Aston Bay and American West Metals Announce Thick New Copper Zones Discovered in Drilling at the Storm Copper Project, Canada

Immediate exploration success highlights potential for rapid and significant expansion

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2024 / Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSXV:BAY)(OTCQB:ATBHF) ("Aston Bay" or the "Company") is pleased to present an update and initial visual results from drilling activities currently underway at the Storm Copper Project ("Storm" or the "Project") on Somerset Island, Nunavut. The program is being conducted by American West Metals Limited ("American West"), who is the operator of the Project. American West has completed the required expenditures to earn an undivided 80% interest in the Project. American West will be solely responsible for funding the program.

Highlights

• The 2024 Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling has delivered immediate success in intersecting thick new zones of copper mineralization in the drilling of geophysical targets, including:
  • Drill hole SR24-02 (Cyclone North) has intersected:
    • 36.6m of visual copper sulfides from 79.3m downhole
  • Drill hole SR24-03 (The Gap) has intersected:
    • 47.2m of visual copper sulfide mineralization including a 10m interval of very strong visual copper sulfides from 36.6m downhole
  • Drill hole SR24-04 (The Gap) has intersected:
    • 30.5m of visual copper sulfide mineralization from 29m downhole
• The visual copper sulfide mineralization intersected in SR24-03 and SR24-04 is similar in appearance to high-grade copper mineralization in the 2023 discovery hole at the nearby Thunder Prospect which returned 48.6m @ 3% Cu (ST23-03)
• SR24-03 and SR24-04 are located midway along 4km of prospective structures between the Cirrus Prospect and the high-grade Thunder Prospect - the structures are largely untested by drilling and are a high-priority target area for additional potential copper mineralization
• Drilling results continue to demonstrate the strong correlation between Moving Loop Electromagnetic (MLEM) targets and copper mineralization, with an extensive suite of new geophysical targets prioritized for drilling in 2024
• Samples for the first batch of drilling are at the laboratory with assay results expected in the coming weeks
• Phase 1 of the MLEM surveys have been completed in the Storm area with the deep search phase (>250m depth) of the program now underway
• Drilling by the track-mounted RC rig continues 24/7

It is very encouraging to report early success from the 2024 exploration program at Storm," stated Thomas Ullrich, CEO of Aston Bay. "Drilling of Moving Loop EM geophysical anomalies is proving to be very effective at discovering copper mineralization. This provides a powerful exploration advantage. With several new anomalies still to be drilled and deep potential only now being tested by this method, we are excited for the potential for continued discovery this season at Storm."

DRILLING IMMEDIATELY DEFINES THICK NEW COPPER ZONES AND POTENTIAL EXTENSIONS TO KNOWN MINERALIZATION AT STORM

Preliminary geological interpretation is now complete on the first batch of drill holes from the 2024 exploration and resource expansion drilling program. The drilling has intersected thick intervals of visual copper sulfides including outstanding new exploration success in The Gap area where 2023 drilling has intersected high-grade copper mineralization.

Drilling at The Gap confirms the exploration potential within the relatively untested area along the 4km of structures that hosts the Cirrus and Corona Prospects, as well as the high-grade Thunder (48.6m @ 3% Cu) and Lightning Ridge (30.4m @ 2.1% Cu) Prospects. Successful intersection of copper mineralization in these drill holes highlight the prospectivity and potential for growth in copper endowment that exists in the southern graben area.

Drilling immediately north of the Cyclone Prospect indicates the potential to extend the resource northwards and toward 2023 exploration drill hole SR23-55 which intersected 7.6m @ 1% Cu from 105.2m downhole.

RC drilling with the track-mounted rig continues on a broad range of exploration and resource expansion targets, including within the Thunder and Chinook Prospect areas. The second RC and the Diamond rigs will be phased into the program in the coming weeks with a total of over 20,000m of drilling planned for the 2024 program.

Phase 1 of the high-powered Moving Loop EM (MLEM) survey has been completed in the Storm area, with over 10 new targets defined for high-priority drill testing. Phase 2 of the survey is now underway which involves searching deeper (up to 500m depth), below the near-surface copper prospects where drilling has previously intersected copper grades up to 2.7% Cu (ST23-02) within a prospective stratigraphic horizon (see September 26, 2023 Aston Bay press release). The exploration targets in this deeper part of the Storm sedimentary copper system are large-scale sedimentary copper similar to the large, high-grade copper deposits of Central Africa.

Table 1: 2024 resource and exploration drill hole details.

Visual estimates of mineral abundance should never be considered a proxy or substitute for laboratory analyses where concentrations or grades are the factor of principal economic interest. Laboratory assays are required to determine the presence and grade of any contained mineralization within the reported visual intersections of copper sulfides. Portable XRF is used as an aid in the determination of mineral type and abundance during the geological logging process.

