Westhaven Advances Exploration and Development Programs at Shovelnose Gold Project, Southern British Columbia
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On November 24, 2025, Westhaven announced the completion of its upsized 2025 summer drilling program at the Shovelnose Gold Project. The company drilled 6,202 metres across 13 diamond drill holes, more than double the initially planned 3,000 metres.
The release highlights results from one hole, SN25-432, which intersected 25.96 metres of 2.97 grams per tonne (g/t) Gold (Au), including a higher-grade interval of 4.06 metres of 11.06 g/t Au. The CEO, Ken Armstrong, stated the program successfully tested new exploration models to find mineralization beyond the existing South Zone, FMN, and Franz deposits. Assays for three other drill holes (SN25-442, SN25-438, SN25-439) are still pending. The news also restated the positive economics from the March 2025 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) and mentioned the recent appointments of Ken Armstrong (CEO), Zara Boldt (CFO), and Robin Hopkins (VP Exploration) as part of a strengthened technical team.
The news is materially positive. The primary positive driver is the drill result from hole SN25-432. The intercept of 25.96m @ 2.97 g/t Au is significant and economically interesting. This is a considerable improvement over the exploration results from the winter 2025 and late 2024 drill programs, which primarily hit pathfinder elements with only weakly anomalous gold.
Furthermore, the completion of an expanded drill program (6,202m vs. an initial 3,000m plan) demonstrates management's confidence and financial capacity, bolstered by the financings earlier in the year. The CEO's commentary frames this as a success for the new technical team's exploration model, aiming to prove Shovelnose is part of a much larger epithermal system.
However, a critical eye reveals some tempering factors: - Single Data Point: These are results from only one of thirteen holes. The success of the entire program hinges on the pending assays for the other holes. If the remaining results are weak, this single hit will be viewed as less significant. - Context is Key: The release lacks a map or detailed description of where hole SN25-432 is located relative to the known PEA resource. It is unclear if this expands a known zone or is a new discovery, though the language implies the latter. - Sloppy Reporting: The release re-announces management changes that occurred much earlier in the year (CEO appointed in March, VP Exploration in January). This is unusual for a material news release and appears as filler content, detracting from the professionalism of the communication.
Despite these points, the drill results exceed the low bar set by previous regional exploration drilling and confirm the potential for discovering new zones of mineralization. The market had been waiting for tangible exploration success beyond the defined deposits, and this news provides an initial sign of that. Therefore, the impact is positive and material, though not a "game-changer" until further results are released.
Westhaven Gold Corp. is a Canadian gold exploration company focused on advancing its 100%-owned projects in the Spences Bridge Gold Belt (SBGB) of Southern British Columbia. The company controls a large land package of approximately 61,512 hectares.
The flagship asset is the Shovelnose Gold Project. In March 2025, the company released an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for Shovelnose, which outlined a robust, high-grade underground mining scenario. The PEA highlights an after-tax Net Present Value (NPV) at a 6% discount rate of C$454 million and an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 43.2%, based on a US$2,400/oz gold price. The project benefits from excellent infrastructure, being located near a major highway, power, and rail.