Building on the Storm Copper foundation North of 60 Mining News...

Building on the Storm Copper foundation

North of 60 Mining News - May 20, 2025
Shane Lasley, Mining News | Last updated May 20, 2025 1:27pm0
ShareXShare




American West Metals Ltd. 1/4
Equipment and supplies delivered last year are expected to shave roughly A$4 million off the cost and streamline the start of this year's program at Storm Copper.
American West Metals Ltd. 1/4
Native copper and chalcocite in core from a 10-meter drill intercept averaging 1.2% copper at Cyclone Deeps, a priority resource expansion target at Storm.
American West Metals Ltd. 1/4



American West gears up for high-impact 2025 program to support mine development and expand high-grade copper resources.

American West Metals Ltd. May 20 announced that it is gearing up for a multifaceted mineral exploration and development program at its high-grade Storm Copper project on Somerset Island, Nunavut.
Lying along the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic, Storm is a 541,800-acre (219,300 hectares) project that covers a 70-mile-long (110 kilometers) belt of high-grade sediment-hosted copper and zinc mineralization.
So far, American West has outlined 20.61 million metric tons of JORC-compliant indicated and inferred resources averaging 1.11% (504 million lb) copper and 3.34 g/t (2.2 million ounces) silver in six deposits – Chinook, Cirrus, Corona, Cyclone, Lightening Ridge, and Thunder – within the roughly five-square-mile (13 square kilometers) main Storm Copper area near the center of the larger belt spanning the length of the property.
A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) completed earlier this year outlines plans for an operation that uses sorting technology to upgrade near-surface mineralization mined from these deposits into a direct shipping ore concentrate averaging 19.2% copper and 35 g/t silver.
At a $4.60 per pound copper price, the 10-year operation outlined in the PEA is estimated to generate $839 million in revenue, a post-tax net present value (8% discount) of $149 million, a post-tax internal rate of return of 46%, and a payback period of three years.
Given the compelling economics, Ocean Partners Holdings Ltd. entered into a strategic partnership with American West that includes providing up to 80% of the estimated $47.4 million of initial capital required to develop the Storm Copper mine outlined in the PEA.
In addition, Taurus Mining Royalty opted to accelerate a $3.5 million tranche of advanced royalty payments to American West, boosting the funding available for the 2025 program.
"After focusing on the delivery of the PEA, Taurus royalty funding, and strategic alliance with Ocean Partners, we are now pleased to report that the 2025 exploration program is set to commence in the coming weeks," said American West Metals Managing Director Dave O'Neill. "The logistics are well advanced for a program that will build on the excellent foundations set by the PEA and 2024 high-grade copper discoveries at the Storm project."

American West Metals Ltd.
Native copper and chalcocite in core from a 10-meter drill intercept averaging 1.2% copper at Cyclone Deeps, a priority resource expansion target at Storm.
Immediate growth potential

As crews collect data to support a pre-feasibility study for mining the deposit already outlined, drills will continue to focus on upgrading and expanding the deposits within the main Storm area.
The expansion drilling will primarily focus on defining resources within three high-grade discoveries:
• Cyclone Deeps – A deeper fault-offset extension of the Cyclone deposit, where a 2024 hole cut 10 meters averaging 1.2% copper from a depth of 311 meters.
• Cirrus Deeps – A similar deeper extension of the Cirrus deposit identified with electromagnetic (EM) geophysics.
• The Gap – a strong EM anomaly between the Cirrus and Corona deposits, where 2024 drilling cut 20 meters averaging 2.3% copper from a depth of 28 meters.
American West says these deposits offer an exceptional opportunity to expand resources and the life of the proposed Storm Copper mine with minimal drilling.
"All of the Storm copper deposits remain open and provide immediate growth potential," said O'Neill. "In addition, the Cyclone Deeps, Cirrus Deeps, and Gap discoveries of 2024 are not yet included in the current MRE [mineral resource estimate], and all of these high-grade zones represent further opportunities for drilling to expand the known resources."
Expanding the Storm corridor

While expanding resources within the initial mining area at Storm, American West will continue to explore the wider potential of the large and highly prospective land package.
The regional copper exploration program will include drilling at three high-priority targets along a 12.5-mile (20 kilometers) corridor that extends northwest and southeast from the main Storm Copper area:

American West Metals Ltd.

• Midway – This is a new target about three miles (five kilometers) northwest of the main Storm area, where recent reanalysis of core from historical drilling identified 58 meters of visual copper sulfide mineralization.
• Tornado/Blizzard – Located three miles southeast of the Storm copper deposits, this target hosts a compelling coincidence of favorable structure and stratigraphy, strong gravity and EM anomalies, and a 3,200-by-1,500-meter geochemical copper anomaly that has yet to be drilled.
• Tornado South – A large structural hotspot representing a textbook setting for copper mineralisation that has been identified to the southeast of the Tornado/Blizzard area.
O'Neil said these targets have "the potential to add multiple new discoveries, which could significantly enhance the PEA resource base and mine life."
Further afield, the Tempest prospect about 25 miles south of the main Storm Copper area hosts a 2.5-mile-long (four kilometers) zone of gossans where surface samples with up to 38.2% copper and 30.8% zinc have been collected.
Regional geophysics

To further refine drill targets, American West is carrying out a regional-scale mobile magneto-telluric (MMT) geophysical survey that covers a roughly 35-mile (55 kilometers) trend extending from Midway to Tempest.

American West Metals Ltd.

The company says the MMT survey, which utilizes natural source energy to capture a broader range of EM frequencies than the techniques used so far at Storm, is designed to show a greater contrast between the host rocks and potential accumulations of conductive material indicative of copper mineralization.
The initial MMT survey will be completed over the Midway-Storm-Tornado area as an orientation exercise to determine the response of the known deposits before extending the survey into more regional areas.
This geophysical survey will begin as soon as crews mobilize to camp, allowing results to be returned early enough to help define and prioritize targets for drilling this season.
With most of the equipment and supplies for the 2025 field season shipped to the project late last year, American West expects to trim about A$4 million ($2.6 million) from costs and streamline the launch of the 2025 Storm program.
"The logistics are well advanced for a program that will build on the excellent foundations set by the PEA and 2024 high-grade copper discoveries at the Storm project," said O'Neill.