AW1 samples critical minerals in old mine waste dumps at US project

Published 09-APR-2026 11:54 A.M.

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Our US critical minerals Investment American West Metals (ASX: AW1), just reported sampling results from two parts of its project in Utah.

Sampling results from historical mine waste dumps - with peak values of 1,807g/t silver, 176.5g/t indium, 48g/t germanium, 1,010g/t tellurium, and 2.26% copper.
Project-wide rock chip sampling which has expanded the target area for AW1.

AW1’s project already hosts the biggest undeveloped indium resource in the US.

Indium is an often irreplaceable critical technology mineral, is listed on US Critical Minerals List and is a metal the pentagon was looking for last year:

(source)

Right now AW1 is running a 5,000m drill program - which for the first time is testing the project for a wider range of minerals (including critical minerals like gallium and germanium).

After today’s results - AW1 explicitly mentioned it would modify its drilling plan to capture the new targets generated from the rock chip sampling program.

Those new targets trend east-west and have never been drilled before - so it will be interesting to see what comes from those.

Interestingly, those new targets also marry up with known geophysical anomalies that AW1 is already targeting with the current drill program:

(source)

IF we see anything like the grades AW1’s announced today in drilling then it could change the way the market views AW1’s asset.

We covered the drilling program in our latest AW1 note here: AW1: Drilling in the USA for critical metals... that China controls

Why we found the stockpile results interesting

AW1’s project has previously been operated as a silver-lead-zinc mine from the late 1800’s through to 1921. (source)

Back then, processing technologies were relatively simple and focused on recovering the obvious (and easy to extract) base metals.

So critical metals like tellurium, germanium, and indium weren’t assayed or recovered.

Now, AW1’s confirmed with the sampling results today that there is still high grade material leftover in those old waste dumps (176.5g/t indium, 48g/t germanium, 1,010g/t tellurium).

AW1 COULD take those old waste dumps and process them into concentrates that can become a source of revenue for AW1 in the short term.

There’s a direct precedent for this too.

Rio Tinto’s Bingham Canyon Mine (Kennecott) in Utah also didn’t recover critical metals during its early mining phases.

Then in 2022 Rio confirmed high quantities of tellurium in its mine waste and installed a recovery plant which made Bingham Canyon one of only two tellurium producers in the US.

(source)

AW1’s next step is to estimate the volume and average grade of the stockpiles, then collect bulk samples for metallurgical testing.

IF the stockpile material can be processed economically, it could represent a near-term revenue pathway that doesn’t require new mining - just reprocessing of existing surface material.

We also noticed AW1 also said all of this had the potential to “unlock US government funding for test work”:

(source)

We note AW1’s MD in the past said “We have been approached by the Department of War, Department of Energy and local government to move this forward.” (listen to that part of a podcast here)

We are Invested in AW1 to see it leverage its giant critical mineral (indium) deposit at a time where the US is looking to rebuild its domestic supply chains.

What’s next for AW1?

🔄 5,000m drill program(underway and being expanded)

AW1 is currently in the middle of a drill program on its giant indium deposit.

Only ~35% of the deposits prior drilling has been assayed for indium.

Has never been drilled targeting gallium/germanium.

We are looking forward to seeing results from this program - especially to see IF AW1’s deposit also hosts those other critical minerals.

🔲 Sampling + testwork on historical mine dumps

We also want to see AW1 estimate the volume and average grade of the historical mine dumps, then collect bulk samples for met testing.

IF AW1 can put together a fast to market strategy for critical minerals from its waste dumps, it could bring more corporate/government interest to its project.

🔄 US government engagement - DPA Title III and CMI membership

AW1 also mentioned today that it was progressing potential funding under the US Defense Production Act Title III and membership of the Critical Minerals Innovation Hub (CMI).

Any US funding announcement could be a major catalyst for AW1.