Categories: Precious Metals
Topics: General Precious Metals

Westhaven Gold (TSX-V: WHN)(OTC: WTHVF) CEO Gareth Thomas on Hitting More High-Grade Gold at Flagship Shovelnose Gold Project, British Columbia, Canada

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president & CEO of Westhaven Gold — Mr. Gareth Thomas. Gareth, how are you this morning?

Gareth Thomas: I'm well, thanks, Gerardo. How about yourself?

Gerardo Del Real: I am well. I'm glad to be on the phone with you. You had some news on the 7th of July. Let me read the headline. It's an important release because I sense that there's going to be an increased focus — and you reference it in the release with the additional drill rig — but on really getting to the heart of these multiple systems. 

So the news release headline reads:

Westhaven hits high-grade gold at multiple zones at Shovelnose; Drills 76.33 meters of 2.93 grams per tonne gold at the South Zone and 4.18 meters of 5.26 grams per tonne gold at the FMN Zone.

Solid, solid numbers. We talked a bit off air… the South Zone numbers continue to hit, and the FMN Zone numbers are decent — are good. But again, it sounds to me like you're really wanting to get that other rig on there to go test multiple targets there.

Gareth Thomas: Yeah, the South Zone, as you mentioned, where the more intercepts we have there, the better. It continues to show the continuity and what we want to see as we gear up for our maiden resource here. 

So they're good and some numbers are surprising us there too — so that's all good. But FMN, as mentioned off air there, is something we're excited about. And it's still a relatively new discovery. We made that late last year — I think it was our last press release of the year; intercepting hole… I believe it was ‘SN20-138’ where we intercepted similar numbers to what this hole we just announced, ‘SN21-167.’ 

The release before this, we hit the 16 meters of 9 grams there about 100 meters away. So we're starting to see some continuity in this vein system. It's still Vein Zone 1. But as you know, along this trend — four kilometers — we're not going to hit zones of high-grade nature the whole area. It seems like we've got a nice little pocket here. 

We're talking to Peter [Fischl]; I'm up in Merritt now. I know he's excited about it… being that it's kind of like where we were at the start of the South Zone drilling. In fact, we didn't have these types of grades. But you're seeing stuff and, for Peter, it's getting a few holes on it to really get a handle on the geometry, the elevation. 

He's excited about what we're seeing. And even in our current drill hole, what we're seeing in there is giving us good ideas of what's happening there. So yeah, the message is ‘drill and drill!’

And the addition of the third rig… we're actually taking that up to another target called ‘The Romeo,’ which is about four kilometers to the east of the South Zone. So quite a ways out but a prominent soil geochemistry anomaly that happens to occur over a 1.5-km-long hydrothermal breccia outcrop. 

And we also have some really good MAG [magnetic] signatures and some DC [Direct Current] Resistivity anomalies there too. So we're on our first hole there and a totally new area. And that's kind of the idea is to step out of the South Zone here and find more South Zones.

Gerardo Del Real: You mentioned Peter [Fischl]. And the news release references the elevation range and getting a better handle on targeting the elevation range of the best mineralization. 

What have you learned that maybe surprised you or that maybe makes you feel more confident about future drilling? Because, again, I know you, I know of Peter well; pretty conservative. So when I hear in the release that the team is getting a better handle on targeting that — that seems important to me.

Gareth Thomas: Yeah, excellent point; an excellent question. We hit on ‘SN21-161’  going back to that hole where we drilled the 60 meters of 9 grams. Then, we stepped out another 100 meters and hit ‘SN21-161’ which was not much for grade… some anomalous gold… but nothing. 

So hitting ‘SN21-167’ was another hole on that same section but it was targeting this more preferred elevation. And that's also going back a few calls now, Gerardo, where we talked about this kink. These things can be tricky at times. But we think even with our current hole that we're still in… that we're getting a better handle on.

It may take a few more holes here but we also mentioned the fourth vein zone; it's in our map on that news release. And that's important because, though, we're seeing it quite deep; 500 meters, but this is what happened on the South Zone: we drilled one hole down to 626 meters; not seeing anything in terms of mineralization. But what Peter figured out there is that there was something above that. 

So in still increasing this hole or going to-depth here, we're seeing this fourth vein zone, which is probably not in the preferred elevation. But that's something we're keeping our eye on as well.

Like I said, it sort of sounds like a broken record but it's ‘drill and drill!’ And before you know it, we're going to have another bonanza grade intercept. That's our belief here. And hopefully, it's on FMN; might be on Romeo; it might be on a few of these other outlying targets. 

Resource out Q4 this year; that's coming along real nice. Our big message here is we're still a drill-bit story; exploration. So that's what we're working on… trying to find more of these South Zones.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, your timing might be really excellent for the resource estimate and new discoveries just for the simple fact that gold seems to be really firming up, as well as silver. And I suspect that it's going to close the year in a really strong manner. 

Great update, Gareth. Anything else to add to that?

Gareth Thomas: Oh, I like to hear your enthusiasm on the gold and silver. And I try and keep my mouth relatively shut on the more macro items. Of course, I pay attention to them; I know most people do. But it's nice to hear that… and I feel the same way. 

So yeah, you're right… lots of news flow on the horizon, and we're going to keep at it here. So stay tuned!

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent! Gareth, thanks again for your time. Appreciate it!

Gareth Thomas: Thank you, Gerardo.

Gerardo Del Real: Alright, chat soon.

Gareth Thomas: Okay, take care.