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A high-grade gold project waits just off a highway in British Columbia, right on time for the biggest bull market in a decade

October 13, 2020 03:35 PM PST

A high-grade gold project waits just off a highway in British Columbia, right on time for the biggest bull market in a decade

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A high-grade gold project waits just off a highway in British Columbia, right on time for the biggest bull market in a decade

Why gold stocks are the ideal high-return investment for 2020?

Amid widespread quantitative easing and government spending, gold is thriving. In 2020, the price of the precious metal rose to its highest peak since 2012, and though it has since eased off a bit from its peak, it remains at levels not seen for almost a decade.

June 2019 - June 2020 Equity VSGold Returns Chart

At the time of writing in mid-October, the price of gold has far outpaced equities, up over 22% year-to-date while stocks have lagged.

Savvy investors know that gold bullion is an essential hedge against inflation; however, it's gold equities that drive the greatest returns.

And as we enter into an unprecedented era of government intervention and currency devaluation, the forecast for gold has never been stronger.

Ray Dalio, iconic billionaire and founder of the $160 billion hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, called it: "Cash is trash" in 2020.

Ray Dalio

Reiterating his prediction last year that the precious metal would become a top investment amid a market "paradigm shift," Ray told CNBC that "You have to have a certain amount of gold in your portfolio" to profit amidst widespread money-printing.

Meanwhile, gold exploration companies with projects on deck that can deliver real ounces stand to generate spectacular gains.

This trend makes gold exploration stocks the single best way to profit from a gold bull market. The equation is simple: if a junior miner can detect a number of ounces in the ground to make a potential mine feasible, its value can take off in a matter of days, if not hours.

Of course, exploration companies are not all created equal. To find those that stand to make the leap from drilling for gold to extraction and sales, investors in the sector look for three things:

  1. PEOPLE: A management team with a track record of proven success, with a large insider stake in the future of the company
  1. PROJECTS: A deposit with excellent drill results and geological similarities to other successful mines
  1. PLACES: A safe jurisdiction, with nearby infrastructure in place to lower the cost of exploration and development

Following an all-star team's discovery of high-grade gold in one of the safest, most convenient, and resource-friendly locations in the world, Westhaven Gold Corp. (TSX-V: WHN) is perfectly positioned for the gold bull market.

Westhaven Ventures logo

Digging into the background of Westhaven Gold Corp.'s all-star team

Westhaven Gold Corp is led by the Thomas mining dynasty, a family with multiple generations in the sector, dubbed "legendary" by billionaire resource speculator Rick Rule.

First is Chairman Grenville Thomas, renowned for over 50 years in the mining industry. He earned his bona fides in the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame through his discovery of the Diavik diamond prospects in the Northern Territories, now developed into one of the world's richest diamond mines worth an estimated $800-900M, alongside his daughter, Eira.

Investors that invested early in Gren's runaway Aber Diamond Corp. could have gotten in at $0.30 and rode shares all the way up to $52.50—a 17,400% return! When you realize that such an industry titan is the largest shareholder of Westhaven Gold, you might have a glimmer of what we're looking at here.

Goldcorp Inc makes first move into Arctic with $520 million deal to buy Kaminak Gold Corp - Financial Post

Following her involvement in the Diavik diamond mine, Eira Thomas, a significant shareholder in Westhaven, proceeded to steer three other mines to production, leading Kaminak Gold to a $520 million takeover by Goldcorp in 2016, and later founding Lucara Diamond Corp. (TSX: LUC) with mining billionaire Lukas Lundin.

Finally, there's Eira’s brother, Westhaven CEO Gareth Thomas, at the helm of what has quickly become Canada's most exciting resource story, now tirelessly exploring what may become the most takeover-worthy prospect in BC history.

Westhaven Ventures Inc. Shareholder Breakdown | 32% Thomas Family Owned | 68% Other

Collectively the "legendary" Thomas family maintains a 25% stake in the company. A single family in control of almost a full third of a junior miner is virtually unprecedented in the mining industry. It shows that this team, with almost $1.5 billion in successful projects in their past, have a firm conviction in Westhaven's projects.

This is a group with skin in the game. But the Thomas' aren't the only names involved in Westhaven with producing mines in their past.

Westhaven's exploration manager, Peter Fischl, has led a storied 30-year career as a geologist, helping Bema Gold, B2Gold, and Kinross Gold toward mines in the Russian Far East.

Peter sees parallels in Westhaven's low-sulphidation epithermal deposits to Kinross's US$700 million Kupol Gold Mine, which he spent 10 years establishing.

Then there's Ed Balon, Westhaven's technical advisor. Another geologist with over 50 years in exploration, Ed was inducted into the Yukon Prospectors' Hall of Fame in 2014 due to his work pinpointing numerous significant discoveries up north.

Ed was also part of the discovery team for the Silvertip silver-lead-zinc mine in Northern BC, which sold to Coeur Mining in 2014 for US$250 million.

Most recently, he is best known for identifying the Spences Bridge gold belt—the belt on which Westhaven's Shovelnose project is located—and setting off the largest online staking rush in BC history. Today, Mr. Balon is known as the preeminent expert on the region, having spent years dedicated to studying its geological intricacies.

But, even with such a serially successful team, the most exciting piece of Westhaven's story remains its incredible exploration projects.

What makes Westhaven's Shovelnose property so unique?

It all started when Westhaven Gold Corp struck 17.77 metres of 24.50 grams of gold per tonne (g/t Au) in October 2018, on the barely-explored Shovelnose property, just off the major Coquihalla Highway in British Columbia.

Map

The assays confirmed what Westhaven had long suspected: that the Spences Gold Belt hosted high-grade gold remarkably close to established infrastructure.

