Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. reported the details of an aggressive exploration program set to commence at the Storm Copper Project ("Storm" or the "Project") on Somerset Island, Nunavut. The program will be conducted by American West Metals Limited ("American West"), who is the operator of the Project. American West will be solely responsible for funding the program.

The open zones of the known copper mineralization, recent discoveries of copper mineralization in the Storm area, and the largely untested 100km prospective copper belt highlight the outstanding potential for the discovery and definition of further resources within the Project area. In addition to the potential expansion of the Cyclone Zone suggested by the conductivity anomaly at Cyclone North, three immediate opportunities have been defined for the expansion and addition of new zones of mineralization at Storm, including the Thunder and Lightning Ridge, Cyclone North, and The Gap Prospects. All of these prospects contain high-grade copper mineralization (including 48.6m @ 3.0% Cu within drill hole ST23-03 at Thunder) and are characterized by broad zones of late time EM conductivity and more localized, highly-conductive ?bullseye' style EM anomalies.

EM anomalies tested to date in the Storm area have a strong correlation with the higher-grade, >2.0% Cu mineralization. A recent review and reinterpretation of the historical Induced Polarization (IP) data has also yielded results and defined numerous targets for the potential discovery of further copper mineralization. IP is an effective geophysical method for the detection of network textured and vein-hosted sulfides.

The IP data has been reassessed using a ?metal factor' algorithm which filters the raw resistivity and conductivity data to define areas likely containing metallic sulfides (including copper sulphide), as opposed to other potential sources of the IP (i.e. clay, iron-oxides). The new imagery highlights a series of extensive IP anomalies that are coincident with the known copper deposits and main structures of the graben fault system (main copper fluid sources). Of particular interest is a newly defined anomaly located immediately to the south of the Cyclone Zone, across the graben fault.

The anomaly is interpreted to be at a deeper stratigraphic level (approximately 100-200m depth) to Cyclone and covers an area roughly the same size as the known Cyclone mineralization. This anomaly is located in an area of no drilling and may represent a southern, offset extension of the Cyclone copper mineralization. Multiple other anomalies have been highlighted in this data set, including strong coincident anomalies with the Corona and Cirrus Deposits, and the Thunder, Lightning Ridge, and The Gap Prospects.

Detailed Moving Loop Electromagnetics (MLEM) and approximately 12,000m of drilling have been planned for resource expansion activities in the Storm area. These activities will commence during March/April 2024. The recent exploration and resource definition activities suggest that Storm and new copper discoveries are only a small part of a larger sediment hosted copper mineralized system.

High-grade copper sulphide mineralization has been found at a stratigraphic level 200m below the known copper deposits, and at numerous other locations along the 100km strike of the prospective copper belt. Significantly, the same high-grade copper mineral assemblage of chalcocite-bornite-chalcopyrite is present in the new deeper discoveries as in the extensive near-surface mineralization. Exploration activities during 2024 will be aimed at extending the coverage of drilling and detailed geophysics into these underexplored areas.

The exploration program will first focus below the Storm Prospects at depth, and at the Blizzard, Tornado and Tempest Prospects. Surface geophysics, including Moving Loop Electromagnetics (MLEM) and gravity, and RC and diamond drilling will be used to screen and test the highest-priority targets. Approximately 10,000m of drilling has been allocated to the exploration work.

The Blizzard and Tornado Prospects are located approximately 5-10km along strike to the southeast of Storm. The area shares a geological setting that is interpreted to be identical to that of Storm, and contains numerous outcropping copper occurrences with coincident geophysical anomalies. The Tornado Prospect is centered on an area with abundant chalcocite and malachite boulders in frost heaved sub-crop and float, within a 3.2km x 1.5km geochemical copper anomaly.

The large copper anomaly shares the same linear trend as the main structural features of the Storm graben. Most of the anomalous copper samples are located around the interpreted northern graben fault, which is a similar setting to that of the large and laterally extensive Cyclone Prospect at Storm. The Blizzard Prospect is defined by a broad, oval shaped zone of elevated Vertical Time Domain Electromagnetics (VTEM) conductance with approximate dimensions of 4.0km x 1.5km.

The target is enhanced locally by elevated levels of copper in rock and soil samples. Both the Tornado and Blizzard Prospects also contain a number of strong gravity anomalies (defined using 2015 and 2016 gravity survey data), which share similar features to those defined at Storm during 2023. The gravity anomalies are located in favourable geological locations and are coincident with the soil and rock copper anomalies.

Moving Loop Electromagnetics (MLEM) and drilling will be used to follow-up these prospective areas with the aim of defining another Storm-style copper camp along strike of the existing copper resources. The Tempest Prospect is located approximately 40 kilometres south of the known copper discoveries at Storm. The area was discovered through historical rock and soil sampling which defined copper gossans over 250m, with assays returning copper grades up to 32% Cu.