Western Gold drills one m of 23.6 g/t Au at Ardlochan

Mr. Ross McLellan reports WESTERN GOLD INTERSECTS HIGH-GRADE GOLD WITHIN ITS NEWLY DISCOVERED PORPHYRY-BRECCIA PIPE AT ARDLOCHAN PROSPECT Western Gold Exploration Ltd. has released results from 2025 drilling at Ardlochan. Following positive indications from the initial shallow scout drilling campaign at Ardlochan in 2023/2024 (see May, 2024, press release), the company completed 741 metres of drilling across three holes. These tested three target styles: a porphyry-breccia pipe, porphyry stock mineralization and a marginal structural zone. Breccia pipe gold discovery Drilling confirmed the discovery of a gold mineralized breccia pipe system at least 140 m in diameter, containing multiple generations of porphyry breccia. Most of the higher-grade gold mineralization occurs in late-stage breccias with a potassic matrix and within dikes although their development in this drill hole is limited. Further drilling is warranted to assess how the pipe varies with depth. Copper mineralization is elevated throughout but does not correlate well with gold. The entire pipe is anomalous in gold and averages 195 m of 0.36 gram per tonne gold from 30 m downhole (using a 0.1 g/t Au cut-off). Full intercepts are reported in table 2 with higher-grade zones including (1): Four m of 6.73 g/t Au from 135 m, including: One m of 23.6 g/t Au from 136 m; 12.2 m of 0.72 g/t Au from 31.8 m*; Six m of 0.73 g/t Au from 71 m*; One m of 1.11 g/t Au, 22.4 g/t silver and 0.45 per cent Cu, from 112 m. (1) Using a 0.3 g/t Au cut-off with less than or equal to five metres of consecutive internal dilution. * Reported in previous press release. "The Lorne project continues to surprise us. Breccia pipe systems can be important hosts to gold and copper mineralization in porphyry systems, and this pipe is consistently mineralized, with some high-grade gold in the first drill hole into the system," said Harry Dobson, chairman. "Having identified several other potential breccia pipes, these results give us confidence in the broader potential of the project considering the limited drilling conducted to date." The second hole, WGLD25-B, drilled toward the top of a resistivity magnetic target, looking for primary porphyry mineralization. It intersected minor copper (up to 0.33 per cent Cu) and gold (up to 0.27 g/t Au) at the granodiorite contact with the phyllite country rock over several metres. The magnetic anomaly appears to be caused by potassic veining with associated magnetite within the granodiorite, but is essentially barren, downgrading this geophysical target. Mineralization of interest includes*: Skarned Dalradian metasediments with biotite-feldspar porphyry dikes: Nine m of 0.18 g/t Au (from 17 m), including one m of 0.53 g/t Au; Dalradian -- granodiorite contact: Seven m of 0.14 per cent Cu and 0.17 g/t Au (from 100 m); Veined granodiorite: One m of 0.33 per cent Cu, 0.05 per cent molybdenum and 0.27 g/t Au (from 114 m). * Using a 0.1 g/t Au cut-off with less than or equal to five m of consecutive internal dilution. The third hole, WGLD25-D2, tested the structural target but did not intercept the first structural zone, as it was stoped out by later Tertiary dolerite dikes. The MT survey's conductive target zone was intersected and is represented by pyritic granodiorite/monzonite with minor chalcopyrite, associated with potassic alteration. This interval is weakly enriched in copper (about 200 to 500 parts per million Cu). Drilling terminated in this weakly mineralized and altered zone, characterized by quartz-K-feldspar-biotite veining with minor actinolite and molybdenite. Next steps Drilling has confirmed Ardlochan has potential for gold-rich porphyry-style mineralization and validated that anomalies from the 2024 airborne MT survey align with key geological features. Late potassic mineralization identified within the breccia pipe tested in hole WGLD009-EXT has been identified as a key target for future exploration efforts. Historic maps created by a Noranda Phelps Dodge joint venture during the discovery of the Ardlochan area have been recently recovered from the British Geological Survey MEIGA reports and are currently being reanalyzed and assessed on the ground by a team of geologists. New exploration targets, with a focus on gold-rich porphyry-breccias, are currently being refined. About Western Gold Exploration Ltd. The company is a mineral exploration company that is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol WGLD. The company is focused on the exploration of mineral properties in Scotland, discovering new opportunities across the underexplored Caledonian Appalachian, and identifying locations of gold and critical metal deposits. The company's principal focus is its Lorne project, which includes the Lagalochan copper-gold porphyry property located in Argyll, Scotland, and the adjacent and nearby properties along the Lorne fault zone. On Nov. 29, 2022, the company filed a National Instrument 43-101 (Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects)-compliant independent technical report on the Lagalochan property. The technical report and additional information about the company are available on SEDAR+ under the company's profile and on the company's website. Review by qualified person, quality control and reports David Pym (CGeol), a consultant of the company, is the qualified person (as defined by National Instrument 43-101) who supervised, verified and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this press release on behalf of the company. Verification included checking a proportion of the reported assays (excluding historical) in the company database against the issued laboratory assay certificates. In addition, verification has included checking the location and orientation of the drill collars in the company database against historic maps and reports. The qualified person has not reviewed the mineral tenure, nor independently verified the legal status and ownership of the property or any underlying property agreements. The drilling was conducted by specialist contractor Mineral Exploration Drilling Ltd. using a small-footprint drill rig. Collars were surveyed using multiband GNSS for precision positioning, and downhole surveys were measured using a Reflex GYRO survey tool. Holes were drilled using HQ diameter core barrels positioned approximately perpendicular to the interpreted orientation of drill targets. All core was oriented, and recoveries were generally less than 95 per cent beneath overburden. All core was logged, photographed, split to half-core and sampled at the company's on-site technical facilities. Intercept widths are not true widths and are subject to continuing interpretation. All drill core was shipped directly to ALS Loughrea, IDA Business Park, Dublin Rd., H62 PN80, Loughrea, Co. Galway, Ireland, for analyses. The company can guarantee the chain of custody. Gold was assayed by 30-gram fire assay analysis with AAS finish (Au-AA23). Base metals and silver were analyzed using four-acid digestion ICP-MS (ME-MS61). All ALS geochemistry sites operate under a single global geochemistry quality manual that complies with ISO/IEC 17025:2017, coupled within a global LIMS platform. There is no relationship, fiduciary or otherwise, between ALS and the company. The company's quality assurance/quality control program for drill core samples includes the regular insertion of blanks and standards into the sample shipments, as well as instructions for duplication. Standards and blanks are inserted every 20 samples. We seek Safe Harbor.