View From The Top of Shovelnose Mountain In British Columbia, Canada
Standing atop Shovelnose Mountain in southern British Columbia one can see very far in all directions. The view is both beautiful and daunting, similar to the opportunity sitting in front of Westhaven Ventures (TSX-V:WHN) right now. After spending seven years carefully assembling a highly prospective property package along the Spences Bridge Gold Belt (SBGB), Westhaven feels like they are on the cusp of a major economic gold discovery in a region of British Columbia which first drew prospectors more than 150 years ago. Although the exact number can not be known, it`s believed that several million ounces of gold have been found in and around the Fraser River and its tributaries by prospectors since the original gold rush began.
Westhaven is now the largest claim holder in the SBGB with more than 35,000 hectares spread across four properties; Shovelnose, Prospect Valley, Skoonka and Skoonka North. This massive claim package is also strategically located along strike right in the middle of the SBGB. In fact, WHN’s Skoonka Project is located slightly north-west of where the Fraser River Gold Rush began in 1857:
The Spences Bridge Gold Belt has an interesting history since the first placer gold was found in the late 1850s and the source of the coarse gold found in local rivers has never been discovered.
Westhaven`s technical advisor Ed Balon has a long and distinguished career in exploration and is responsible for several well known discoveries. He is widely recognized for identifying the potential of the Spences Bridge epithermal gold belt in southern British Columbia, where Westhaven’s Shovelnose gold project is located. Speaking with Mr. Balon on a recent visit to Shovelnose, he is excited that Westhaven has honed in on a mineralized gold structure, the newly discovered South Zone.
Westhaven is a small exploreco with strong insider ownership (more than 40% of shares are held by insiders, and if you expand that to insiders + closely related parties and family it’s more like 60%) – on a recent tour of Shovelnose with the Westhaven team I can honestly say i’ve never seen a group of guys so excited about what they might have on their hands. Particularly when considering that this drill program will consume most of their treasury. Fortunately though for Westhaven, exploration costs are comparatively low to many of their BC counterparts. The ease of access and proximity to infrastructure means that Westhaven is able to drill for a fraction of the cost that many other exploration companies experience. This translates into more bang for buck as far as drilling is concerned.
They need to `hit` something of significance. Westhaven recognizes that, in order to capture the attention of the market, they need to produce results and they are confident that they can do just that.
The Westhaven team from left to right: CFO and Director Shaun Pollard, Technical Advisor Ed Balon, CEO Gareth Thomas
My sense is that they’re onto something as evidenced by hole 18-03 from the spring 2018 program at Shovelnose which graded 17.7 meters of 3.9 g/t gold. However, as we know in the exploration business the difference between success and failure can be 1 hole (see the Aurelian story).
You can see in the above map that WHN will be drilling all around hole 18-03 and they believe this next set of holes is cutting across the correct mineralized structure. I wish Westhaven the best of luck with drilling at Shovelnose and I will be holding my shares through to assays.
Disclaimer:
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