Mr. Thomas Ullrich reports

ASTON BAY AND AMERICAN WEST METALS ANNOUNCE DRILLING AND GEOPHYSICS UNDERWAY AT THE STORM COPPER PROJECT, CANADA

Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. has commenced high-impact drilling and exploration activities at the Storm copper project on Somerset Island, Nunavut. The program will be conducted by American West Metals Ltd., which is the operator of the project. American West has completed the required expenditures to earn an undivided 80-per-cent interest in the project. American West will be solely responsible for financing the program.

Highlights

The 2024 exploration and resource definition program has commenced at the Storm copper project

Track-mounted reverse-circulation (RC) drilling is under way and is initially focused on:

• Testing new, high-priority exploration targets proximal to the known Storm mineralized zones to discover new zones of near-surface high-grade copper mineralization;

• Resource definition drilling of the 2023 high-grade copper discovery at Thunder where discovery hole ST23-03 delivered 48.6 metres at 3 per cent copper from 32.4 m within a broader interval of 76 m at 2 per cent Cu from 32.4 m;

• Drilling electromagnetic (EM) targets adjacent to the Cyclone deposit -- including an EM target with a very-high-modelled conductivity of 17,000 Seimens -- with the aim of finding additional mineralization.

Additional drill rigs will join the program in the coming weeks and will focus on:

• Expansion and infill drilling of the Cyclone (formerly the 4100N) and Chinook (formerly 2850N) zones;

• Exploration below the known copper mineralization within the Storm area;

• Drilling of large-scale copper targets at the underexplored Tornado, Blizzard and Tempest prospects.

A high-powered moving loop electromagnetic (MLEM) geophysical survey is also now under way to define potential extensions to known areas of high-grade copper mineralization and to define new exploration targets, both in the near-surface and at depth.

This drilling program is designed to expand and infill an upcoming maiden mineral resource estimate for the Storm project that is currently being constructed to CIM standards and is expected to be presented in May, 2024. The 2024 drilling is also designed to bring the new 2023 discoveries of high-grade copper mineralization into potential additional resources later in the year and explore numerous high-priority copper sulphide targets within the greater-than-2,000-square-kilometre project area to discover new copper mineralization.

"We are very excited to be drilling again at Storm," stated Thomas Ullrich, chief executive officer of Aston Bay. "This is the first of two significant drill programs our partner, American West, will be conducting this spring and summer, expanding on the known zones of mineralization and drilling for new discoveries.

"The drill bit has proven the effectiveness of moving loop electromagnetics, so we are pleased to see this geophysical program under way again as well. By tweaking the parameters and increasing the power used in the survey, we believe we will investigate deeper with more confidence. This could uncover geophysical anomalies related to deeper-seated mineralization -- excellent targets for diamond drilling in the summer season."

Phase 1 drilling

Reverse circulation (RC) drilling with a track-mounted RC rig has commenced on high-priority electromagnetic (EM) and induced polarization (IP) targets as well as areas of potential extensions within the Storm area. This is the first time a tracked RC rig has been deployed at Storm. This rig can move autonomously instead of requiring helicopter mobilization and is expected to provide operational and production benefits, with up to 12,000 m of RC drilling initially planned.

Phase 1 of the exploration drilling will target existing EM and IP anomalies that are ranked highly due to nearby copper sulphides in drilling and areas of strong copper geochemical anomalism at surface. These compelling targets include an EM target to the immediate east of the Cyclone deposit where an EM anomaly has been modelled with a very high conductivity of over 17,000 Siemens.

EM anomalies tested to date in the Storm area have been strongly correlated with higher-grade, greater-than 2 per cent copper mineralization. Several IP anomalies that have been drill tested also show a positive correlation with copper sulphide mineralization in the range of 0.5 to 2 per cent Cu.

Phase 1 moving loop electromagnetics (MLEM)

The drilling program is running in parallel with a high-powered moving loop EM (MLEM) survey, which is initially being used to highlight the priority areas for expansion of the higher-grade copper mineralized areas and to identify new targets for drill testing.

The initial MLEM surveys at Storm will use 100 m north-south line spacings, 100 m sensor stations, and 200 m by 200 m loops. This configuration has been optimal in defining the known high-grade copper mineralization at Storm to date.

Several 200 m spaced lines will also be surveyed using 400 m by 400 m loops to look deeper, below the known copper mineralization.

Planned program

Reverse circulation (RC) drilling is in progress in the Storm area testing geophysical targets and expanding zones of known copper mineralization.

