Gold Extraction From First Round Of Metallurgical Test Work at Doby George

VANCOUVER - Western Exploration Inc. reported on its ongoing metallurgical heap leach test program designed to determine the processing characteristics at Doby George. Bottle roll recoveries from the various crush sizes sampled returned positive results that will form the basis for compositing mineralization for additional column leach test work at Doby George.

Highlights: 1) Agitated cyanidation bottle roll test work was completed on 46 composites generated from samples collected during the 2022 PQ drill program completed in 2022. 2) The composites ranged in grade from 0.17 g/t Au to 9.38 g/t Au and averaged 2.36 g/t Au and cyanide soluble gold-to-fire assay ratios (CN/FA) were generally above 80%. 3) Average gold extraction of oxide mineralization of 69.3% from the agitated cyanidation bottle roll leach test work. 4) The oxide composites generally did not contain detectable sulfur and composites from West Ridge Deep (Mixed) only contained approximately 0.07% to 0.2% sulfide sulfur. 5) Reagent consumption was consistently low and is expected to be low for commercial heap leaching, averaging 0.12 kg/ton for cyanide and 0.9 kg/ton for lime.

CEO, Darcy Marud, said, “It's an exciting time for the Doby George deposit following our exploration success in 2022. In 2022, the exploration team drilled nine holes with the goal of further delineating and advancing the existing mineral resource at the Aura Project. Doby George hosts 407k Gold ounces in the indicated category (12.9k tonnes at 0.98 g/t) and 119k Gold ozs in the inferred category (4.99k tonnes at 0.73 g/t).

"The metallurgical test results that support heap leach gold recoveries of approximately 70% are in line with the extensive historical exploration and metallurgical test results generated by previous owners of the deposit, including Atlas Corporation, Homestake Mining Company and Independence Mining Company. It is anticipated that the results of the metallurgical heap leach test program will be used to support the preparation of a Pre-Feasibility Study on the Doby George deposit in 2024, pursuant to which the Company expects to update its existing mineral resource estimate and underline potentially robust project economics supported by surface outcrops and the recent metallurgical test results. Doby George is a very exciting resource for Western Exploration and we still have extensive exploration upside on the property, particularly at Gravel Creek where our 2023 drill program is focused."