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The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - September 6, 2024
Samples from RC drilling at Storm Copper being loaded on a plane for delivery to Yellowknife, NWT.
American West Metals Ltd. Sept. 3 reported that drilling has cut very high-grade copper mineralization at the northern margins of Cyclone, the largest deposit at Storm Copper, and has discovered a new copper deposit on this project on Somerset Island in northern Nunavut.
So far this year, the company has drilled 128 reverse circulation (RC) and 14 diamond drill holes at Storm, and the rigs are still turning around the clock.
"We are very pleased to report that we achieved two more significant milestones for the 2024 drilling program at Storm," said American West Metals Managing Director Dave O'Neill. "The program has now exceeded the planned 20,000 meters of drilling, and we have made another significant copper discovery in the Storm area, now named 'Squall.'"
Squall is the second copper discovery made this year along the Southern Graben Fault, a structure running along the southern side of a roughly 10-square-kilometer (3.9 square miles) area of the Storm property that hosts 17.5 million metric tons of Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (JORC) compliant indicated and inferred resources averaging 1.17% (452 million lb) copper and 3.38 grams per metric ton (1.9 million oz) silver in four deposits.
The Cirrus, Corona, and Chinook deposits, as well as the Lightening Ridge and Thunder, lie along the Southern Graben Fault. Recent electromagnetic geophysical surveys identified three highly prospective drill targets along the fault.
Earlier this year, American West reported that drilling cut 20 meters averaging 2.3% copper at The Gap target. Now, the company says strong copper mineralization was drilled at Squall, which lies about 300 meters west of Thunder and 900 meters southeast of The Gap.
"Squall is the second new discovery of near-surface copper mineralisation in the Southern Graben Area this year, and highlights the outstanding growth potential and still relatively untested nature of Storm," said O'Neill.
American West also reported strong copper intercepts at Cyclone, the only deposit on the North Graben Fault and the largest outlined so far at Storm.
Highlights from the latest batch of assays from drilling at Cyclone include:
• 27.4 meters averaging 1.1% copper and 3.5 g/t silver from a depth of 96 meters; and 4.6 meters averaging 3.1% copper and 7.7 g/t silver in hole SR24-031.
• 3.1 meters averaging 3.9% copper and 10.5 g/t silver from a depth of 57.9 meters; and 4.6 meters averaging 1.4% copper from a depth of 71.6 meters in hole SR24-035.
• 1.5 meters averaging 13.5% copper and 23 g/t silver from a depth of 54.9 meters; 3.1 meters averaging 2% copper and 8 g/t silver from a depth of 85.3 meters, and 1.5 meters averaging 1.8% copper and 3 g/t silver from a depth of 109.7 meters in hole SR24-057.
The high-grade intercept in hole SR24-057 was on the northern margin of the currently defined Cyclone deposit and SR24-031 north of the resource area, highlighting the expansion potential of the deposit.
RC drilling at Cyclone continues with a focus on expanding the resource to the west, north and northeast to deliver an expanded and upgraded resource slated for the end of the year.
As the drills are turning at Storm, EM geophysical surveys are underway in the Tornado and Blizzard areas, which are roughly 10 kilometers (six miles) east of Storm. The geological setting is interpreted to be identical to that of Storm and contains numerous outcropping copper occurrences.
Several EM anomalies have been identified in the preliminary data, some of which coincide with geochemical copper anomalism and copper gossans at surface. A drill is standing by to test the most compelling targets at Tornado and Blizzard once the current geophysical data is interpreted.
The company is also carrying out drilling at Tempest, a prospect about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of the Storm Copper resource, where rock samples collected last year returned grades of 38.2% copper and 30.8% zinc.
"This is an exciting time for the company with further assays due over the coming weeks, and exploration activities ongoing at the Tempest and Blizzard/Tornado areas," said O'Neill.
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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