Author photo

By Shane Lasley
Mining News 

Strong Storm copper seen in more core

Massive copper sulfides bodes well for ore sorting strategy North of 60 Mining News – August 12, 2022

 

Last updated 8/18/2022 at 3:05pm

Massive chunks of blue bornite copper mineralization in a section of drill core.

American West Metals Ltd.

Massive bornite cut a depth of roughly 50.9 meters in hole ST22-05, drilled at 2750 Zone on the Storm Copper project.

American West Metals Ltd. Aug. 8 reported that strong copper mineralization has been observed in the core from four additional holes drilled at the Storm Copper project on Somerset Island in the northern reaches of Nunavut, Canada.

American West optioned Storm and the neighboring Seal Zinc project from Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. early last year. The Australia-based mineral exploration company launched a drill program earlier this year focused on zones of near-surface, high-grade copper at Storm that could potentially be converted to a direct shipping ore product with ore sorting technology.

Ore sorting tests carried out on samples of core from previous drilling of the 4100N Zone at Storm produced a commercial-grade direct shipping ore (DSO) product averaging 53.9% copper.

Details on ore sorting technology and its applications in Alaska and Northern Canada, including its potential use at Storm, can be read at Ore sorting upgrades North of 60 mines in the August 5, 2022 edition of North of 60 Mining News.


American West began its 2022 drilling at 2750N Zone, where 1990s drilling cut near-surface, high-grade copper mineralization.

Highlights from historical drilling at 2750N include 110 meters averaging 2.45% copper from surface in hole ST97-08; and 56.3 meters averaging 3.07% copper from a depth of 12.2 meters in hole ST99-19.

In July, American West reported that the first two holes drilled this year cut a near-surface zone of strong copper mineralization based on the observations of chalcocite and chalcopyrite in the core.


Contango ORE is an Alaska gold exploration and mining company.

Now, the company reports that similar copper mineralization has been observed in an additional four holes drilled in 2750N Zone:

ST22-03 cut 74.6 meters of mineralization from surface, including 15.13 meters of breccia and massive copper sulfides over multiple intervals.

ST22-04 cut 43.7 meters of mineralization from a depth of 27 meters, including 24.5 meters of breccia and massive copper sulfides over multiple intervals.

ST22-05 cut 65 meters of mineralization from a depth of 24 meters, including 25.2 meters of breccia and massive copper sulfides over multiple intervals.


Constantine Metals Palmer copper VMS zinc silver gold Haines Southeast Alaska

ST22-06 cut 59 meters of mineralization from a depth of 36 meters, including 15 meters of breccia and massive copper sulfides over multiple intervals.

Assays results for all 2022 holes are pending.

"The drilling at the 2750N Zone continues to deliver spectacular results," said American West Metals Managing Director Dave O'Neill. "We are looking for continuity and volume for a potential resource and that's exactly what we are seeing."

The six holes that American West reported visual copper mineralization were drilled along about 125 meters of strike at 2750 Zone, additional step-out holes to the east and west are planned.

Map showing location of 2022 and previous holes drilled at the Storm 2750N Zone.

American West Metals Ltd.

"The results show strong continuity between the thick historical copper intersections at the 2750N Zone where we are aiming to define a shallow copper resource that can support a low-footprint direct shipping ore (DSO) mining proposal," O'Neill added.


Graphite lithium ion batteries electric vehicles EV green energy electrical storage high technology metals

Preparations also continue for drill testing a number of high-priority electromagnetic conductors identified with geophysical programs completed at Storm during 2021. American West says EM targets in the 2750N and 2200N zones, as well as deep targets that may represent the source of the near-surface copper mineralization, are slated for drilling.

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

Author photo

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.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024

Rendered 03/24/2024 07:48