Aston Bay Signs LOI to Option Epworth Sediment Hosted Copper-Silver-Zinc-Cobalt

Leveraging exploration experience on a new project with similarities

to Storm Copper and deposits of the Central African Copper Belt

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / March 1, 2024 / Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX-V:BAY)(OTCQB:ATBHF) (the “Company” or “Aston Bay”) is pleased to announce that on February 29, 2024, it entered into a binding letter agreement (the “Agreement”) with Emerald Geological Services (“EGS”) pursuant to which it has been granted an option (the “Option”) to acquire an undivided 80% beneficial interest in a property owned by EGS in Nunavut, Canada (the “Property”).

Highlights

• $3 million total expenditure over four years to acquire an 80% interest with no yearly minimums
• Over 74-kilometre (“km”) long trend of sediment hosted style stratiform copper (“Cu”), silver (“Ag”), zinc (“Zn”) and cobalt (“Co”) mineralization
  • Chalcocite boulders at surface yield up to 61.2% Cu with 5600 grams per tonne (“g/t”) Ag in select grab samples
  • Several polymetallic trends already identified in rock and soil sampling
  • Recent prospecting rock grab samples yielded up to 37.8% Cu, 27.4% Zn, 1100 g/t Ag, 3 g/t gold (“Au”) and 1700 ppm Co
• Mineralization is similar in style to the mineralization in deposits of the Central African Copper Belt and the Storm Copper Project
• Airborne electromagnetic (“EM”) geophysics and prospecting planned for 2024 season
• Permitting for drilling is well advanced

“We are very excited to option the Epworth Property,” stated Thomas Ullrich, CEO of Aston Bay. “This is an impressive 74-kilometre-long trend of high-grade copper, silver and zinc mineralization with accompanying gold, cobalt and lead. This mineralization is in a style typical of the Central African Copper Belt that boasts several large, high-grade deposits. We have similar mineralization at our Storm Project and look to leverage our knowledge and experience gained there to make new discoveries at Epworth.”

Bruce MacLachlan from Emerald Geological Services added, “EGS is extremely pleased to partner with Aston Bay in advancing the Epworth Property, as we feel that this underexplored sedimentary belt has the potential to host large base metal deposits. We are excited to work with a company that shares our vision and which has already had success in similar geological settings in Nunavut.”

Figure 1: Payback South Boulder. Massive chalcocite with silver (61% Cu, 5600 g/t Ag).

Location

The Epworth Property is located approximately 80 km southeast of the village of Kugluktuk (formerly Coppermine) in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada (Figure 2). The property is approximately 70 km from tidewater to the north. Logistical access is provided by float plane and helicopter from Kugluktuk and the city of Yellowknife 500 km to the south. Recent staking has significantly expanded the size of the property from 15 claims over 8320 hectares (20,559 acres) to now consist of 51 claims covering an area of 71,134.86 hectares (175,778 acres) over a trend approximately 74 km by 14 km in lateral extent.

Figure 2: Location of the Epworth Property, Nunavut, Canada.

Geology

The Epworth Project is part of a broad platform-type clastic carbonate sequence belonging to the early Proterozoic Coronation Supergroup that extends from the north shore of Takijuq Lake to the Coronation Gulf for over 130 km. Polymetallic sulphide mineralization occurs as disseminations in the matrix of coarse clastic quartzites or as concordant zones of cherty replacements within permeable dolomite. The mineralization assemblage, stratigraphy, diagenetic evolution and rift-related tectonic setting of the Coronation Supergroup compares favourably to the African Copperbelt that hosts large (100mt) high-grade (3-4% Cu) sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits.

History

Noted from the air by a bush pilot in the 1940s, The Epworth Project was explored by Noranda Mining and Exploration in the mid-1990’s discovering new base metal showings. Prospecting, mapping, geophysics and sparse drilling (only 132m in the original claim block, <2000m total over the newly expanded claims) were conducted over four exploration seasons. The best intercepts yielded 10.4% Cu over 0.9m, 0.3% Cu over 8m, and 18.4% Cu with 302 g/t Ag over 0.3m in very shallow drilling. The Epworth Project has not been drilled since, and no modern geophysical surveys have been conducted.

Recent Work

Prospecting programs in the 2020’s have defined several trends in conjunction with historic work. Rock grab samples up to 38% Cu, 1100 g/t Ag, 3 g/t Au, 27% Zn, 17% lead along with 1700 ppm Co and other anomalous mineralization define the 2.8 km long “Metallic Trend.” Prospecting and soil sampling have yielded promising new trends and showings such as the new Northeast Showing discovered in 2023 yielding up to 19% Pb and 0.8% Cu in rock grab samples.

Aston Bay will provide more comprehensive information on the Epworth Property on an updated website in the coming weeks.

Terms of the Agreement

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