Westhaven Gold drills 6.83 g/t gold over 5.66 metres at Skoonka Creek, British Columbia

Westhaven Gold Corp. [WHN-TSXV] reported initial drill results from its recently completed drill campaign at its 100%-owned Skoonka Creek gold property. Skoonka Creek is located within the prospective Spences Bridge Gold Belt (SBGB), a four-hour drive from Vancouver, and 12 km northeast of Lytton, British Columbia.

Westhaven is reporting assays for 11 holes from its Fall drill campaign at Skoonka Creek. An additional 5 holes are in the lab pending assay.

Gareth Thomas, President and CEO, commented: “Westhaven’s inaugural drill program at Skoonka Creek has surpassed our expectations, not only where gold was drilled historically, but in areas that had not previously been drill-tested. Both high-grade gold mineralization, and broad, lower-grade gold zones were encountered. This bodes well for future targeting on what is a prospective property within the Spences Bridge Gold Belt and strengthens management’s belief in the district-scale potential of this largely untested gold belt.” Thomas goes on to add, “Westhaven is starting 2023 with a strong treasury and planning has begun for a follow-up exploration program at Skoonka Creek.”

Skoonka Creek highlights: SC22-006 returned 1.90 metres of 21.15 g/t gold and 13.65 g/t silver was intercepted within 48.05 metres of 1.28 g/t gold and 1.29 g/t silver starting near surface.

SC22-005returned 5.66 metres of 6.83 g/t gold and 4.60 g/t silver, including 2.77 metres of 12.35 g/t gold and 7.75 g/t silver was intercepted within 48.00 metres of 1.07 g/t gold and 1.11 g/t silver; extended the previously known gold-silver mineralization along strike by 900m.

Peter Fischl, Exploration Manager, commented: “The 2022 drilling at Skoonka Creek confirmed the bonanza gold grades previously encountered in historic drilling at the JJ target. The higher-grade intercepts are contained in epithermal quartz veins comprising the JJ vein zone. The historic and 2022 drilling targeting the JJ vein zone has also intersected gold mineralization contained in up to four discrete gently south-dipping horizons varying from several metres to about 40 metres in thickness proximal to the JJ vein zone.

“This mineralization lies mostly in the vein zone footwall at shallower depths above 1,450 metres elevation, and in the vein zone hanging wall at depths below 1,450 metres elevation. These horizons consist of bleached, clay-carbonate altered and hematized andesite and basalt breccias that tend to be veined and brecciated by calcite (+/- iron carbonate, +/- zeolite).” Fischl added, “Broad step out holes farther to the west at the JJ-West target encountered similar mineralization in the vein zone footwall, hosted in bleached and clay-carbonate altered andesites and andesite breccias but over greater widths in hole SC22-014B (0.19 g/t Au over 98.64m, 127.95-226.59m). This gold endowment in the system here, 600m southwest of the drilled portion of the JJ vein zone, suggests the potential for continuation of mineralization over this untested strike length. I believe what was intersected in hole SC22-015, located 300m to the southwest of SC22-014B at the JJ-West target, is likely the diffusely veined upper part of the system. Future drilling will target an undercut to see if the vein zone focusses down to a more constricted but stronger zone with better grades as is often typical of high-grade gold epithermal systems.”

New intersections of quartz veining and gold mineralization at JJ West, combined with those at JJ suggest the presence of an epithermal system extending over a strike length of 1.6km. The trend remains open to both the northeast and southwest.

The primary target at the JJ Zone is high-grade epithermal, bonanza style, gold mineralization associated with quartz veining and quartz breccias, which were successfully intersected over various widths in all eight holes reported.

Drilling also intersected significant intervals of lower grade gold mineralization, primarily in the footwall below the JJ Zone (for example, SC22-003 with 0.52 g/t gold and 0.85 g/t silver over 21.04 metres from 73.37-94.41 metres. This footwall mineralization is associated with brecciation, alteration and quartz-carbonate veining occurring in various host rocks (predominantly andesites and basalts). Results to date suggest that the relative location of this footwall zone varies slightly with respect to the JJ veining, likely as a result of both structural control and host rock mineralogy/rheology. Pending laboratory analyses for 5 other holes completed during the 2022 drill program are expected to help better define the extent of this footwall mineralization.

Three drill holes were collared in 2022 at the previously untested JJ West exploration target (SC22-014, 014B and 015).

Westhaven is a gold-focused exploration company advancing four properties within the prospective Spences Bridge Gold Belt (SBGB), in Southern British Columbia, Canada. Westhaven controls 37,000 hectares across this underexplored belt including the Shovelnose, Skoonka Creek, Skoonka North and Prospect Valley gold properties.