American West Metals Limited (ASX: AW1) has sighted a significant intersection of mineralisation in the second diamond drill hole successfully completed at the West Desert Project in Utah, USA.
Drill hole WD22-01C was designed to test extensions of high-grade copper mineralisation along the porphyry and skarn contact on the margins of the historical West Desert Deposit.
An impressive total of 332m of copper, zinc and molybdenite mineralisation has been visually identified in the drill core.
The mineralisation is distributed through nine major intervals, most of which are located outside of the historical resource envelope.
These new extensions of the known mineralised zones have the potential to add substantial additional resources to the West Desert Deposit.
Managing Director, Dave O’Neill, said significantly, the results in WD22-01C support the potential for further expansion of the West Desert Deposit. The copper rich zones in this part of the deposit remain open along strike and at depth, with historical intersections also containing significant gold.
Additionally, strong and thick intervals of molybdenite mineralisation were encountered within the porphyry and skarn intersected by WD22-01C and appear to be increasing in abundance with depth.
“We are very pleased to report that our second diamond drill hole has been successfully completed and has exceeded our expectations,” Mr O’Neill said.
“The visual observations from WD22-01C show a total of 332m of mineralisation with nine main zones of zinc and copper within a mix of skarn and porphyry style mineralisation.
“The drill hole confirms the extensions to high value copper, zinc and molybdenum mineralisation in an underexplored part of the mineral system.
“The fact that these zones still remain open has huge implications for the growth potential for West Desert, particularly with regard to the quality and inventory of copper and molybdenite rich ores.
“It’s exciting to be here onsite overseeing the drilling in action. The technical team is justifiably excited by these results and the scale and quality of mineralisation here at West Desert.”
WD22-01C is the second drill hole of American West’s 7,500m program which is drilling a number of key high-grade zinc and copper zones, and also acquiring material for metallurgical test work in the oxide and transitional zones.
The drill hole was drilled below WD22-01, our first hole at West Desert, and designed to test extensions to the high-grade copper and gold zones along the porphyry/skarn contact and within one of the largest gaps in drilling of the historical resource.
The distance between historical drilling in this section is greater than 90m. The historical resource at West Desert is a large historical and foreign resource (Ni 43-101 compliant) of over 59Mt, including a higher-grade core of approximately 16.5Mt @ 6.3% Zn, 0.3% Cu and 33g/t In.
Significantly, the resource remains open at depth and along strike. A Preliminary Economic Assessment dated 2 May 2014 prepared in compliance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 outlined the economic potential for the West Desert deposit.
WD22-01C was drilled to a depth of 776m and encountered a combined total of 332m metres of visual mineralisation within nine major zones.
Intersections are expressed as downhole widths and are interpreted to be true widths within the porphyry and skarn mineralisation, and close to true widths where CRD is present.
New NED
In other news, American West has named the experienced Tom Peregoodoff as a Non-executive Director.
Mr Peregoodoff has more than 30 years in the resources sector, commencing in greenfield/brownfield exploration and resource development and more recently as chief executive of listed corporations with operations in North America.
He spent 18 years in several positions with the mining multinational BHP, culminating in his role as Vice President of Early Stage Exploration with global responsibility for all early stage exploration across BHP’s commodity groups.
Following the BHP role, Mr Peregoodoff was President and CEO of Peregrine Diamonds Ltd., where he led the company from the resource development phase of its project in Nunavut, Canada through to the eventual sale to DeBeers Canada in 2018.
Currently, he is President, CEO and a Director of Apollo Silver Corp. (TSX-V: AGPO), which has mining projects in Arizona and California. He is also an independent non-executive director of Pretium Resources Inc. (TSX: PVG).
“We are delighted to have attracted someone of Mr Peregoodoff’s calibre to American West, as we further expand our team of prominent mining specialists,” John Prineas, Non-executive Chairman of American West Metals, said.
“His experience at the highest levels of the mining sector – including his successful track record of developing and monetising projects in North America – is a great asset to the Company and will be invaluable as we advance our projects in Canada and the USA.”
For further information please visit: https://www.americanwestmetals.com/
