AW1 identifies additional 4km copper target in Canada

Our North American critical minerals Investment American West Metals (ASX: AW1) just identified a >4km long copper anomaly at its project in Canada.

AW1’s project already has an 20.6Mt copper resource grading ~1.1% and is relatively well advanced with:

1. A Pre Feasibility Study (PFS) currently being worked on.
2. Permitting for the project underway, and
3. 2x funding deals that entail for up to 80% of the funding to bring the project into production (Source) and a royalty deal for up to $18.8M in non-dilutive financing. (Source)

Today, AW1 announced results from regional geochemical sampling which identified an undrilled copper anomaly over 4.1km by 0.7km.

Here is that target area relative to AW1’s current JORC resource:

(Source)

We mentioned in our AW1 initiation note that regional exploration could be good for AW1’s copper asset in Canada because it could add mine life to the project…

AW1’s Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) which was completed earlier in the year showed a post-tax Net Present Value (NPV) of US$149M based on ~6 years of mine life and ~10 years of processing. (source)

(Source)

So exploration upside could become important in filling mining gaps beyond that initial six years - and it could be what a major financier OR partner would want to see before showing interest in the project.

(Source)

After today, that exploration upside has become even bigger:

We are primarily Invested in AW1 for its US critical minerals deposit - which has the largest indium resource inside US borders…

But we also like that AW1 is advancing the copper project to the point where it could backfill AW1’s valuation and give us a free kick on the US asset.

We covered the latest from the US asset in our most recent AW1 note here: AW1: “Unsolicited approaches” from US government and US investors.

What’s next for AW1?

Sampling of previous drilling on US critical minerals project 🔄

We are looking forward to the results from the resampling on the US asset.

We are especially looking forward to seeing if the indium resource gets bigger AND if AW1 can define a large gallium resource to go with its current resources.

Results from the sampling are expected in 3-4 weeks.

(Source)

Pre Feasibility Study (PFS) for Canadian copper project 🔄

We are mainly Invested in AW1 for its US critical minerals project.

But we are also looking forward to news from the company’s Canadian copper project.

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

Here are the milestones we will be tracking:

🔄 Pre Feasibility Study

🔄 Environmental Studies

🔄 Mining/development permits