- Storm direct shipping product ranks among the highest-grade copper
- DSO products globally Summer drill program to commence in June 2022

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / April 11, 2022 / Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSXV:BAY)(OTCQB:ATBHF) ("Aston Bay" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company's exploration and earn-in partner, American West Metals Limited ("American West"), has reported the results of the recent ore sorting process test work completed on mineralization from Aston Bay's high-grade Storm Copper Project ("Storm" or the "Project") on Somerset Island, Nunavut. In addition, a diamond drill program is expected to commence in June 2022.

Highlights

• Test work using a full-scale ore sorter has successfully generated a potential direct shipping product with a copper (Cu) grade of 53.9% Cu (estimated to be dominantly chalcocite with little to no impurities)

• The potential direct shipping product has excellent ESG outcomes with a low footprint, environmentally friendly processing and simple, low-cost development

• A resource definition drilling and exploration program with the aim of defining a maiden copper resource and defining new zones of mineralization through testing of high-priority anomalies at Storm is expected to commence in June

"We are extremely delighted with the results of this test work," stated Thomas Ullrich, CEO of Aston Bay. "This demonstrates that a simple, low impact, low-cost process produces a valuable and marketable copper product from Storm. As well, we are impressed that our earn-in partners American West are actively advancing the Storm and Seal projects on both the exploration and development fronts. We look forward to announcing further details of the diamond drilling program later this spring."

The following details of the ore sorting process test work and proposed program are substantially sourced from the April 11th American West press release. American West has an option to earn an 80% interest in the Storm and Seal projects and is the operator.

Ore Sorting Process Test Work

The simple nature of the copper mineralogy and host rocks of the Storm Copper Project indicated that it may be amenable to upgrading through beneficiation processing techniques.

The test work was completed with partners Steinert Australia at their test facilities in Bibra Lake, Western Australia. The test sample was processed using a full scale STEINERT KSS CLI XT combination sensor sorter (Figure 1).

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The test sample was selected from preserved core from drill hole STOR1601D. This drill hole is located within the eastern 4100N Zone of the Storm Copper Project (Figure 5). The selected 4 metre (m) interval was composited and included approximately 5.5 kilogram (kg) of core material with an average grade of 4.16% Cu.

The composite sample was crushed to a size fraction of 10-25 millimetre (mm), which is the optimal size range for the full-scale ore sorting equipment. The crushed material was then washed before being processed. A minor fraction of fines was lost (~0.03kg) during crushing.

A combination of X-Ray transmission and 3D laser sensors were used in the sorting algorithms given the expected density contrasts between the mineralized material and waste. Three products, which are discussed in the following section, were produced during the test.

Commercial Grade Product

Three distinct products were produced, a very high density material, high density material and a low density material (Figure 3). The weights of each of the product was 0.56kg, 0.51kg and 4.4kg respectively. Each of the products was split and samples from each product were pulverized and prepared as pressed pellets for analysis (Figure 4).

Assaying was completed using portable XRF and the results are tabulated below (Table 1).

The assays and yield suggest that the Very High Density product is likely comprised of near pure chalcocite (Cu2S) and a small fraction of waste material. This unoptimized grade is superior to many other direct shipping ore (DSO) copper products globally, and is due to the simple, monomineralic nature of the copper mineralization.

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