West Vault Mining Acquires 100% Ownership Interest In The Hill Of Gold Property

VANCOUVER - West Vault Mining Inc. reported its buyout of the Hill of Gold property. The Hill of Gold Property is located approximately 3.5 miles southwest of Tonopah, Nevada, midway between the Company's 100% owned Three Hills Mine property and Hasbrouck Mine property (together the "Hasbrouck Gold Project"). The Company is finalizing permitting the Hill of Gold open pit for mineralized material to be hauled 2 miles to the already-permitted Three Hills Mine heap leach facility.

Hill of Gold hosts a non-current historical inferred resource estimate of 42,350 gold ounces (1.6 million tons at a grade of 0.9 g/t (0.025 ounce per ton), pit-constrained at 0.3 g/t cut-off grade (0.01 ounce per ton)) (the "HOG Historical Estimate") which was prepared in 1996 by Scott Hardy P.E and Steven Ristorcelli, P.Geo, both of Mine Development Associates. The Hill of Gold property comprises 25 mining claims on approximately 500 acres of unpatented land.

The HOG Historical Estimate is based on 29,926 feet of drilling from 83 reverse circulation holes and 6 core holes. The Hill of Gold host rock and geological setting are similar to those found at the nearby Three Hills deposit. Three metallurgical studies indicate 67% to 74% recovery from run-of-mine material.

In 2016, the Company announced the execution of a ten-year Mineral Lease and Option to Purchase Agreement (the "HOG Lease") for a 100% interest in the Hill of Gold Property. The terms of the HOG Lease allowed for mining and required annual lease payments as pre-payments on a 2% net smelter return ("NSR") royalty of US$25,000 for the first three years and thereafter US$30,000 per year, with the option of buying the mining claims and royalty for US$500,000 at any time during the lease term. The Company negotiated and paid the one-time US$250,000 buyout payment to extinguish future lease and royalty payments due to the property lessor, which buyout payment represents a 50% discount to the previously agreed buyout price.

The HOG Historical Estimate is relevant due to its proximity to and thus potential economic impact on the proposed Three Hills Mine.

Key assumptions used to develop the HOG Historical Estimate include modeling using Medsystem software using geological interpretations provided by Eastfield Resources and Prism Resources. The assay database was composited in 10 ft bench composites which were then coded with the appropriate zone number. A block model was constructed, and block grades were estimated using ordinary kriging. Blocks within a zone were estimated using only the composites within the zone. The Company considers the HOG Historical Estimate to be reliable in light of the method in which it was calculated.

The work required to upgrade the HOG Historical Estimate to a current mineral resource involves drilling to twin a percentage of historical boreholes to confirm historical results, drilling to define the limits of mineralization and provide better control on grade variability and identify geologic characteristics of high-grade intervals, and perform test work to better characterize the metallurgical aspects of the deposit.