Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. presented an update on drilling and exploration activities currently underway at the Storm Copper Project on Somerset Island, Nunavut. The program is being conducted by American West Metals Limited, who is the operator of the Project. Aston Bay and American West have formed a 20/80 unincorporated joint venture in respect of the Storm Project property, with Aston Bay maintaining a free carried interest until a decision to mine upon completion of a bankable feasibility study.

Assays from the spring program drill holes SR24-01, SR24-02, SR24-03, SR24-04 and SR24-05 have now been received and confirm new exploration success in The Gap area, which is located midway between the Cirrus Prospect and the high-grade Thunder Prospect. A total of five drill holes for 992.2m were completed during the spring program before the break leading into the summer drilling and exploration program. The drilling at The Gap has intersected a thick interval of high-grade copper sulfides associated with an EM anomaly.

The intersection of 20m @ 2.3% Cu from 38m downhole contains copper grades up to 7.3% Cu (from 41m downhole) and continues to confirm the association of EM anomalies with very high-grade, semi-massive copper sulfides. The Gap EM anomaly was the first of a series of high-priority conductors in the southern graben area that are planned to be tested during the drilling season. The drill hole highlights the potential for further discoveries along the 4km of structures that host the Cirrus and Corona Prospects, as well as the high-grade Thunder (48.6m @ 3% Cu) and Lightning Ridge(30.4m @ 2.1% Cu) copper prospects.

The fifth drill hole of the spring program (SR24-05) tested a historic Induced Polarization (IP) geophysical anomaly within the central graben area, an area with very little previous drilling. This central graben area is interpreted to be a down-dropped block between the two main faults to the north and south that host or are spatially associated with most of the copper mineralization at Storm. The geology in the graben is considered equally prospective as elsewhere at Storm but displaced downwards an unknown depth.

This fifth hole encountered a thick sequence of pyrite mineralization, typical peripheral-style mineralization at Storm, and the likely source of the IP anomaly. The hole terminated at 251.5m, the limit of the RC drill rig, without intercepting copper sulfides. This suggests that the hypothesized flat-lying copper-mineralized horizon within the central graben could be displaced 250m stratigraphically below the mineralized zones as seen at Cyclone.

Additional drilling with the diamond drill rig will test Fixed Loop Electromagnetic (FLEM) and Moving Loop Electromagnetic (MLEM) anomalies in this highly prospective area. The Summer program has now commenced testing a broad range of exploration and resource targets, including the Thunder, Cyclone and Chinook Prospect areas. The program will initially use two RC rigs and one diamond drilling rig with over 20,000m of drilling planned for the 2024 program.

SR24-02 was drilled to the north of the Cyclone Prospect to a downhole depth of 140.2m and was designed to test for potential extensions to the existing copper resources at the Cyclone Prospect. SR24-02 intersected a single thick zone of copper sulfide mineralization between 82m and 116m downhole. The chalcocite dominant, weakly mineralized zone consists of thin veinlets and patchy disseminations within fractured dolomite, with grades up to 0.5% Cu (82.3 - 83.8m downhole).

The relatively lower grades of the interval reflect other nearby drill holes that are characterized by a local facies change in the rock to massive dolomudstone: the "tight" very fine-grained mudstone rock lacks the open space necessary for the efficient copper mineralization that is well-defined laterally throughout Cyclone. Importantly, however, previous drilling has confirmed that the copper mineralization re-intensifies in more favourable permeable host rock to the east, as well as potentially north towards drill hole SR23-55 (7.6m @ 1% Cu, including 1.5m @ 2% Cu), providing vectors for future drilling. SR24-03 was drilled to a downhole depth of 149.4m and was designed to test a strongly conductive MLEM anomaly in The Gap area (midway between the Cirrus copper prospect and the Thunder high-grade copper prospect).

The entire 149.4m length of drill hole SR24-03 is variably mineralized with a combined total of 47.2m of breccia and vein-style copper mineralization. The drill hole contains a strongly sulfide-mineralized breccia interval which returned 20m @ 2.3% Cu from 38m downhole . The mineralization within the strongly mineralized zone (chalcocite, bornite, chalcopyrite) appears very similar to that of the Thunder Prospect to the east and contains a semi-massive sulfide zone grading 8m @ 5.3% Cu from 40m downhole.

SR24-04 was drilled to a downhole depth of 199.6m and was designed to help determine the geometry of the main zone of copper mineralization encountered in drill hole SR24-03 for future resource definition drilling. The drill hole was drilled across section and below SR24-03. SR24-04 intersected a number of copper zones with vein style mineralization hosted within fractured dolomite.

The intersection depths and the intensity and zoning of copper sulfides in both drill holes indicate that the mineralization in the Gap area may be relatively flat-lying and may have the potential for lateral expansion. The Gap exploration holes were planned to test a very strong MLEM anomaly that covers an area of approximately 300m x 200m. This feature is located within a much larger zone of moderately conductive EM, which suggests that the footprint of copper mineralization in The Gap area could be significant.

Additional drilling will be used to determine the extent of the copper mineralization at The Gap Prospect during the 2024 summer drilling season. Exploration drill hole SR24-05 was drilled to 251.5m and was designed to both test an IP anomaly and investigate the stratigraphic section within the central graben area of Storm. The interpretation of historical IP data highlighted a broad, weakly chargeable feature that may have represented disseminated copper sulfides.

This central graben area is interpreted to be a down-dropped block between the two main faults to the north and south that host or are spatially associated with most of the copper mineralization at Storm. The geology in the graben is thought to be equally prospective as elsewhere at Storm but displaced downwards by faulting, suggesting that any mineralized horizons in the large graben, if present, would also be displaced downward an unknown depth. SR24-05 encountered a thick sequence of pyrite mineralization, the typical peripheral-style mineralization at Storm, between 58m and 204m and is the likely source of the IP anomaly.