American West Metals Discovers Rich Critical Metals in Historic Utah Mine Waste
American West Metals has made a significant discovery at its West Desert critical metals project in Utah, USA, by sampling historical mine dumps and surface rocks. The company's innovative approach has yielded remarkable assays of essential metals, potentially adding a valuable new revenue stream to the project.
The sampling program revealed standout grades of copper, silver, and indium, along with specialty metals such as germanium, tellurium, and gallium. Much of this material is already accessible at the surface in old stockpiles from early silver-lead-zinc mining operations, simplifying extraction while the company assesses volumes, average grades, and metallurgical processes.
Key Assay Results and Sampling Efforts
Peak results from the dump sampling included 1807 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 176.5g/t indium, 48g/t germanium, 1010g/t tellurium, and 2.26 per cent copper. The program also identified high base metals, with zinc up to 24.52 per cent and lead up to 31.30 per cent.
American West is now planning additional sampling to estimate the available material and its potential value. Bulk metallurgical test work is also underway to explore modern processing techniques for recovering metals left behind by historical mining activities.
Expanded Mineralised Footprint and Geological Insights
Beyond the old dumps, a broader rock-chip sampling program has expanded the mineralised footprint at West Desert beyond the current resource and historic mine workings. Widespread copper, zinc, silver, and indium have been identified in outcrops outside the existing mineral resource estimate, including along the northern margin of an interpreted porphyry system and in previously unexplored areas.
Reported surface hits along the northern margin included zinc up to 17 per cent, lead up to 16.25 per cent, and silver up to 279.3 grams per tonne, highlighting the prospectivity of the porphyry contact. This program was conducted in conjunction with the Utah Geological Survey for a project-wide indium study.
Ongoing Drilling and Strategic Importance
These findings are timely as American West is midway through a 5000-metre diamond drilling campaign at West Desert. The drilling aims to test high-grade indium, gallium, and copper targets beyond the current resource footprint, including geophysical anomalies similar to the main deposit.
The West Desert deposit currently holds a resource of 33.7 million tonnes, containing 3.83 per cent zinc, 0.15 per cent copper, 9.1g/t silver, 20.01g/t indium, and 0.11g/t gold. With the US pushing for domestic supplies of critical minerals, this project is well-positioned to meet demand, especially as it hosts the largest undeveloped indium resource in the country, with a 23.7 million ounce endowment that could grow further.
As fresh high-grade surface clues emerge and drilling continues, the West Desert project in Utah remains a key development to watch in the critical metals sector.
