28 September 2022
TORONTO, Ontario, September 28, 2022 – Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSXV: BAY) (OTCQB: ATBHF) ("Aston Bay" or the "Company”) today reported that initial assay results from drill hole ST22-10 have confirmed a significant discovery from the summer drill program at the Storm Copper Project (“Storm” or the “Project”) on Somerset Island, Nunavut, Canada. This is the maiden drilling program for American West Metals Limited (“American West”), who are the project operator, since entering an option agreement with Aston Bay in March 2021.
“We are excited the assay results from drill hole ST22-10 have confirmed the presence of sediment hosted type of copper and zinc mineralization at the Storm Project,” stated Thomas Ullrich, CEO of Aston Bay. “This style of mineralization, with its potential to host giant copper deposits such as those in Central Africa, has always been our target for discovery on Somerset Island.
“The visual logging shows the presence of sulfide minerals chalcopyrite, pyrite and sphalerite, which are extremely significant as it demonstrates movement of metal-bearing fluids through a thick permeable horizon. Elsewhere at Storm, including the nearby 4100N Zone, the chalcopyrite/pyrite/sphalerite mineralization occurs on the margin of much higher-grade chalcocite and bornite zone. This drill hole pierced the edge of a large conductive anomaly, so considerable discovery upside exists here and at the six other large anomalies that have yet to be tested.
“We now have two avenues for growth at the project: advancing the high-grade near-surface copper mineralization at Storm toward a maiden resource for a low cost, small footprint direct shipping product mining operation, and continued exploration for the potential discovery of a very large sediment hosted style of mineralization hidden in the subsurface.”
Drill hole ST22-10 intersected a thick sequence of sulfide mineralization hosted within carbonate sediments. The drill hole was targeting a large electromagnetic (EM) anomaly to the west, and deeper than the near-surface high-grade 4100N Zone.
Approximately 68.8 metres (m) of chalcopyrite, pyrite and sphalerite mineralization were intersected from 277m downhole in drill hole ST22-10 (approx. 230m vertical depth). The mineralization is interpreted to be stratabound and is hosted within a vuggy, bituminous and fossiliferous carbonate unit.
Visual observations of chalcopyrite and sphalerite in the drill core have now been confirmed by assays within the sampled intervals from ST22-10.
Of the sulfide mineralized zones, only portions containing clear and abundant chalcopyrite and sphalerite were sampled with the aim of confirming sediment hosted copper and zinc mineralization. Most of the pyrite-dominant zones were excluded from samples submitted for assay - see Table 1 for assay results and Figure 3 for a geological cross section of the drill hole. These results confirm the presence of sediment hosted copper and zinc sulfide mineralization and have verified the discovery of this new style of mineralization at Storm.
Geophysical properties logging of sections of the core will be conducted on ST22-10 to refine the geophysical targeting model for follow-up drilling.
ST22-10 is the deepest drill hole completed at the Storm Project this season and highlights the outstanding exploration potential of the project area. Compilation of historical induced polarization (IP), gravity and EM data reveals a series of large anomalies that sit below, and/or adjacent to the known near-surface high-grade copper mineralization and graben fault system.
The metal associations, zonation and geophysics suggest that the drill hole has intersected the edge of a new and significant mineralization system.
Mineralization at the nearby 4100N Zone and elsewhere at Storm is clearly zoned, with a core of chalcocite mineralization grading into zones bornite ± covellite, then chalcopyrite, pyrite and on to an outer sphalerite ± galena zone, reflecting progressive reduction of the metal-bearing fluids by interaction with hydrocarbons in the permeable zones of the rock.
The mineralization encountered in ST22-10 suggests this drill hole intercepted the outer chalcopyrite/pyrite/sphalerite zone of the system. Follow-up detailed EM is expected to improve targeting for the higher-grade chalcocite and bornite zones predicted by the deposit and mineralization models.
Initial observations suggest that the style of mineralization, host rocks and the geological setting of the ST22-10 area are evidence of a reduced facies type of sediment hosted copper system. Global examples of these are the giant Kupferschiefer (Germany) and Central African copper deposits.
The geology intersected within ST22-10 has all the elements required for sediment hosted ore forming processes including permeable carbonate rocks, hydrocarbons for reducing fluids, sulphur source and a favourable structural setting. The central graben of the Storm area is an ideal trap for metal bearing fluids and will be a key focus for further exploration.
The mineralization encountered to date shows clear zonation, which will be used to determine vectors to the stronger part of the mineralization system. The presence of zinc and lead in addition to copper suggests that ST22-10 has intersected the margin of a copper dominant sedimentary hosted mineralization system.
Beneficiation test work is expected to commence shortly with a focus on further optimization of the process to produce a direct shipping product. All of the remaining drill core (half core) from drill hole ST22-02 will be used in the test work.
Further diamond drilling and surface electromagnetics are planned for next year to follow-up the new deeper discovery as well as the shallow mineralization at the 2750N Zone. The drilling will also aim to define initial resources at the 4100N and 2200N Zones, where thick zones of high-grade copper mineralization have been intersected at shallow depths in historical drilling.
A detailed review of the existing induced polarization (IP) and gravity anomalies is underway (Figure 5). The current datasets show a number of large anomalies that are focused around the central graben faults and sit beneath high-grade surface mineralization; these present compelling targets for further exploration.
Investors can expect further news on the 2750N Zone drilling in the coming days.
Read the full release here.