Aston Bay and American West Metals Announce Another Discovery and High-Grade Copper Intervals at the Storm Copper Project, Canada

Another new discovery further expands the copper mineralization footprint at Storm:

• Exploration Reverse Circulation (RC) drill hole SR23-52 has intersected a total of 19m of strong visual copper sulfide mineralization in two zones from 32m downhole, delivering a new discovery in an underexplored area of the Project
• The discovery is interpreted to be fault related and is located between the high-grade 2750N and 2200N Zones, which are located approximately 1km apart
• The new copper zone has been named ‘Lightning Ridge'
• Over 10km of prospective structures have been identified in the immediate area with further potential across the Project tenure

Initial assay results from the summer drilling program at the 2750N and 4100N Zones have returned high-grade near-surface high-grade copper intervals including:

• Drill hole SM23-02 (4100N Zone diamond drill QA/QC hole) has intersected (hole length):
  • 46m @ 2.2% Cu from 64m, including,
    • 15.6m @ 4.2% Cu from 65m, including,
      • 0.3m @ 42.8% Cu from 67m
• Drill hole SR23-21 (2750N Zone) has intersected (hole length):
  • 27.4m @ 1.5% Cu from surface, including,
    • 7.6m @ 4% Cu from 7.6m, and,
  • 27.4m @ 1.3% Cu from 30.5m, including,
    • 9.1m @ 2.15% Cu from 33.5m

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / September 5, 2023 / Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSXV:BAY)(OTCQB:ATBHF) ("Aston Bay" or the "Company") is pleased to report a new near-surface copper discovery as well as excellent drill results that confirm thick, high-grade copper over an expansive and growing footprint at the Storm Copper Project ("Storm" or the "Project") on Somerset Island, Nunavut, Canada. The program is being conducted by American West Metals Limited ("American West"), who are the project operator since entering an option agreement with Aston Bay in March 2021

"Discovery strikes again with another new near-surface copper discovery in the excellent exploration work conducted by our partners American West at Storm" stated Thomas Ullrich, CEO of Aston Bay.

"The new Lightning Ridge discovery comes on the heels of the Thunder Zone discovery earlier this summer. We see the massive black chalcocite at the surface near the ridge edge south of the 2750N Zone and are pleased that the drill has confirmed that the mineralization continues at depth. As well, the drilling revealed a second copper zone that we believe is concealed beneath the scree at the bottom of the gully.

"Both Lightning Ridge and Thunder point to the exploration potential for additional copper mineralization to potentially add to the near-surface delineation program currently underway. The latest results from both the 2750N and 4100N Zones confirm the continuity of the mineralization and include extremely rich zones up to 43% copper (Figure 1). We are well on our way toward a maiden resource for the near-surface mineralization, with these new discoveries already highlighting the potential for expansion.

"Together with the exciting confirmation of sediment hosted copper mineralization at depth earlier this season, Storm is proving to be a compelling growth story for both near-surface development and deeper breakthroughs. We look forward to additional results from this season, and to continued exploration and discovery."

DRILL RESULTS HIGHLIGHT RESOURCE AND EXPLORATION POTENTIAL AT STORM

The first batch of assay results from the summer 2023 resource drilling program have been received which includes all drill holes from the 2750N Zone, and five additional drill holes at the 4100N Zone (assays are still pending for the remainder of the 4100N Zone drilling). The resource drilling has included both Reverse Circulation (RC) and shallow diamond drilling in key areas of the near-surface prospects (Table 1).

The initial assays have defined the highest copper grades to date at the 4100N Zone (Figure 1). The results continue to highlight the resource potential of the 2750N and 4100N Zones with consistent copper grades and good lateral continuity of the known copper mineralization.

A single exploration RC drill hole (Figure 2) has made another discovery of near-surface mineralization in a large, underexplored area between the 2750N, 2200N and Thunder prospects.

The new discovery has been named ‘Lightning Ridge' and is located in an area of outcropping massive chalcocite and large-scale faulting.

These latest results highlight the potential for further expansion of the high-grade, near-surface mineralization within the Storm Project area.

Table 1: 2023 Resource and near-surface exploration drill hole details.

Visual estimates of mineral abundance should never be considered a proxy or substitute for laboratory analyses where concentrations or grades are the factor of principal economic interest. Laboratory assays are required to determine the presence and grade of any contained mineralization within the reported visual intersections of copper sulfides. Portable XRF is used as an aid in the determination of mineral type and abundance during the geological logging process.

LIGHTNING RIDGE COPPER DISCOVERY

Exploration RC drill hole SR23-52 was drilled to a depth of 119m and completed in a largely untested area of significant outcropping chalcocite (Figures 3 and 4). The drill hole was designed to test an untested airborne VTEM target in an area with a single, shallow historical drill hole (ST97-06 2.6m core length @ 6.83% Cu from 35.4m), midway between the high-grade 2750N and 2200N Zones.

The VTEM target was successfully tested and resulted in 44m of visual copper sulfides with a total 19m of strong visual copper sulfides (Table 2). The copper sulfide mineralization consists of dense breccia and vein-hosted chalcocite within two broad zones of mineralization (Figure 5). The upper zone of sulfide is particularly strong and is interpreted to be the source of the VTEM anomaly.

The Lightning Ridge area is located to the south of the 2750N Zone, and across the main E-W gully. Outcropping massive chalcocite is visible on the steep slope near the gully ridge line and in boulders at the base of the scree slope. Its proximity to the gully and the style of mineralization is strongly suggestive that the mineralization is fault-related and steeply dipping, similar to the high-grade 2750N and 2200N Zones.

Five significant, fault-related and widely spaced copper prospects have now been confirmed by drilling in the southern graben area. All of these discoveries are located at, or close to surface and have only been tested to a depth of approximately 100