20 July 2022
TORONTO, ON, July 20, 2022 – Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSXV: BAY) (OTCQB: ATBHF) ("Aston Bay" or the "Company”) is pleased to announce the commencement of drilling and exploration activities at the Company’s high-grade Storm Copper Project (“Storm” or the “Project”) on Somerset Island, Nunavut. This is the first drilling program American West Metals Limited (“American West”) will act as project operator, since entering the option agreement with Aston Bay in March 2021.
“We are extremely pleased that drilling is underway at Storm,” stated Thomas Ullrich, CEO of Aston Bay. “This initial phase of drilling is designed to define a copper resource within the 2750N Zone where copper mineralization is present at surface. Previous ore sorting test work has demonstrated that the area can produce a >53% copper direct ship product, highlighting the potential to support a low footprint direct ship mining proposal. As well, testing of newly defined EM conductors will advance the discovery potential for new mineralized zones.”
The resource definition program is initially focusing on defining potential shallow resources within the 2750N Zone (Figure 1). The first drill hole (ST22-01) is now underway.
Historical drilling within the 2750N Zone has encountered thick intervals of high-grade copper mineralization, including 110m core length at 2.45% Cu from surface (drill hole ST97-08), and 56.3m core length @ 3.07% Cu from 12.2m (drill hole ST99-19). Given the significant width of these intervals and the distance between drill holes (>100m), extension and infill drilling in the 2750N Zone provides an opportunity to quickly define large volumes of additional copper mineralization.
Drilling is also planned at the 4100N and 2200N zones. Over 1,700m of drilling is planned in this program, with hole depths between 100m and150m due to the shallow nature of mineralization. Table 1 shows drill hole details for ST22-01. The order for drilling of further holes will be selected based on drill results and logistics.
Table 1: Drill hole details
Initial ore sorting test work on copper mineralization at Storm supported the production of a direct shipping product grading 53% Cu (see news release dated April 11, 2022).
The excellent results from the ore-sorting and DSP test work suggest that a shallow, high-grade resource is likely to be well suited to a low-footprint DSP mining operation. Further samples of copper mineralized material will be collected during the current field program to undertake a second phase of beneficiation test work.
Drilling will also test a number of high-priority electromagnetic (EM) conductors that were identified by the 2021 fixed loop electromagnetic (FLEM) survey completed by American West over the Storm Project area. The survey identified multiple near surface anomalies, some of which are coincident with outcropping copper occurrences.
Significantly, the new conductors are consistent with the EM responses of known massive chalcocite mineralization on the Storm property. These newly defined conductors present a number of compelling new and untested drill targets that will be drilled during this exploration program.