Westhaven Gold Corp. announce that exploration drilling has commenced on its flagship, high-grade 17,623-hectare Shovelnose Gold Property, located 30 kilometres (km) south of Merritt, British Columbia, adjacent to the Coquihalla Highway and within the prospective Spences Bridge Gold Belt (SBGB). A preliminary economic assessment (?PEA?) from the South Zone, the first of six prospective zones of mineralization identified at Shovelnose since 2018, was announced on July 18, 2023.

The PEA identified a robust, low-cost, high margin mining opportunity delivering a post-tax IRR and NPV (6%) of 32.3% and $222 million, respectively, using a gold price of $1,800 per ounce. Additional resource modelling on adjacent discoveries drill tested in 2023, proximal to the South Zone, including at Franz and FMN, remains ongoing. The spring 2024 drilling campaign at Shovelnose will consist of approximately 4,000 metres of diamond drilling, primarily within and along the highly prospective, 4 km long, Vein Zone One trend, host to the South Zone resource and two additional high-grade gold discoveries: FMN and Franz.

The program has been initiated following the recent receipt of a 5-year, 650 hole drilling permit and, in addition to Zone One trend targets, drilling will test a variety of priority, un-tested targets identified from sampling and prospecting efforts in 2023 combined with a recently completed structural analysis.