VANCOUVER, B.C., Jan. 16, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Westhaven Ventures Inc. (WHN.V) is pleased to report drill results from its 18,768 hectare Shovelnose gold property, located within the prospective Spences Bridge Gold Belt (SBGB), approximately 30 kilometres south of Merritt, British Columbia.  The drill program consisted of 7 holes totaling 3,269 metres of diamond drilling.

Alpine South Discovery

• New quartz vein system, the Alpine South Zone, first outlined by ground magnetics as a northeast trending mag low anomaly, has been confirmed by two of the drill holes.
   
• Drilling intersected broad zones of quartz veining to 300m wide containing intermittent gold mineralization.
   
• Drill hole SN17-06, the southwestern most of the two holes, intersected 85 metres (m) of 0.52 grams per ton (g/t) gold (Au), including 8m of 1.43 g/t Au and 17m of 1.02 g/t Au.
   
• Drill hole SN17-07 intersected 231m of 0.17 g/t Au, including 24.8m grading 0.8 g/t Au which in turn includes 5.7m grading 2.5 g/t Au and 4m grading 3.23g/t Au.

Gren Thomas, President & CEO of Westhaven stated, “The newly discovered Alpine South zone is approximately 1,000 metres in potential strike and is open to the northeast and southwest where the ground magnetic survey ended in June of 2017.  This is the most significant discovery made to date at Shovelnose and we are keen to get back there as soon as practicable.  We will be starting a ground magnetic survey shortly to see the potential size of this interpreted structure, and then we will look to start a winter drill program. The property borders the Coquihalla Highway and is only 35 kilometres from the city of the Merritt, allowing for low cost, year-round exploration.” 

It is management’s belief that these newly identified gold mineralized structures in the Alpine South Zone are likely the feeder zones responsible for the gold mineralization found near surface in the Alpine Zone.  This quartz vein system remains open along strike to the northeast and southwest.  The broader zone of gold mineralization and associated metre-scale quartz veins (to 4.3m width) remains open to the southwest.  This target is just the southernmost extent of drill testing along the 1,000 metre long north-south trending Alpine Zone, which has had only limited shallow drilling to date.  Please see map below for a plan map of the drilling.

Clay Alteration Study

Drill Hole 16-09, the southernmost hole drilled at the Alpine zone in 2016, was drilled to the southeast, proximal to and towards the newly discovered Alpine South vein zone.  Clay mineralogy samples collected from this hole analyzed by TerraSpec (SWIR) returned the highest paleo-temperatures of all holes to date at Shovelnose, suggesting that Alpine South Zone is a major zone of up-flow of hydrothermal fluids and likely represents a significant feeder zone at Alpine to be followed up with additional drilling.  2017 drill core samples have been submitted for SWIR analysis to further assist in drill target delineation.

Thomas goes on to say, “This new discovery comes after ten years of persistent exploration for the source to a number of epithermal showings and a gold bearing silica cap.  This is a large geophysical and topographical feature previously untested and contains considerable widths of auriferous veining which could be a feeder for the previously found gold showings. This discovery marks an important milestone in understanding the property geology and should lead to considerable future exploration.”

At the Tower Zone, five drill holes targeted potential deep-seated feeder zones at depths in excess of 500 metres in an effort to account for near surface gold mineralization intersected by previous drilling.  Four discrete quartz vein systems were intersected, and a broad interval of high level disseminated gold mineralization was encountered in silicified tuff in hole SN17-02 returning 60m of 0.23 g/t Au, while a deeper feeder zone intersection of quartz-adularia breccia in hole SN17-01 returned 29m of 0.18 g/t Au.

Follow-up Drill and Geophysical Program

The main focus of the upcoming drill program will be to follow up on the newly discovered gold-bearing vein system at the Alpine Zone to determine the strike extent and grade potential of the precious metal horizon.  This program will be focused on testing the known 1,000 metre strike length of the magnetic lows. The targeted magnetic lows were defined in a ground magnetic survey completed earlier in 2017 and remain open to the south.  A ground magnetic survey has begun to test the continuation of the targeted magnetic lows to the south.

For further information on the Shovelnose Gold Property, please visit: http://westhavenventures.com/projects/shovelnose-gold/details/

Shovelnose Gold Property Overview

There is evidence of a significant mineralized alteration system within the property where float samples grading 119 g/t Au (Gold) and 273 g/t Ag (Silver), veins exposed by trenching grading 66 g/t Au, and wide low grade alteration zones typical of epithermal gold deposits have been discovered.