AW1 hits more copper outside of its existing resource:

Our latest Investment American West Metals (ASX: AW1) just hit high grade copper outside of its existing resource in Northern Canada.

We are mainly Invested in AW1 for its indium project in Utah, USA - the single biggest indium deposit in the USA.

We think that with the rush to bring domestic production of critical minerals online in the US the indium deposit is for the first time in decades in an environment where projects like this are getting funded.

Today, AW1 said that work programs on that project were being ramped up due to the escalation of “US government Liaison”... and that AW1 would be meeting with the governor of Utah this week…

(Source)

This is after AW1’s Managing director Dave O’Neill said on a webinar that “We have been approached by the Department Of War, Department of Energy and local government to move this forward”. (source)

We covered all of that in detail in our AW1 initiation note here: Our New Investment: American West Metals (ASX: AW1)

Another reason we Invested in AW1 was because we believed its copper asset was strong enough to underpin the company’s existing valuation (at our Initial Entry Price).

AW1’s project has a 20.6Mt at 1.1% copper and 3.3g/t silver JORC resource and sits in Northern Canada, where AW1 has already:

1. Completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) A earlier this year that gave a post-tax NPV of US$149M (with CAPEX of just US$47.7M). (Source)
2. Signed an offtake financing deal which has a debt component tied to it that could fund up to 80% of the projects CAPEX. (Source)
3. Signed a royalty deal back in June 2024, for A$18.8M in non-dilutive financing for the project. (Source)

Now AW1 is completing a Pre Feasibility Study (PFS) on the project to move it closer toward development.

Today, AW1 hit a 12.1m intercept with copper grades of 5.6% and silver of 21g/t from just 70m depths…

And most importantly, the intercept came from outside of the current resource pit shells:

(Source)

So there is scope for the resources to increase going into the PFS… and we think there is more exploration upside on this project for AW1.

We covered the exploration upside in our initiation note here: Our New Investment: American West Metals (ASX: AW1).

American West Metals
ASX: AW1

The 11 reasons why we Invested in AW1

Here is a brief overview of the 11 reasons why we Invested in AW1 from our initiation note on the 16th of October 2025.

To see the deep dive on the reasons check out our note here.

1. AW1 has the biggest indium (critical mineral) resource in the USA
   
   
2. Indium is listed as one of the 12 strategic defence critical minerals in the US
   
   
3. China dominates global supply and has placed export restrictions on indium
   
   
4. The US has no domestic production and is 100% reliant on imports for indium
   
   
5. AW1’s deposit could get bigger, only 35% of deposits’ drill cores assayed for indium so far
   
   
6. AW1’s deposit might also have Gallium/Germanium potential
   
   
7. Capital is flowing into US critical metals macro thematic
   
   
8. AW1 can follow the “US market listing playbook”
   
   
9. We are backing John Prineas here
   
   
10. AW1 hasn’t yet run like most other US critical Minerals stocks
    
    
11. We think AW1’s copper asset more than underpins its current valuation

What do we want to see AW1 do next?

Objective 1: Drilling at the US indium project

We want to see AW1 drill its indium project to really test the project's exploration upside (including other metals like gallium). Ultimately, we think some exploration will revive market interest in the project.

Milestones:

🔲 Drilling starts

🔲 Drilling results

🔲 Assay results for gallium/germanium

Objective 2: US government or strategic funding for the US indium asset

We want to see AW1 lock in either government or strategic funding for its US indium asset.

Milestones:

🔲 US government fast-tracking permitting

🔲 Non-dilutive US critical minerals funding opportunity applications

🔲 Strategic funding partnership

Objective 3: Pre-feasibility study and permitting for the Canadian copper project

We want to see AW1 deliver a pre-feasibility study and key permits related to developing the project.

Milestones:

🔄 Pre Feasibility Study

🔄 Environmental Studies

🔄 Mining/development permits

Objective 4: Exploration drilling at the Canadian copper project

We want to see AW1 drill out its regional targets and hopefully add to the projects existing JORC resource.

Milestones:

🔲 Geophysics/Geochemistry work

🔄 Drilling starts

🔄 Drilling results

🔲 JORC resource upgrade