Toronto’s Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX-V: BAY) (OTCQB: ATBHF) and its Australian partner American West Metals Limited (ASX: AW1) have successfully identified a series of promising copper targets in Canada’s north.
On Tuesday, Aston Bay announced the findings from the Storm Copper Project on Nunavut’s Somerset Island which were made possible through a gravity survey conducted by American West in April and May, the project’s operator since 2021.
The anomalies extend over several kilometres and are believed to be dense copper sulfide deposits, supporting the potential for a large-scale copper system.
“These are spectacular results from the gravity survey conducted at Storm this spring by our partners American West,” said Aston Bay’s CEO Thomas Ullrich.
“The anomalies are large, with a strike length of several kilometres and spatially coincident with the known shallow high-grade copper mineralization. Importantly, the anomalies are relatively shallow, with an upper boundary at about 200 metres depth, well within range of the diamond drill,” he added.
Map of the new copper targets. Image via Aston Bay
Read more: Calibre Mining 2022 sustainability report shows strong support for ESG initiatives
Read more: Calibre Mining delivers first shipment of Eastern Borosi ore at La Libertad mill
Aston Bay says the deposits have similar characteristics to the large copper deposits found in central and southern Africa. The company also says the high-resolution ground gravity survey provided valuable data and was able to significantly increase the companies understanding of the valley hosting the deposits.
Aston Bay and American West plan to conduct more drilling at the project this summer, with a focus on the expansion of the current mineralized footprint. The diamond drilling this summer will also test the targets identified through the recent survey.
One of the holes drilled at the project (ST22-10) in 2022 is believed to have intersected the edge of a large copper system deep underground based on results from the gravity survey. The hole intersected a thick sequence of copper and zinc-bearing sulfide mineralization 277 metres below the surface before being abandoned due to technical issues.
Ulrich also says the dominantly pyrite-chalcopyrite sulfide mineralization found in that core sample is the same type of mineralization found in other high-grade copper deposits at the Storm project.
This underground deposit will be a key target at the Storm project going forward.
Gravity survey results. Image via Aston Bay
The Storm property consists of 173 mining claims spanning approximately 219,000 hectares.
Other mining companies operating in Nunavut include Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX: WPM), B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) (NYSE American: BTG) (NSX: B2G), Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (TSX: AEM) (NYSE: AEM), Canadian North Resources (TSX-V: CNRI) and Forum Energy Metals (TSX-V: FMC).
Aston Bay stock rose by 14.29 per cent Tuesday to $0.04 on the TSX Venture Exchange.
American West shares shot up by 33.93 per cent to C$0.068 on the Australian Securities Exchange.
rowan@mugglehead.com
