Westhaven drills 1.51 g/t gold over 76.98 metres at Shovelnose, British Columbia

Westhaven Gold Corp. [WHN-TSXV; WTHVF-OTC] reported drill results from the continuing drill campaign at its 100%-owned, 17,623-hectare Shovelnose gold property located within the prospective Spences Bridge gold belt, which borders the Coquihalla Highway 30 km south of Merritt, southwestern British Columbia.

Highlights include drill hole SN22-238 that intersected 1.51 g/t gold and 8.47 g/t silver over 76.98 metres at the FMN zone, starting at 24 metres below surface. Gold-silver mineralization at FMN has now been intersected over a strike length of approximately 500 metres and to a vertical extent of up to 220 metres. Near-surface, broad intervals of gold-silver mineralization well above the cut-off grade in the south zone initial maiden resource as well as high-grade intervals are all evident.

SN22-236 intersected 1.08 g/t gold and 4.44 g/t silver over 40 metres at the Alpine zone, extending vein 2 mineralization, including 1.17 metres of 15.4 g/t gold and 73.5 g/t silver. Recent drilling at Alpine has now been completed on four 50-metre spaced sections covering a strike length of 150 metres along vein zone 2. This tighter drilling, which now covers a total strike length of one kilometre over vein zone 2, continues to intersect gold-silver mineralization. The gold-silver mineralization here is near surface.

SN22-240 intersected 3.47 g/t gold and 5.04 g/t silver over 24.89 metres at the FMN zone, including 39.67 g/t gold and 30.38 g/t silver over 2.02 metres.

The FMN zone is over 2 km northwest of the south zone resource area. Given the strong nature of this system and the low drill density in this area, management believes there will be more high-grade shoots and broad intervals of potentially bulk-tonnage gold mineralization discovered along this approximately four-kilometre trend.

Vein zones 1 and 2 will be targeted for further drilling over the one km length between FMN and Alpine, where drilling is limited to shallow historical holes and more recent, broadly spaced step-outs.

Westhaven has drilled approximately 21,000 metres over 70 holes at Shovelnose year to date. The company is on pace to drill approximately 40,000 metres by year-end and will look to have an updated resource estimate, including the FMN and Alpine zones, by the first quarter of 2023.

Gareth Thomas, president and CEO, commented: “Systematic drilling of vein zone 1 at the FMN zone has again successfully intersected gold-silver mineralization. These results confirm continuity of both high-grade and bulk-tonnage-style gold over a wide area, which remains open in all directions. Similarly, the Alpine zone has been expanded with the intercept of 1.08 g/t gold and 4.44 g/t silver over 40 metres, extending vein 2 mineralization by 150 metres. Management is confident that these areas can contribute significantly towards growing the property’s 1.1-million-ounce-gold-equivalent mineral resource estimate.”

Peter Fischl, exploration manager, added: “Drilling at Shovelnose continues at the FMN and Alpine target areas this year. Tighter-spaced drilling over vein zone 2 at the Alpine target area has intersected significant widths of gold-silver mineralization above the cut-off grade of the open-pit maiden resource released earlier this year for the adjacent south zone target area immediately southeast of Alpine. The shallow and very gently dipping nature of vein zone 2 here adds to the open-pit potential of the Alpine target area.

“The mineralization uncovered in the tighter drilling here may have a positive impact to any update to the maiden open-pit resource. Infill and stepout drilling at FMN continue to yield significant gold intersections in vein zone 1 and in postmineral heterolithic breccias that cut vein zone 1. The most recent results confirm that the postmineral breccias at FMN can host mineralization over significant widths at shallower levels. The breccias are now considered a secondary target that can add to the bulk-tonnage potential at FMN.”

Westhaven controls 37,000 hectares (370 square kilometres), with four 100%-owned gold properties spread along this underexplored belt. The Shovelnose property is situated off a major highway and is located near power, rail and large producing mines, and within commuting distance from the city of Merritt, which translates into low-cost exploration.