The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
American West excited about resource potential, 4100N Zone North of 60 Mining News - May 5, 2023
American West has already completed four holes this year at the 4100N zone on the Storm Copper project in Nunavut, all of which have cut strong visual copper mineralization.
American West Metals Ltd. May 5 reported strong copper mineralization in the first four holes of its 2023 drill program at the Storm Copper project on Somerset Island in the northern reaches of Nunavut, Canada.
Since optioning the Storm Copper and adjoining Seal Zinc from Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. in 2021, Australia-based American West has been systematically exploring the high-grade, near-surface copper and deeper stratabound sedimentary hosted copper on this land package along the Northwest Passage in northern Canada.
A primary objective of American West's drilling is to define areas of near-surface, high-grade copper mineralization that could be upgraded to direct shipping ore with simple and low-cost sorting technology. 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.
Toward this goal, last year's program included infill drilling at 2750N, a zone where drilling in the 1990s cut wide zones of high-grade copper, including: 110 meters averaging 2.45% copper from surface; and 56.3 meters averaging 3.07% copper from a depth of 12.2 meters.
This year's 10,000-meter reverse circulation drill program will focus on establishing a maiden Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) compliant resource for three zones and Storm – 2200N, 2750N, and 4100N.
This drilling began at 4100N, where historical drilling encountered 15 meters averaging 3.88% copper from a depth of 72.4 meters; 5.8 meters averaging 3.6% copper from a depth of 38.6 meters; and 27.2 meters averaging 1.9% copper from a depth of 78.8 meters.
American West reports that the first four holes drilled this year have cut wide sections of strong sulfide mineralization at 4100N, including:
• 24.4 meters of strong visual copper sulfides from 48.8 meters in SR23-01.
• 27.4 meters of strong visual copper sulfides from 56.4 meters in SR23-02.
• 48.7 meters of strong visual copper sulfides from 54.9 meters in SR23-03.
• 30.6 meters of strong visual copper sulfides from 50.3 meters in SR23-04.
While the copper concentrations will not be known until assays come back from the lab, American West is encouraged by the obvious mineralization and what that means for building a resource at 4100N and the other zones at Storm.
"The first drill holes are highlighting the volume and scale of mineralisation as we had hoped, and the geophysics is suggesting that we haven't hit the strongest zones yet," said American West Managing Director Dave O'Neill. "This is an outstanding outcome for the resource potential of the 4100N Zone."
The mineralization encountered within the drilling to date is comprised of zones of strong sulfides hosted within a broad mineralized package.
The mineralized horizons are interpreted to be relatively flat-lying and hosted within a porous, laterally extensive carbonate layer. The dominant copper sulfide minerals observed within the drill holes to date are chalcocite, an important ore mineral due to its high grades and outstanding metallurgical properties. Minor bornite and chalcopyrite were also observed on the margins of the mineralized intervals and within veins. Minor native copper and copper oxides, mostly malachite and cuprite, are also present.
Portable XRF analysis is being used to confirm the nature of the sulfide.
American West plans to drill an additional 12 holes at 4100N before moving to high-grade copper targets in the 2750N and 2200N zones.
A moving loop electromagnetics geophysical survey is also underway at 4100N Zone and has already identified two new strong conductors that are untested.
"Ongoing drilling will focus on targeting these priority 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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