American West woos $7m in new cash for Canadian copper play

A $7 million American West Metals fundraising campaign, which has attracted new investors and the company’s directors, has helped build a war chest to boost exploration efforts and upgrade the resource estimate of its Storm copper project in Canada.

Under the placement, 77.8 million new shares have been issued by the company to institutional, sophisticated and professional investors at a price of 9c per share.

The fresh cash injection will be used to accelerate activities at American West’s flagship operation in Canada, including upgrading the resource estimate and prefeasibility studies. The new funding will also allow for further exploration, which management believes may still hold substantial upside.

Notably, just five per cent of the project’s 100km copper belt has been explored to date.

American West Metals managing director David O'Neill said: “The capital raise received strong support from local and international investors – in recognition of the high quality and significant progress of the Storm Project to date and the tremendous valuation upside it offers. With further catalysts to come, including drilling assay results expected in the coming weeks, the updated MRE expected in late CY24 and the PEA/PFS expected in early 2025, we are looking forward to providing shareholders with regular news flow.”

Sitting on Somerset Island in Canada’s Nunavut territory and 120km south of Resolute Bay, the company’s 80 per cent-owned project kicked off the year with a sizable maiden resource estimate in January, reporting 17.5 million tonnes at 1.2 per cent copper and 3.4 grams per tonne silver – equating to 205,000 tonnes of copper and 1.9 million ounces of silver.

Additionally, high-grade satellite discoveries at the nearby Thunder, Lightning Ridge, Cyclone North and Cyclone South-west prospects – with hits that include 48.6m grading 3 per cent copper, 15.2m at 2.3 per cent, 27.4m running at 1.1 per cent and 15.4m coming in at 1.4 per cent – have not yet been included in the resource estimate.

But it was a deal done with Australian-based Taurus Funds Management a fortnight ago to provide US$12.5 million (AU$18.8 million) in funding through an innovative pre-payment royalty deal that has given American West a remarkable head start moving into 2025.

With timing of the essence, the company was able to seal the deal with Taurus quickly enough to allow it to buy up bulk supplies for next year’s exploration campaign in time for shipping. The supplies are now destination bound and expected to be delivered soon, shaving almost AU$4 million off the likely logistics bill for next year.

The 2024 program to date has been a resounding success for American West after it delivered a maiden resource, completed more than 23,000m of drilling, discovered new zones of high-grade copper mineralisation and firmed up the economics of a lower-cost direct shipping ore (DSO) operation at Storm.

It should surprise few, therefore, that investors have been more than happy   to throw money at a company that has achieved as much as American West has in a single year, while it is also sitting on a big resource that is showing plenty of promise. It appears next year is lining up to be a productive one.

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