Updated Preliminary Economic Assessment For Shovelnose Gold Project

VANCOUVER - Westhaven Gold Corp. reported on completion of an Updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) at its 41,634-hectare Shovelnose Gold Property located within the Spences Bridge Gold Belt (SBGB), which borders the Coquihalla Highway 30 kilometres south of Merritt, British Columbia. The PEA outlines a robust, low-cost, rapid pay-back, high margin, 11.1 year underground gold mining opportunity and is based on updated mineral resources that include contributions from the South, Franz and FMN zones.

Gareth Thomas, President & CEO, said, “Westhaven’s flagship Shovelnose Gold Property is ideally situated, in close proximity to roads, power and infrastructure in a tier 1 mining jurisdiction. Production contribution from both Franz and FMN provide valuable ounces that bring gold production forward in the schedule resulting in payback of initial capital costs in just 2.1 years. Our intention is to continue to advance this cornerstone project in parallel with our ongoing exploration efforts to further expand the gold-silver mineral inventory on this highly prospective land package. The next steps towards rapidly advancing development include further de-risking initiatives such as continued environmental baseline studies, permitting requirements, along with other cost and technical requirements.”

Preliminary Economic Assessment Highlights: (Base case parameters of US$2,400 per ounce gold, US$28 per ounce silver and CDN$/US$ exchange rate of $0.72. All costs are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified).

Robust financial metrics: 1) Pre-tax Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 56.3%; After-tax IRR of 43.2%. 2) Low All-In Sustaining Cost (AISC) of $1,161/ounce (oz) (US$836/oz) gold equivalent (AuEq). 3) Low Cash Cost of $872 oz/AuEq (US$ 628/oz AuEq). 4) Pre-tax Net Present Value (NPV 6%) of $730 million (M) and After-tax NPV of $454M. 5) Payback period from start of production year at 1.7 years pre-tax and 2.1 years after-tax. 6) After-tax (NPV 6%) increases to $634M and After-tax IRR increases to 56.6% using spot prices of US$2,900 gold and US$30 silver.

Low capital-intensive development and operating costs: 1) Total Preproduction Capital of $184M. 2) Total Life of Mine (LOM) Capital Costs of $379M. 3) Average operating cost of $142/ tonne processed. 4) 92% of total stope mining is cost effective longitudinal and traverse longhole stoping, with only 8% of total mining requiring cut and fill stoping.

11.1-year mine life and ability to expand processing to accommodate satellite discoveries. 1) 718,600 total Indicated ounces gold equivalent (AuEq) underground Mineral Resource Estimate. 2) 292,000 total Inferred ounces AuEq underground Mineral Resource Estimate. 3) Production rate of 1,000 tonnes per day (tpd). 4) Total payable metals of 637,000 oz gold (Au) and 3,562,000 oz silver (Ag). 5) Average annual production of 56,000 oz Au peaking in year 7 at 68,000 oz Au.

Total mineralized rock production of 4,159,000 tonnes at 5.26 g/t Au and 32 g/t Ag. Metallurgical recoveries of 91.5% Au and 92.9% Ag. Community/stakeholder benefits: 1) Total projected income taxes paid of $284M. 2) Total projected British Columbia mineral taxes paid of $163M. 3) More than 130 well-paying local full time jobs created during life of mine. 4) Additional employment during construction phase. 5) Indirect spin-off benefits during both construction and mine operations.