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

American West Metals Ltd. Nov. 27 reported that surface samples with as much as 38.2% copper and 30.8% zinc have been collected from Tempest, a prospect about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the high-grade Storm Copper targets drilled this year on a 219,257-hectare (541,796 acres) property being explored by the company on Nunavut's Somerset Island.

This district-scale property covers the Storm Copper project, a roughly 100-kilometer (60 miles) trend prospective for copper, and the Seal Zinc project, a parallel trend of zinc mineralization.

Since optioning the Nunavut property from Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. in 2021, Australia-based American West has focused its exploration primarily on establishing a high-grade copper resource within the near-surface zones found in the main Storm prospect area.

So far, this work has outlined and expanded six near-surface, high-grade copper zones – 2200N, 2750N, 3500N, 4100N, Lightning Ridge, and Thunder – within a 4.5- by 2.5-kilometer (2.8 by 1.6 miles) area of the main Storm prospect.

Some of the highlights from the 2022 and 2023 drilling within these zones include:

• 67.1 meters averaging 1.1% copper in hole SR23-03 (4100N).

• 29 meters averaging 1.2% copper in SR23-13 (4100N).

• 27.4 meters averaging 1.5% copper in SR23-21 (2750N).

• 29 meters averaging 1.5% copper in SR23-50 (2200N).

• 15.2 meters averaging 2.3% copper in SR23-52 (Lightening Ridge).

• 46 meters averaging 2.2% copper in SM23-02 (4100N).

• 57 meters averaging 2.5% copper in ST22-02 (2750N).

• 76 meters averaging 2% copper in ST23-03 (Thunder).

• 41 meters averaging 4.18% copper in ST22-05 (2750N).

The results from American West and historical drilling are being used to calculate an inaugural resource for these near-surface zones at the main Storm target area.

At the same time, the company is assessing the potential of utilizing ore sorting technology to quickly develop low-cost, open-pit mining of the near-surface deposits.

Preliminary testing of mineralization from the near-surface copper zones at Storm has already produced a direct shipping ore product with grades up to 53% copper. Further testing on a range of mineralization styles from the 2750N and 4100N zones is currently underway.

"We look forward to reporting further news from Storm in the coming weeks as we finalize the maiden MRE (mineral resource estimate) for Storm, progress the beneficiation and other development studies, and prepare for the next drilling and field program in early 2024," said American West Metals Managing Director Dave O'Neill.

Tempest on the horizon

While establishing a maiden resource and investigating the potential for a simple direct shipping ore mine within the main target at the heart of the Storm Copper project, geologists carried out a reconnaissance sampling and field mapping program at the Tempest prospect area about 40 kilometers (25 miles) to the south.

Historical exploration of Tempest discovered copper gossans, which are intensely oxidized rocks, often indicating the surface exposure of strong mineralization.

The initial investigation identified gossans with as much as 32% copper over a 250-meter area at Tempest.

The 2023 sampling returned similar copper results, as well as strong zinc mineralization.

Several gossanous samples contain highly anomalous base metals with up to 38.2% copper (Y010804) and 30.8% zinc (Y010801).

American West says the gossan samples collected at Tempest contain higher quantities of zinc, lead, and gold when compared to similar samples collected from the main Storm Copper prospect area, which typically contain copper with some silver.

A ground-based time-domain electromagnetic and magnetic survey was completed over a nine-square-kilometer (3.5 square miles) area of Tempest in August to aid with mapping and to define potential targets for further exploration work. This geophysical survey defined a series of conductive anomalies that lie along the strike of the stratigraphy and coincide with copper and zinc gossans in several areas.

American West Metals Ltd.

Click on image for larger Storm Copper and Seal Zinc map.

A ground magnetic sensor was also used during the survey over the northern and southern areas of Tempest to supplement the existing airborne magnetic data.

American West is highly encouraged by its preliminary assessment of the data from the 2023 program at Tempest, which identified untested anomalies and gossans coincident with geophysical anomalies over a larger area of this underexplored prospect.

"The program successfully extended the prospective strike of gossans and EM anomalies to over 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) and has returned exceptional grades of both copper and zinc, with assays up to 38% copper and 30% zinc," said O'Neill. "Follow-up exploration is planned to test these numerous EM anomalies and gossans including a larger geochemical sampling program, follow-up moving loop EM and drilling of priority targets."

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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