The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - October 4, 2024
A ship delivers supplies to Storm and picks up samples from the high-grade copper project in Nunavut.
The high-grade copper cut in hole SR24-093 indicates a fault-offset extension of the Cyclone deposit.
American West Metals Ltd. Sept. 30 reported additional high-grade intercepts from its 2024 drilling in and around the Cyclone deposit at its Storm Copper project on Nunavut's Somerset Island, including one hole that cut a thick zone of spectacular copper mineralization south of the current resource boundaries.
"The latest assays from the Cyclone deposit have delivered one of the best copper intersections at the project to date, with a true-width interval of 22.9m grading 8.5% copper. This interval includes semi-massive sulfide zones with individual assays up to 27% copper," said American West Metals Managing Director David O'Neill.
According to a maiden resource calculation completed earlier this year, four near-surface deposits within a roughly 10-square-kilometer (3.9 square-mile) area at Storm host 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.
Cyclone, the largest of the deposits, hosts 4.88 million metric tons of the overall indicated resource averaging 1.26% (135.8 million lb) copper; plus 7.21 million metric tons of the inferred resource averaging 1.2% (191.4 million lb) copper and 4.03 g/t (934,700 oz) silver.
The latest batch of assays from the 2024 Storm drill program includes three holes that cut thick intervals of high-grade copper at Cyclone. Highlights include:
• 57.9 meters averaging 1% copper and 4.3 g/t silver from a depth of 32 meters in hole SR24-045, including a 10.7-meter subsection averaging 3.2 copper and 16 g/t silver.
• 45.7 meters averaging 1.9% copper and 9.4 g/t silver from a depth of 35.1 meters in hole SR24-070, including a 27.4-meter subsection averaging 3.1% copper and 14.6 g/t silver.
• 53.5 meters averaging 3.9% copper and 12.56 g/t silver from a depth of 86.9 meters in hole SR24-093, including a 22.9-meter subsection averaging 8.5% copper and 17.89 g/t silver.
The high-grade copper cut in hole SR24-093 indicates a fault-offset extension of the Cyclone deposit.
In addition to being one of the best intercepts ever encountered at Storm, the exceptional copper in hole SR24-093 was encountered 75 meters south of Cyclone, indicating excellent potential to expand the resource. Hole SR24-09, which was also drilled in this area, cut 15.2 meters averaging 1.4% copper and 2.4 g/t silver from a depth of 103.6 meters. Both of these holes appear to be a fault-offset continuation of the Cyclone deposit.
Holes SR24-045 and SR24-070 were infill holes aimed at upgrading inferred resources toward the western end of Cyclone to the higher-confidence indicated category.
"The drilling program has now exceeded 22,500m of drilling, and still continues to impress us with the exceptional quality of the copper mineralisation at Storm," said O'Neill.
In addition to drilling, American West reported that the NEAS cargo ship MV Mitiq has successfully delivered large quantities of supplies directly to Somerset Island for the 2025 exploration program at Storm.
American West estimates the sealift delivery of supplies will save the 2025 program approximately $2.8 million (A$4 million) when compared to flying these goods and supplies to the far northern Canada project.
The ship also transported bulk samples offsite, saving money and demonstrating the logistics available for a future direct shipping ore mining operation at Storm.
"The latest results and progress clearly demonstrate the potential of the project to keep delivering stunning intersections and innovative logistical solutions," O'Neill added.
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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