Westhaven Gold posts 54 metres grading 8.99 g/t gold & 55 g/t silver from resource in-fill drilling and begins South Zone Pre-Feasibility Study, Shovelnose Gold and Silver Project, southern British Columbia
Westhaven Gold Corp. [TSXV: WHN; OTCQB: WTHVF] provide an update on its 2026 field activities at the Shovelnose gold and silver project in southern British Columbia, including initial mineral resource in-fill drilling results and the start of a Prefeasibility Study (PFS) evaluating potential mine development at the South Zone deposit.
This work is being funded under a strategic earn-in agreement whereby Dundee Corp. may earn up to a 60% interest in Westhaven’s four Spences Bridge Gold Belt properties through up to CDN$85,000,000 in staged project expenditures. Under the first phase, Dundee has committed a minimum of CDN$30,000,000, inclusive of a fully funded 50,000m drill program and Pre-Feasibility work at Shovelnose.
Key Highlights: 8,537 metres of drilling (32 drill holes) have been completed within the South Zone deposit, representing ~23% of the planned mineral resource drilling program.
Assay results from 14 drill holes (3,500m; ~10% of planned in-fill drilling) have been received, with notable results including 54.0 metres grading 8.99 g/t gold and 55 g/t silver (SNR26-070) and 42.0 metres grading 4.35 g/t gold and 41 g/t silver (SNR26-63).
The drill program is expected to increase from two to four drills by May 15, 2026, ahead of schedule.
Initial drilling is focused on completing ~35,000 metres of mineral resource in-fill drilling at the South Zone deposit, targeting inclusion in an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) to support the PFS, with anticipated completion in H2 2027.
The 2026 drilling program is also expected to include ~15,000 metres of exploration drilling and additional dedicated drilling for hydrogeological, geotechnical and metallurgical studies in support of the PFS.
Environmental Assessment (EA) level environmental and socio-economic baseline programs are currently being developed, with implementation to follow in support of the PFS and future EA application.
Ken Armstrong, President and CEO of Westhaven, commented: “Resource in-fill drilling at the South Zone deposit is well underway and is delivering results consistent with our expectations. Early drilling has focused on fully defining the northwestern and southeastern edges of the deposit, with initial gold and silver grades and widths confirming expected grades and continuity of mineralization in these areas.
Highlighted drill intervals reported today, including 54 metres grading 8.99 g/t Au and 55 g/t Ag from hole SNR26-072, reinforce the wide, high-grade nature of the South Zone deposit. Overall, the 2026 Shovelnose field program continues to ramp up as planned, with the third and fourth drills scheduled to be operational by May 15 – two weeks ahead of schedule, positioning Westhaven for an active and productive field season.”
South Zone Mineral Resource In-fill Drilling: The 35,000-metre South Zone mineral resource drilling program has been designed to infill the deposit at nominal 25m centres. To date, 32 drill holes (8,537m) have been completed representing approximately 23% of the planned program metreage. Initial results from 14 holes (3,500m or 10% of the planned metreage) are reported in this news release.
Selected assay highlights include: SNR26-61 returned 12.02 mettres grading 3.34 g/t Au and 24 g/t Ag from 142.00 metres downhole. SNR26-63 returned 42.00m grading 4.35 g/t Au and 41 g/t Ag from 148.00m downhole. SNR26-68 returned 9.04 metres grading 3.98 g/t Au and 23 g/t Ag from 190.00 metres downhole, and 6.03 metres grading 3.74 g/t Au and 27 g/t Ag from 218.00 metres downhole, and 6.70 metres grading 4.08 g/t Au and 19 g/t Ag from 228.97 metres downhole.
SNR26-69 returned 11.75 metres grading 3.89 g/t Au and 25 g/t Ag from 161.15 metres downhole, and 9.50 metres grading 7.38 g/t Au and 68 g/t Ag from 184.50 metres downhole, and 1.26 metres grading 62.80 g/t Au and 330 g/t Ag from 198.04 metres downhole.
SNR26-70 returned 54.00 metres grading 8.99 g/t Au and 55 g/t Ag from 152.00 metres downhole, including 23.00 metres grading 17.04 g/t Au and 111 g/t Ag from 169.60 metres downhole.
SNR26-72 returned 6.90 metres grading 4.98 g/t Au and 18 g/t Ag from 237.50 metres downhole, and 4.49 metres grading 12.44 g/t Au and 46 g/t Ag from 257.00 metres downhole.
Assay intervals noted above represent downhole intersections, not true widths. True widths can be estimated at approximately 70-80% of the reported intervals.
South Zone highlights included several high-grade drill intercepts, including SNR26-70, which returned 54.0 metres averaging 8.99 g/t Au and 55 g/t Ag. The section, looking northwest (310°), illustrates strong continuity of mineralization hosted within structurally controlled quartz veins and hydrothermal breccia zones.
South Zone Pre-Feasibility Study: The PFS is expected to be completed in H2 2027 and will focus on evaluating development and mine design scenarios for the South Zone deposit at Shovelnose. The PFS will establish the technical and economic framework required to advance the project toward a potential Feasibility Study. In addition to ongoing mineral resource drilling and the planned update to the South Zone MRE, several 2026 work streams are either underway or planned in support of the PFS, including metallurgical, hydrogeology and geotechnical studies. Additional drilling metreage is expected to be allocated to support this work. EA-level environment and socio-economic baseline studies are also in development and will be implemented in support of the PFS and future EA application and project permitting processes.
Westhaven is a gold and silver focused exploration and development company targeting low sulphidation, high-grade, epithermal style gold and silver mineralization within the Spences Bridge Gold Belt in southern British Columbia. Westhaven controls ~60,263 hectares within four properties spread along this underexplored belt.
The Shovelnose gold and silver project is the most advanced property, with a 2025 updated Preliminary Economic Assessment that validates the project’s potential as a robust, low cost and high margin 11-year underground gold mining opportunity with average annual life-of-mine production of 56,000 ounces gold and 313,000 ounces silver with a CDN$454 million after-tax net present value (at a 6% discount rate) and 43.2% IRR (base case parameters of US$2,400 per ounce gold, US$28 per ounce silver and CDN/US$ exchange rate of CDN$1.00=US$0.72).
On February 23, 2026, Westhaven closed a strategic earn-in agreement whereby Dundee may earn up to a 60% interest in Westhaven’s four Spences Bridge Gold Belt properties through up to CDN$85,000,000 in staged project expenditures. Under the first phase, Dundee has committed a minimum of CDN$30,000,000, inclusive of a fully funded 50,000-metre drill program and Pre-Feasibility work at Shovelnose.