EM surveys continue to investigate near surface and deeper areas of interest within the Storm area. The surveys will then move to the Tornado and Blizzard copper prospect areas.

Preparations are under way to add two drill rigs at site -- one RC rig and one diamond core rig -- increasing the planned drill metres for 2024 to more than 20,000 m.

Planning is complete and preparations are under way for a broad range of environmental monitoring and survey activities during 2024.

A maiden CIM (2014, 2019) compliant mineral resource estimate for the Storm project is expected to be released in May, 2024.

Final assessment and reporting are being completed on a range of beneficiation processing methods on a variety of mineralization types from the Cyclone and Chinook deposits.

About the Storm copper and Seal zinc-silver projects, Nunavut

The Nunavut property consists of 173 contiguous mining claims covering an area of approximately 219,257 hectares on Somerset Island, Nunavut, Canada. The Storm project comprises both the Storm copper project, a high-grade sediment-hosted copper discovery (intersections including 110 m* at 2.5 per cent Cu from surface and 56.3 metres* at 3.1 per cent Cu from 12.2 m) as well as the Seal zinc deposit (intersections including 14.4 m* at 10.6 per cent Zn, 28.7 g/t silver from 51.8 m and 22.3 m* at 23.0 per cent Zn, 5.1 g/t Ag from 101.5 m). Additionally, there are numerous underexplored and undrilled targets within the 120-kilometre strike length of the mineralized trend, including the Tornado copper prospect where 10 grab samples yielded greater than 1 per cent Cu up to 32 per cent Cu in gossans. The Nunavut property is now the subject of an 80/20 unincorporated joint venture with American West (see "Agreement with American West" below for more details).

Storm discovery and historical work

High-grade copper mineralization was discovered at Storm in the mid-1990s by Cominco geologists conducting regional zinc exploration around its then-producing Polaris lead-zinc mine. A massive chalcocite boulder found in a tributary of the Aston River in 1996 was traced to impressive surface exposures of broken chalcocite mineralization for hundreds of metres of surface strike length at what became named the 2750N, 2200N and 3500N zones. Subsequent seasons of prospecting, geophysics and over 9,000 m of drilling into the early 2000s confirmed a significant amount of copper mineralization below the surface exposures as well as making the blind discovery of the 4100N zone, a large area of copper mineralization with no surface exposure.

Following the merger of Cominco with Teck in 2001 and the closure of the Polaris mine, the Storm claims were allowed to lapse in 2007. Commander Resources staked the property in 2008 and flew a helicopter-borne VTEM survey in 2011 but conducted no additional drilling. Aston Bay subsequently entered into an earn-in agreement with Commander and consolidated 100-per-cent ownership in 2015. Commander retained a 0.875-per-cent gross overriding royalty in the area of the original Storm claims which purchased by Taurus Mining Royalty Fund LP in January, 2024.

In 2016 Aston Bay entered into an earn-in agreement with BHP, which conducted a 2,000-station soil sampling program and drilled 1,951 m of core in 12 diamond drill holes, yielding up to 16 m* at 3.1 per cent Cu. BHP exited the agreement in 2017 and retains no residual interest in the project. Aston Bay conducted a property-wide airborne gravity gradiometry survey in 2017 and drilled 2,913 m in nine core holes in the Storm area in 2018 yielding a best intercept of 1.5 m* at 4.4 per cent Cu and 20.5 m* at 0.6 per cent Cu.

Agreement with American West

As previously disclosed, Aston Bay entered into an option agreement dated March 9, 2021, with American West Metals Ltd. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Tornado Metals Ltd., pursuant to which American West was granted an option to earn an 80-per-cent undivided interest in the project by spending a minimum of $10-million on qualifying exploration expenditures. The parties amended and restated the option agreement as of Feb. 27, 2023, to facilitate American West potentially financing the expenditures through flow-through shares but did not change the commercial agreement between the parties.

The expenditures were completed during the 2023 drilling program and American West exercised the option in accordance with the terms of the option agreement, as amended. American West and Aston Bay will form an 80/20 unincorporated joint venture and enter into a joint venture agreement. Under such agreement, Aston Bay shall have a free carried interest until American West has made a decision to mine upon completion of a bankable feasibility study, meaning American West will be solely responsible for funding the joint venture until such decision is made. After such decision is made, Aston Bay will be diluted in the event it does not elect to contribute its proportionate share and its interest in the project will be converted into a 2-per-cent net smelter return royalty if its interest is diluted to below 10 per cent.

