American West lands major Canadian copper discovery

American West Metals’ share price jumped 40 per cent in opening trades after news the explorer had made a major new copper discovery at its Storm project on Somerset Island in Nunavut in Canada. The company says recent drilling intersected more than 68m of stratiform copper sulphide mineralisation that is indicative of a major system at depth.

Shares in American West reached 17 cents during intraday trading, up from previous day’s closing price of 12.5 cents.

Management says the discovery is linked to an 800m x 300m electromagnetic, or “EM” plate at the site – the first of six compelling structures to be drill-tested so far.

The large anomalies were identified late last year after the company launched a fixed loop electromagnetic, or “FLEM” survey across Storm’s project area. The program led to the discovery of more than half a dozen targets and demonstrated the operation’s significant exploration upside.

According to American West, the probe that yielded the copper struck a 68.8m parcel of chalcopyrite — a copper sulphide mineral — from 277m downhole.

The company expects the package to be stratiform and hosted within a vuggy, bituminous and fossiliferous carbonate unit – a geological setting famed for its development of sedimentary copper systems. Mineralisation is believed to be concentrated within the zone’s permeable host rocks, which “trap” ore from copper-laden fluids.

Given the recently plunged hole was the first to intersect mineralisation in one of the FLEM survey’s deeper EM anomalies, American West says it could have a significant copper system on its hands.

American West Metals’ Managing Director, David O'Neill said: “This is a game-changing discovery at the Storm Copper Project. Exploration drilling has intersected stratiform copper sulphide mineralisation at depth which supports our geological assumptions that there is a major copper system lying below the high-grade near-surface mineralisation.”

“The importance of this discovery for the project cannot be overstated as it has hugely positive implications for the copper endowment within the project area.”

The Perth-based North American-focused mineral explorer is now eyeing six additional EM anomalies that could offer even more riches.

They include a 1700m x 1000m target below the project’s mineral-rich “2750N” and “2200N” zones and another 690m x 695m anomaly further east where historical drilling intersected high-grade copper.

American West says each of its six other EM anomalies is within 500m from surface.

A recent ore sorting program using material from Storm generated a direct shipping ore, or “DSO” product with a copper grade of 53.9 per cent. The explorer believes the results, along with the materials’ lack of impurities, could have a big effect on the project’s development and coupled with the new discovery set up an ambitious end-of year run for a company that listed only about a year ago.

Copper has been tipped to play a leading role in the looming post-combustion economy and is a key ingredient in electric vehicles. The commodity is abundantly used in electric motors, batteries, inverters, wiring and charging stations. The upswing has led prominent investment houses such as Goldman Sachs to coin the commodity the “new oil”.

Demand for the material is tipped to double by 2050 as the world looks towards cleaner energy options – much to the benefit of companies such as American West Metals.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au