North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

American West Metals Ltd. Sept. 8 reported additional high-grade assay results from shallow drilling at the Storm Copper project on Somerset Island in northern Nunavut.

American West's primary goal at Storm is to build a high-grade copper resource that can be upgraded to direct shipping ore with simple and low-cost ore sorting technology.

Toward this objective, the Australia-based company launched its inaugural drill program at Storm with holes testing the 2750N zone, where drilling carried out in the 1990s cut 110 meters averaging 2.45% copper from surface and 56.3 meters averaging 3.07% copper from a depth of 12.2 meters.

Strong copper anomalism in soils and rock chips along strike for more than 1,000 meters from the historical holes, indicating a large near-surface copper system. This includes massive chalcocite that has been identified in outcrop on the western margin of 2750N, and rock chip samples from this expansion area have returned assay with as much as 62% copper.

Results from the 2022 drilling at 2750N began rolling in last week with assays showing that hole ST22-05, which was drilled about 25 meters west of ST97-08, cut 41 meters averaging 4.18% copper from a depth of 83 meters.

American West has now reported assays from two additional holes.

The best intercept came in hole ST22-02, which cut 57 meters averaging 2.5% copper from a depth of eight meters, including two meters of 10.24% copper from 48 meters.

"Results from the 2750N zone are quickly confirming the potential for a high-grade open pit and DSO (direct shipping ore) mining operation with outstanding expansion opportunities," said American West Metals Managing Director Dave O'Neill.

Drilled about 75 meters west of ST22-05, hole ST22-02 was designed to test the continuity of the copper mineralization in the central 2750N zone.

The stronger mineralization encountered in ST22-02 consists of massive and semi-massive chalcocite or bornite and is hosted within large fractures and breccia zones, similar to what has been observed across 2750N.

In addition to ST22-02, the company reported that hole ST22-01 cut six meters averaging 2.3% copper from a depth of 65 meters.

In total, an 18-meter-wide zone of copper mineralization was intersected in ST22-01, which appears to have been part of a much thicker intersection that has been truncated by a high-angle fault.

American West says the strong presence of fine-grained pyrite, highly fractured dolomite, and the general weathered nature of the rock package indicate the presence of a late-stage structure which has offset the mineralization. The company says other examples of these north-south oriented faults can be seen at surface and appear as weathered gullies, one of which is immediately west of the 2750N zone.

The company plans to carry out further drilling in the area around ST22-01 to define the displacement direction of the copper-rich mineralized zone, which is typically about 50 meters thick, in this part of the ore system.

In addition to building shallow copper resources at 2750N and other nearby zones, American West's 2022 program includes drilling to test deep electromagnetic anomalies that may represent the source of the near-surface copper mineralization at Storm.

In August, the company reported that one of these holes made a "game changing" deep copper discovery.

Click on image for larger map.

This hole, ST22-10, cut 68.8 meters of mineralization dominated by the copper mineral chalcopyrite, starting at a depth of 277 meters.

"We are also eagerly awaiting the results for drill hole ST22-10, which has intersected a thick sequence of sedimentary copper mineralisation below the shallow high-grade zones," said O'Neill. "We believe this new style of copper deposit at Storm is a game changing discovery, which may have huge implications for the copper endowment in the region."

"This year's drilling program is exceeding our expectations, and we are clearly defining two exciting growth stories within the Storm project," he added.

American West expects assay results from additional holes that cut broad zones of massive copper mineralization in the coming weeks.

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

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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