ASX-listed American West Metals shares surged more than 70 per cent in intraday trading at the highest volume this year on the back of the company’s best assay results at its West Desert project in Utah, USA.
The results are from the fourth diamond drill hole at the site that aimed to test the continuity of strong zinc and copper mineralisation east of the deposit’s main zone.
During the day’s trading American West shares reached 0.265 cents at a volume of more than 18 million on June 8 after closing at 0.155c the previous day.
Assay analysis of the 549.83m hole showed more than 105m of high-grade zinc and copper intersected within four major intervals, in addition to high grades of indium and silver.
The deepest and best span went 18.59m at 13.24 per cent zinc, 140.96 grams per tonne indium from 367.88m including 9.75m at 21.7 per cent zinc and 192.75 g/t indium from 369.4m.
Another intersection went 26.52m at 8.46 per cent zinc, 0.17 per cent copper, 10.61 g/t silver and 55.63 g/t indium from 313.47m including 16.47m at 10.22 per cent zinc, 0.26 per cent copper, 16.24 g/t silver and 48.63 g/t indium from 315.91m.
One interval showed 47.4m at 4.3 per cent zinc, 0.08 per cent copper, 12 g/t silver and 34.75 g/t indium from 234.07m including 10.36m at 6.56 per cent zinc, 0.05 per cent copper, 10.35 g/t silver and 36.06 g/t indium from 263.03m.
The shallowest span included 10.82m at 1.41 per cent copper, 1.51 per cent zinc, 0.23 g/t, 59.41 g/t silver and 40.63 g/t indium from 224.63m including 6.09m at 2.04 per cent copper, 1.09 per cent zinc. 0.33 g/t gold, 12 g/t silver and 47.98 g/t indium from 224.63m.
The company says the diamond drilling program continues to define high-grade mineralisation in the eastern section of the West Desert deposit.
American West Metals Managing Director, David O’Neill said: “The assay results and drill hole location are strategically favourable and provide further support for potential future underground development. We look forward to reporting further strong results from the pending assays for the other completed drill holes in the coming weeks.”
The latest exploration has identified higher volumes and metal grades within several lenses, enhancing the mineralisation within the West Desert resource envelope.
Assays for the remaining five drill holes from the current program are pending and expected over the coming weeks.
These results will be used to estimate a maiden JORC-compliant resource for the West Desert deposit that is wholly owned by American West and contains a historical resource base of more than 59 million tonnes, with a 16.5 million-tonne high-grade core at 6.3 per cent zinc, 0.3 per cent copper and 33 g/t indium.
The company says it will assess several different development options for West Desert including a proposal that is focused on mining the high-grade core through an open-pit operation that transitions to underground mining at depth.
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By Matt Birney
