project area."
Assay results are pending for hole ST22-10.
More shallow Storm copper
In addition to the potentially game-changing copper tapped with the deep drilling, American West reports that drills continue to expand the near-surface high-grade copper in the 2750 zone.
Drilling in the 1990s cut thick zones of shallow, high-grade copper at 2750N, including:
• 110 meters averaging 2.45% copper from surface in hole ST97-08.
• 56.3 meters averaging 3.07% copper from a depth of 12.2 meters in hole ST99-19.
American West previously reported that the first six holes drilled this year cut 44 to 81 meters of copper mineralization at and near the surface at 2750N. Though assays are still pending, the chalcocite, chalcopyrite, and other copper mineralization observed in core indicate the high-grade nature of these intercepts.
The company reports that the next two holes have cut similar impressive copper mineralization; highlights include:
• ST22-07 cut 43.5 meters of mineralization, including 15.5 meters of breccia and massive copper sulfides over multiple intervals.
• ST22-08 cut 30 meters of mineralization, including 13 meters of breccia and massive copper sulfides over multiple intervals.
The drilling completed so far this year has cut wide intervals of copper over a strike of more than 200 meters at 2750N. American West says the geochemical anomaly extends for 1,000 meters along strike, and the mineralization remains open to depth, indicating the potential for a significant quantity of high-grade copper in the zone.
Other near-surface copper zones at Storm remain to be tested by American West. This includes 2200N and 4100N, where historical drilling cut shallow, high-grade copper.
"The drilling has emphasized the strong continuity and expansion potential of the 2750N Zone where we are aiming to define a shallow copper resource that can support a low cost, low-footprint direct shipping ore (DSO) mining operation," said O'Neill. "The success at the 2750N Zone bodes well for the potential of several other near-surface high-grade zones already identified by previous drilling."
Assays from the 2022 drilling at Storm are expected to begin rolling in over the coming weeks.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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