Western Exploration Completes Transformative Cyanide Leach Test Work at Gravel Creek
Western reports 73% gold recovery from Gravel Creek concentrate as it prepares a 46-site drill plan.
Western Exploration Inc. (WEX) has reported initial cyanide leach recoveries from a combined gravity and flotation concentrate at its Gravel Creek deposit in Nevada. The test composite, weighing approximately 30 kg, was derived from coarse assay rejects of drill holes WG458-WG462. The material featured a head grade of 5.49 g/t Au and 298 g/t Ag. The gold grade was described as representative of Gravel Creek, while the silver content was elevated because the samples originated from the Jarbidge area.
The processing flow sheet involved grinding whole ore to 80%-212µm, followed by gravity concentration. Gravity tailings were then reground to 80%-75µm and floated. The resulting combined gravity/flotation concentrate accounted for about 20.1% of the feed weight, with a grade of 26.46 g/t Au and 1,433 g/t Ag. Flotation and gravity concentration recovered 97.2% of gold and 96.8% of silver into the concentrate, with no cleaner flotation performed.
Following an ultra-fine regrind to >95%-10µm and a 72-hour cyanide leach, extraction reached 75.4% Au and 76.5% Ag from the concentrate. This is equivalent to 73.3% Au and 74.0% Ag whole-ore recovery. Additional work is ongoing on the cyanide leach tails to understand metal deportment and improve recoveries.
Separately, Western Exploration states it is fully permitted and bonded for 46 drill sites and access roads covering the Gravel Creek, Jarbidge, and Tomasina targets. A July 9, 2026 water lease with Nevada Gold Mines provides up to 14 acre-feet of water per year. The company’s stated goal is to double the current Gravel Creek resource. Chargeability geophysics indicate the system is open to the northeast, northwest, and up-dip.
Western Exploration Inc. (WEX) disclosed the first cyanide leach recovery data for its Gravel Creek project, a development that could challenge the prevailing view that the deposit is fully refractory. If these results prove repeatable, they support the viability of an on-site concentrate-leach processing route. This represents a genuine technical step forward for the Gravel Creek story, though it remains an early-stage, lab-scale, single-composite result rather than a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS), resource update, or production decision.
The outcome aligns with expectations, as the existing PEA technical report had already recommended follow-up cyanide leaching after prior flotation work demonstrated high concentrate recoveries. The new disclosure simply provides the actual recovery percentage. The release does not alter the project’s economics or resource base, with the main economic anchor remaining the Doby George PEA; Gravel Creek is not the deposit underpinning the current PEA production case. While the drill-ready update is operationally useful, it constitutes exploration-stage news, and actual resource growth remains unproven.
In price context, the next available close moved from C$0.55 on 2026-09-16 to C$0.59 on 2026-09-17, reflecting a positive but not decisive market reaction. The stock remains below the C$0.66-0.67 resistance level.
Western Exploration Inc. (WEX) is a Nevada-focused gold and silver explorer and developer. Its flagship asset is the 100%-owned Aura project, located approximately 120 km north of Elko, Nevada. The Aura property hosts three deposits: Doby George, Gravel Creek, and Wood Gulch.
Doby George serves as the near-term development anchor, characterized as a near-surface oxide gold deposit with a plan for a 7,500 tpd open-pit, heap-leach operation. Under the 2025 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) base case at US$2,150/oz Au, the project shows an after-tax NPV5 of US$70.7M and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 25.4%. At an upside price of US$3,000/oz Au, the after-tax NPV5 rises to US$211.2M with an IRR of 62.2%. An amended filing indicates preproduction capital of about US$127.6M.
Gravel Creek and Wood Gulch form a high-grade Au-Ag epithermal system. While an investor presentation cited a resource target of 1.5M oz Au and 30M oz Ag by Q4 2027, this figure represents a goal rather than a current resource estimate.
Management includes CEO Darcy Marud. Mark Hawksworth, General Manager of the Aura Project, is the Qualified Person for recent technical disclosure.