Recent work

American West completed a fixed loop electromagnetic (FLEM) ground geophysical survey in 2021 that yielded several new subsurface conductive anomalies. A total of 1,534 m were drilled in 10 diamond drill holes in the 2022 season, yielding several impressive near-surface intercepts including 41 m* at 4.1 per cent Cu as well as 68 m of sulphide mineralization associated with a deeper conductive anomaly.

In April, 2022, results of beneficiation studies demonstrated that a mineralized intercept grading 4 per cent Cu from the 4100N area could be upgraded to a 54 per cent Cu direct ship product using standard sorting technology. Further beneficiation studies are continuing.

In April, 2023, American West embarked on a spring delineation drilling program using a helicopter-portable RC drill rig as well as conducting gravity and moving loop electromagnetic (MLEM) ground geophysical programs.

The summer 2023 program conducted further delineation drilling of the near-surface high-grade copper zones to advance them toward maiden resource estimates by late 2023 or early 2024. Diamond drilling tested new high-priority gravity targets and environmental baseline studies will be initiated.

* Stated drill hole intersections are all core length, and true width is expected to be 60 per cent to 100 per cent of core length.

Quality assurance/quality control protocols

The analytical work reported on herein was performed by ALS Global, Vancouver, Canada. ALS is an ISO-IEC 17025:2017 and ISO 9001:2015 accredited geoanalytical laboratory and is independent of Aston Bay Holdings, American West Metals and the qualified person. Drill core and hand samples were subject to crushing at a minimum of 70 per cent passing two mm, followed by pulverizing of a 250-gram split to 85 per cent passing 75 microns. Samples were subject to 33-element geochemistry by four-acid digestion and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) to determine concentrations of copper, silver, lead, zinc and other elements (ALS method ME-ICP61a). Overlimit values for copper (greater than 10 per cent) were analyzed via four-acid digestion and ICP-AES (ALS method Cu-OG62).

Aston Bay Holdings and American West Metals followed industry standard procedures for the work carried out on the Storm project, incorporating a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program. Blank, duplicate and standard samples were inserted into the sample sequence and sent to the laboratory for analysis. No significant QA/QC issues were detected during review of the data. Aston Bay Holdings and American West Metals are not aware of any drilling, sampling, recovery or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the data referred to herein.

Qualified person

Michael Dufresne, MSc, PGeol, PGeo, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release.

About Aston Bay Holdings Ltd.

Aston Bay is a publicly traded mineral exploration company exploring for high-grade copper and gold deposits in Virginia, United States, and Nunavut, Canada. The company is led by CEO Thomas Ullrich with exploration in Virginia directed by the company's adviser, Don Taylor, the 2018 Thayer Lindsley Award winner for his discovery of the Taylor Pb-Zn-Ag deposit in Arizona. The company is currently exploring the high-grade Buckingham gold vein in central Virginia and is in advanced stages of negotiation on other lands with high-grade copper potential in the area.

The company and its joint venture partners, American West Metals and its wholly owned subsidiary, Tornado Metals Ltd., have agreed to form a 20/80 unincorporated joint venture and enter into a joint venture agreement in respect of the Storm project property, which hosts the Storm copper project and the Seal zinc deposit. Under such agreement, Aston Bay shall have a free carried interest until American West has made a decision to mine upon completion of a bankable feasibility study, meaning American West will be solely responsible for funding the joint venture until such decision is made. After such decision is made, Aston Bay will be diluted in the event it does not elect to contribute its proportionate share and its interest in the Storm project property will be converted into a 2-per-cent net smelter return royalty if its interest is diluted to below 10 per cent.

About American West Metals Ltd.

American West Metals is an Australian clean energy mining company focused on growth through the discovery and development of major base metal mineral deposits in Tier 1 jurisdictions of North America. Its strategy is focused on developing mines that have a low footprint and support the global energy transformation. Its portfolio of copper and zinc projects in Utah and Canada includes significant existing resource inventories and high-grade mineralization that can generate robust mining proposals. Core to its approach is its commitment to the ethical extraction and processing of minerals and making a meaningful contribution to the communities where its projects are located.

Led by a highly experienced leadership team, its strategic initiatives lay the foundation for a sustainable business which aims to deliver high-multiplier returns on shareholder investment and economic benefits to all stakeholders.

We seek Safe Harbor.