As a result, shares of Westhaven more than doubled, jumping 37 cents or 118.9% in a single day. Across that year alone, shares of Westhaven increased a total of 980%, landing them the #1 spot on the 2019 TSX-V Top 50 in the "Mining" category.

With a single drill hole two and a half hours from metro Vancouver, Westhaven's team launched what has now become the most active exploration district in the province.

Since then, Westhaven has been consistently following up the discovery with more stellar drill results, hitting grades ranging from 12.66m of 39.31 g/t Au all the way to 1.00m of 557.00 g/t Au, consistently expanding its potential for a significant gold deposit.

In a market that considers anything above 3.0 g/t Au noteworthy, these are grades most companies can only dream of. And with a 40,000-metre drill program that kicked off in May, this is only the beginning.

Just a few short weeks after the drill program commenced, Westhaven intercepted 34 metres of 1.21 g/t Au, spurring the company to add a third drill rig to its Shovelnose exploration program.

Later in the year, Westhaven began exploring the newly-discovered "Franz Zone" at the project, and hit 7.78 metres of 14.84 g/t Au and 39.40 g/t silver in its first drill hole on the target in September.

The company hopes to connect Franz Zone mineralization to the known Vein Zone 1, which would extend the length of the mineralization to 3.7 kilometres. And as we know with epithermal gold deposits, the larger the vein system, the more likely it is to house significant quantities of high-grade gold.

That 40,000-metre drill program is still ongoing, with further results on the way—one of the biggest catalysts in the junior mining business.

And it's important to note that though Shovelnose has become one of the most exciting project stories of the past few years, the 17,623-hectare property remains largely unexplored. That means that tremendous upside could still be waiting to be unlocked beneath the earth.

The Spences Gold Belt is more than a high-grade gold target. It's a region with one-of-a-kind access to infrastructure, including roads, power, people, and other operating mines.

These factors lead to rock-bottom exploration and development costs. While most of its Canadian peers spend approximately $454 per meter of drilling, Westhaven's exploration expenditures average out to just $190 per meter. Imagine the profits these savings could translate to in the event of a producing mine.

Drilling Costs per Meter of Drilling | Average Canadian Miner: $454 per meter | Westhaven Ventures: $190 per meter

What's more, the property's geological makeup, with bands of black sulphide dappled with dots of visible gold, is strikingly similar to that of the Hishikari Mine in Japan, host to one of the purest gold deposits in the world, averaging a bonanza-grade 40 g/t Au.

And the Spences Bridge upside doesn't stop at Shovelnose. Following the positive results from Shovelnose, the company announced an inaugural drill program at the high-grade Skoonka Creek gold property.

The move adds even more catalytic potential for Westhaven shareholders. Located on the same Spences Gold Belt as Shovelnose, Skoonka is another deposit experts have been eyeing eagerly. 

Previous owners hit grades including 12.80 metres of 20.20 grams of gold per tonne (g/t Au) and 3.31 26.80 g/t Au—there's no telling how shares will react if Westhaven can deliver similar results.

It isn't just Westhaven that's heavily invested in the belt's promise. Immediately following the Shovelnose discovery, Sable Resources Ltd. staked over 189,000 hectares along the Spences Gold Belt—the largest staking gold rush in the history of British Columbia.

When that company staked its claim along the belt, it wrote that it "believes the belt is prospective for 'Fruta del Norte' style high-grade epithermal mineralisation"—referring to an Ecuadorian project acquired by Kinross for a whopping $1.2 billion in 2008.

But until the 2018 discovery, Westhaven stood alone in the region, allowing the team to pick and choose what they believe are the four most promising properties on the entire Spences Gold Belt.

The most critical phase for any exploration company is during drilling, when new results can drive rapid movement in the stock price.

What's next for Westhaven Gold Corp., Shovelnose, and its investors?

For mining companies, exploration success is THE fundamental driver for share price appreciation. Early investors in Westhaven that bought shares in September 2018 just before the Shovelnose discovery could have gotten in at $0.18 and ridden shares all the way to $1.38—a 666.7% return!

Or, in an even more dramatic example, as previously noted, those that bought into Westhaven Chairman Grenville Thomas’ Aber Diamond stock could have invested at $0.30 and rode shares all the way up to $52.50—a 17,400% return!

Dominion Diamonds Timeline

After Westhaven posted its first set of excellent results from Shovelnose in October 2018, its shares nearly doubled to 81 cents in a single day.

And as the company launches the largest exploration program in its history with a 40,000-metre drilling program for 2020, opportunities for even more dramatic jumps in stock price abound.

The conditions for gold haven't been this strong in a decade, and the investors that back the right exploration companies will reap the rewards.

Westhaven Gold Corp is unique, with a story that closely mirrors those of some of the most successful takeover gold companies in recent history.

But with a new drill program well underway and news coming soon, the clock is ticking.

For investors looking to get in on the ground floor on a world-class deposit, in a safe jurisdiction off a major highway in Canada, engaged in its largest exploration program ever, the time to get involved is NOW.

The next chapter of the Spences Bridge belt will be written between now and the end of Westhaven's 40,000-metre drill program. The only question is which investors will reap the rewards.

Westhaven Gold Corp (TSX-V: WHN)

Access Westhaven's Investor Package

For more information on the most exciting gold exploration story in the history of British Columbia, check out Westhaven's presentation here.

AND

View the company's investor breakdown below

VIEW INVESTOR INFORMATION

For more information on Westhaven Gold Corp contact:

Sean Thompson
Vice President, Corporate Development & IR
E: [email protected]
P: +1 (604) 336-6921

Take a look at the company's factsheet.

Or visit its website at www.westhavengold.com and review its annual information and public disclosure documents on www.sedar.com.

 


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