Those of you who have read my writing for a few years know that I have a soft spot for Westhaven Gold (TSX-V:WHN, OTC:WTHVF). I began covering Westhaven in March 2018 when the share price was meandering in the $.10 to $.14 area and few cared to pay any attention to a small drill program that Westhaven was carrying out at its Shovelnose Project in southern British Columbia, Canada.
Seven months later WHN shares had soared more than 1,000% on the back of reporting two incredible high-grade gold intercepts from the South Zone in holes 18-14 ( 17.77 meters of 24.50 g/t gold and 107.92 g/t silver) and 18-15 (46.20 meters of 8.95 grams per tonne gold and 65.47 g/t silver). The discovery of the South Zone put Westhaven on the map and generated a great deal of excitement among investors. As can often happen in junior mining, Westhaven became a victim of its early success at the South Zone and it became increasingly difficult to impress investors in subsequent years.
3 1/2 years later Westhaven has delivered a 1.1 million ounce maiden resource for Shovelnose with an average grade of around 2 g/t Au-Eq. However, up until yesterday the share price had been mired in the low $.40s as investors were increasingly concerned that Westhaven’s best drill results at Shovelnose were in the rearview mirror.
That changed with yesterday morning’s trading halt and release of assays for hole SN22-212, a hole that intersected 23.03 meters grading 37.24 g/t gold and 209.52 g/t silver beginning at 94 meters downhole in the FMN Zone. It’s ironic that FMN stands for “forget me not” Zone – Westhaven has spent much of the last two years trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together at the FMN Zone, with yesterday’s results (including 36.00 meters of 3.74 g/t gold and 20.49 g/t silver in hole SN22-211) it is beginning to look like Westhaven is figuring some of the structural controls along the 500 meters of mineralized strike length at FMN.
The above long section includes results reported on April 6th and gives some indication as to the potential strike length and low drill density we are dealing with at FMN. It is not uncommon in enriched epithermal systems to discover multiple high-grade gold chutes. Moreover, given the strong nature of this system and low drill density in the FMN Zone, it is likely that there are going to be more high-grade chutes discovered along this ~4-kilometer trend that extends from the South Zone all the way to the FMN and Franz Zones:
Recent exploration success (shallow high-grade intersections) at the Alpine Zone has also been highly encouraging and points to a potentially much larger global resource at Shovelnose. Westhaven CEO Gareth Thomas made a point to mention that recent drilling (pending assays) at the Alpine Zone has encountered similar geology to hole SNR21-55 (3.13 meters grading 45.23 g/t gold and 195.64 g/t silver):
“In addition to the drill currently located at the FMN Zone, a second drill has been added at the Alpine Zone focused on following-up on Hole SNR21-55, which intersected 3.13 metres of 45.23 g/t gold and 195.64 g/t silver. Recent drilling at the Alpine Zone has encountered similar geology to what was encountered in SNR21-55, including intervals containing marcasite, adularia and ginguro.” ~ Gareth Thomas, CEO Westhaven Gold
Hole 212 is a rare gold intercept with both world class grade and width, a drill result that won’t be easy to surpass with follow-up drilling at FMN. However, it is worth noting that hole SN22-215 (assays pending) was drilled as an undercut to holes 211/212 and intersected the quartz breccia at a lower elevation, closer to the preferred elevation at around 1250 meters above sea level.
Assay lab backlogs have cleared up and turnaround times are down to 3-4 weeks, so we shouldn’t have to wait long before we find out the results for hole 215 at the FMN Zone.
Disclosure: I was a buyer of Westhaven shares yesterday after the halt and I may choose to buy additional shares, or sell my existing shares at any time without notice.
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Disclaimer
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