Western Exploration Provides Doby George Update

On January 28, 2026, Western Exploration announced that the US Forest Service (USFS) accepted its Notice of Intent (NOI) to submit a Mine Plan of Operations (MPO) for the Doby George gold deposit in Nevada. This formalizes the start of the permitting process. Key dates include the commencement of baseline studies in February 2026, a target MPO submission in Q2 2026, and the anticipated completion of NEPA environmental reports by Q2 2027. The company has retained Stantec Consulting to lead these 14-month studies.

This news is a critical de-risking milestone. While exploration results (like the high-grade hits at Tomasina in late 2025) provide speculative upside, the transition into the "permitting" stage is what transforms a resource into a potential mine. - Regulatory Momentum: Moving from a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) to a formal MPO indicates management is confident in the project's economic viability, even after the October 2025 AISC upward revision to US$1,172/oz. - Funding Alignment: The timing is strategic; it follows a C$8 million financing (announced Jan 22, 2026) at C$0.92 per unit. This capital is clearly earmarked for the "heavy lifting" of environmental and baseline studies required by the USFS. - Project Continuity: The 14-month study timeline suggests that the company will remain in a "spend mode" without production revenue until at least 2028, making the recent capital raise necessary but likely not the last.

Western Exploration is a Nevada-focused gold-silver explorer. Its flagship is the 100%-owned Aura Project in Elko County. - Doby George: High-grade, near-surface oxide gold deposit (Focus of current permitting). - Gravel Creek: High-grade epithermal vein system (Focus of resource expansion). - Wood Gulch: Past-producing mine with modern exploration targets. - Total Resource: Indicated resources of ~648k oz AuEq and Inferred resources of ~827k oz AuEq (as of mid-2025).