DRILL HOLE SR24-01 DETAILS

The first drill hole of the 2024 season, SR24-01, was drilled approximately 500m north of the Cyclone Prospect and was designed to test a Fixed Loop Electromagnetic (FLEM) target defined during exploration in 2022. The interpretation of the FLEM data suggested that the source of the anomaly could be located at depth but was weakly defined.

SR24-01 was drilled to a maximum achievable depth of 251.5m and did not encounter copper sulfides or other lithologies that could confirm or explain the source of EM anomalism. The drill hole did encounter weak pyrite (iron sulfides) mineralization at 125m and minor clay layers, but not in an abundance to explain the EM response.

The 2024 Moving Loop EM (MLEM) survey was extended into the area to validate the FLEM anomaly but did not highlight any significant anomalies. The current MLEM survey is optimized to search for conductive bodies between 0-250m depth, suggesting that the FLEM anomaly may be located at a deeper level.

Deeper penetrating EM will be scheduled for this area to further investigate the source of the FLEM anomaly.

DRILL HOLE SR24-02 DETAILS

SR24-02 was drilled to the north of the Cyclone Prospect to a downhole depth of 140.2m. The drill hole was designed to define potential extensions to the existing copper mineralization within the Storm area.

The drill hole tested an MLEM anomaly suggesting continuation of the mineralization between the existing copper mineralization and 2023 step-out exploration drill hole SR23-55 which intersected 7.6m @ 1% Cu from 105.2m downhole. (Figure 2).

SR24-02 intersected a single, 36.6m thick zone of visual copper sulfides between 79.3m and 115.8m downhole. The chalcocite dominant mineralization is hosted in thin veinlets and patchy disseminations within fractured dolomite.

The visual sulfide abundance of the mineralized interval within SR24-02 is very similar to that of the drill holes in the north-eastern part of Cyclone. This suggests good lateral continuity of the mineralization and supports the growth potential of Cyclone.

Intersections below are expressed as downhole widths and are interpreted to be close to true widths. Visual estimates of sulfide type, quantity and habit should not be considered a substitute for laboratory assays. Portable XRF analysis has been used to confirm the nature of the sulfide intercepts. Laboratory assays are required to determine the widths and grade of mineralization as reported in preliminary geological logging.

Table 2: Summary geological log for drill hole SR24-02.

Mineralization key: cc = chalcocite, chpy = chalcopyrite, bn = bornite, py = pyrite, Cu = native copper, ct = cuprite, ml = malachite, sph = sphalerite, ga = galena. (5%) = visual estimation of sulfide content.

DRILL HOLE SR24-03 DETAILS

SR24-03 was drilled to a downhole depth of 149.4m and was designed to test a strongly conductive Moving Loop Electromagnetic (MLEM) anomaly in The Gap area (midway between the Cirrus Prospect and the Thunder Prospect) (Figure 2).

The entire 149.4m length of drill hole SR24-03 is variably mineralized with a combined total of 47.2m of breccia and vein-style copper mineralization. The drill hole contains a strongly sulfide-mineralized breccia interval approximately 10m thick from 39.6m downhole (Figure 3). The mineralization within the strongly mineralized zone (chalcocite, bornite, chalcopyrite) is similar in appearance to that of nearby drill hole AB18-09 which intersected grades up to 4.4% Cu (Figure 4), and the Thunder Prospect to the east (48.6m @ 3% Cu in ST23-03).

Table 3: Summary geological log for drill hole SR24-03.

Mineralization key: cc = chalcocite, chpy = chalcopyrite, bn = bornite, py = pyrite, Cu = native copper, ct = cuprite, ml = malachite, sph = sphalerite, ga = galena. (5%) = visual estimation of sulfide content.

DRILL HOLE SR24-04 DETAILS

SR24-04 was drilled to a downhole depth of 199.6m and was designed to help determine the geometry of the main zone of copper mineralization encountered in drill hole SR24-03 for future resource definition drilling. The drill hole was drilled across section and below SR24-03.

SR24-04 intersected a total of 30.5m of vein-style copper mineralization within a number of zones hosted within fractured dolomite.

The sulfide abundance and mineralization within SR24-04 are very similar to that of SR24-03. The intersection depths and zoning of copper sulfides in both drill holes indicates that the mineralization in in the Gap area may be relatively flat lying, and therefore have significant potential for lateral expansion (Figure 4).

The immediate success of the 2024 exploration drilling highlights the ongoing exploration potential of the Storm area and potential of the MLEM surveys to efficiently define high-priority drilling targets.

The Gap exploration holes were planned to test a very strong MLEM anomaly that covers an area of approximately 300m x 200m. This feature is located within a much larger zone of moderately conductive EM, which suggest the footprint of copper mineralization in The Gap area could be significant.

Further RC drilling will be used to determine the extent of the copper mineralization at The Gap Prospect during the 2024 summer drilling season.