Westhaven Gold Corp. (TSXV:WHN) has intersected wide zones of mineralisation in its ongoing drill campaign at its 100% owned 17,623-hectare Shovelnose gold property. Shovelnose is located within the prospective Spences Bridge Gold Belt (SBGB), which borders the Coquihalla Highway 30 kilometres south of Merritt, British Columbia.
Highlights include:
- FMN Zone
- SN22-278 intersected 1.84 g/t gold (Au) and 4.79 g/t silver (Ag) over 21.90 m starting 44m downhole and 3.90m of 4.33 g/t Au and 9.61 g/t Ag starting 62m downhole (Section FMN F0525).
- SN22-281, an undercut to SN22-278, intersected 30.58m of 1.06 g/t Au and 4.09 g/t Ag.
- SN22-263 intersected 0.60m of 3.11 g/t Au and 287.00 g/t Ag, and 1.13m of 2.31 g/t Au and 173.44 g/t Ag.
- Current drilling (Section FMN F0900) continues to expand the main mineralised structure, Vein Zone 1, along strike to the northwest.
- Discovery of a new gold bearing zone situated 1.2 km northeast of the South Zone (HydBx-02)
- SN22-249 intersected 3.28 g/t Au over 0.9m.
- SN22-257 intersected 1.39 g/t Au over 1.2m and another 1.23 g/t Au over 6m.
- Two holes are 380m apart indicating a potential northwest-southeast trending mineralized zone that is open in both directions.
- Westhaven has drilled approximately 31,000m in 108 holes (to SN22-302) at Shovelnose in 2022.
“Drilling at the Shovelnose Gold Project continues to increase the size and scale of mineralisation on this largely underexplored property. The newly discovered Hydrothermal Breccia No.2 target (6.00m of 1.23 g/t gold and 0.90m of 3.28 g/t Au) is very significant as it is located approximately 1.2 kilometres from and parallel to Vein Zone 2 and remains open both to the northwest and southeast. Follow-up work is ongoing to test the potential of this new area of interest,” President and CEO, Gareth Thomas, said.
Drilling on peripheral targets off the main northwest trending four km-long gold-bearing structure hosting Vein Zone 1 has encountered a new subparallel vein zone at the Hydrothermal Breccia No. 2 target. A series of east-northeast directed drill holes on two sections spaced 300 metres apart has intersected a west-northwest striking zone of quartz-carbonate veining in the granodiorite basement over a strike length of 400 metres in holes SN22-249 and SN22-257. This zone is 1.2km east-northeast of Vein Zone 2 at South Zone. The zone remains open along strike.”
Exploration Targets
At the Shovelnose gold property, the primary focus of Westhaven’s 2022 drilling is to test the potential for additional gold and silver mineralisation along the four km ‘main mineralised’ structure hosting the South, Tower, FMN and Franz Zones. However, a component of the 2022 work programme is designed to evaluate geological, geochemical and geophysical targets elsewhere on the 17,623ha property. As assay wait times continue to grow, and as the company waits to receive assays to assist for targeting purposes for drilling along the main mineralised structure, Westhaven has taken the opportunity to test exploration targets off trend. Of the holes being reported today, 14 are associated with testing three exploration targets.
Surface exploration has identified several hydrothermal breccias, quartz veining and alteration halos in outcrop that are reminiscent of those associated with gold mineralisation at the South Zone (791,000 ounces of gold and 3,894,000 ounces of silver Indicated plus 263,000 ounces of gold and 1,023,000 ounces of silver Inferred.
Hydrothermal breccias are typical of low sulphidation epithermal systems and develop where mineral rich fluids interact with fractured rock. During work in 2020 and 2021, Westhaven identified 15 zones of hydrothermal brecciation, with surface assays returning up to 0.5g/t gold in select grab samples.
The 14 holes being reported today were completed to test three exploration targets. One of these three exploration targets tested has lead to the discovery a new gold bearing zone. HydBx-02, situated 1.2km northeast of the South Zone, and off the main mineralised trend (see map), was tested by seven drill holes.
The best gold intersections occur in hole SN22-249 (3.28 g/t Au over 0.9m) and SN22-257 (1.39 g/t Au over 1.2m and 1.23 g/t Au over 6m).
These intersections are significant because:
- this is a new gold bearing area, confirmed by drilling, and offset some 1.2km from the main mineralised structure,
- veining was encountered in both the traditional felsic volcanic host rocks as well as in the granodiorite unit – thought to be the local geologic basement at Shovelnose and potentially opening up new areas for exploration,
- alteration haloes – derived from pathfinder elements in drill core (not reported herein) – suggest development of a low sulphidation epithermal system offset from the main trend (relationship, if any, unclear at the present time)
- drilling coverage at HydBx-02 is limited, with upside potential above, below and between the current drill intersections,
- HydBx-02 remains open to both the northwest and southeast, and
- additional similar surface exposures of hydrothermal brecciation elsewhere on the property remain to be tested by drilling.
Westhaven’s ongoing mapping, prospecting and rock sampling are currently focussed in areas burned by the 2021 July Mountain wildfire, which exposed previously unknown outcrops. This geological programme will be expanded elsewhere on the property later in the season. Other components of the 2022 programme at Shovelnose include stream sediment sampling following up anomalous results from an earlier programme indicative of potential gold mineralisation at sites up to 10km from the main mineralised trend. Westhaven expects to develop new target areas from this work, as well as additional exploration activities in progress.
For further information please visit: https://www.westhavengold.com/
