Special Report: Drilling at American West Metals’ Storm copper project in Canada has extended the known strike of the high-grade Thunder zone to over 300m. 

More than 8300m of drilling has been completed to date under its ongoing 2024 summer drill program with visual observation of all nine step-out holes at Thunder indicating the presence of thick copper mineralisation. 

Of particular interest are holes SR24-042 and SR24-034, the first of which intersected a continuous 73.2m thick zone of visual copper sulphide mineralisation from 45.7m downhole including multiple zones of semi-massive sulphides while the second intersected a continuous 121.2m interval of visual copper sulphide mineralisation from 18.3m. 

Notably for American West Metals (ASX: AW1), the high grade copper zone at Thunder remains open along strike and at depth with drilling only testing to about 100m vertical depth. 

 

 

RC drill samples at the Storm project. Pic: American West  

 

Over at the Cyclone deposit, which currently has a resource of 12.1Mt grading 1.2% copper and 3.8g/t silver, thick intervals of visual copper sulphides have been intersected in multiple drill holes. 

Several of these intersections were noted outside the current resource footprint, supporting the potential to upgrade and expand the resource. 

AW1 notes that holes SR24-031 and SR-055 that were drilled to the northeast of Cyclone have successfully expanded the strike of mineralisation with intersections of 53.4m and 80.7m of visual copper mineralisation respectively.  

Meanwhile, holes SR24-045 and SR24-049 have intersected thick intervals of visual semi-massive sulphides within the southern and western part of the current resource envelope  

While visual observations are no substitute for laboratory assays, they provide a hint of what might have been encountered by the hole in question. 

 

Drilling progressing rapidly 

Manging director, Dave O’Neill said “More than 8,300m and 66 drill holes have now been completed and we are on target to exceed the planned program of 20,000m of drilling for 2024.”.  

“We have received the visual results for a further 22 of the recently completed drill holes, which include all of the recent Thunder drilling as well as additional resource upgrade and extensional drill holes at Cyclone.  

“The Thunder drilling is continuing to impress. The initial resource definition drilling has extended the envelope of the known copper mineralisation, with the high-grade zone now identified for more than 300m along strike.  

“The drilling demonstrates that there is significant potential to convert the 2023 discovery into additional high-grade resources, which will quickly grow the copper endowment of Storm.  

“The drilling within the Cyclone Deposit continues to highlight the continuity and growth potential of the resource with every drill hole to date intersecting visual copper sulphide mineralisation.  

“The drilling at Cyclone also continues to highlight the expansion potential of the resource, with thick intervals of copper sulphides intersected in step-out drilling.” 

 

Storm project  

Storm covers 4000km2 on Somerset Island in Nunavut, Canada, and currently contains four deposits that host a collective resource of 17.5Mt at 1.2% copper and 3.4g/t silver for 205,000t of contained copper and 1.9Moz silver. 

The Thunder prospect is west of the Chinook deposit and Lightning Ridge prospect. It was discovered with exploration drilling during 2023 when hole ST23-03 – drilled to test a strong EM anomaly in the vicinity of historical drilling – returned an assay of 48.8m at 3% copper from 32m. 

It sits within an extensive southern graben fault system, which hosts all of the known copper deposits in the southern area of Storm. 

Thunder’s proximity to a major fault jog, and the high volume of semi-massive sulphide breccia mineralisation, is strongly suggestive that the copper is fault related and steeply dipping, as seen at the nearby Chinook and Corona copper deposits. 

AW1 notes that the mineralisation observed in the Thunder drill holes suggest that they are potentially located on the margin of an east-west orientated and steeply dipping copper system. Diamond drilling will be used to confirm these assumptions. 

Over at Cyclone, holes SR24-031 and SR-055 are located within a large and untested area to the north of the current resource. 

The company noted that the thickness and mineralogy of the visual copper mineralisation in these drill holes are important positive factors for the addition of significant resource extensions to the north of Cyclone. 

These holes will be used in future resource upgrades for the deposit. 

 

Further activity 

AW1 continues to progress diamond drilling at Storm with six holes completed to date for a total of 667.7m. 

These holes are being used to acquire bulk samples for metallurgy, geotechnical and mine planning purposes at the Cyclone and Chinook deposits as well as infilling specific areas of the current resources. 

The company expects to shortly start exploration drilling with the diamond rig with a focus on following up the discovery of high-grade copper sulphide mineralisation at a deeper stratigraphic level below the Cyclone horizon. 

This has the potential to greatly enhance the project’s copper endowment by substantially increasing the prospective horizons. 

AW1 will also refine the deep exploration targets further with the upcoming moving loop electromagnetic survey prior to drilling. 

Reverse circulation drilling is also continuing with two rigs testing resource expansion and high-priority geophysical targets. 

First assays for the summer drilling program are expected within two weeks while EM surveying will restart shortly within the immediate Storm area before moving to the Tornado and Blizzard copper prospect areas. 

Environmental monitoring and survey activities for the 2024 program are also underway.  

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with American West Metals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.  

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions. 

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