Mr. Ross McLellan reports

WESTERN GOLD ANNOUNCES $1.897 MILLION CLOSING OF NON-BROKERED PRIVATE PLACEMENT OF COMMON SHARES

Western Gold Exploration Ltd. has closed its previously announced non-brokered private placement of common shares for gross proceeds of $1,897,400.08. In connection with this closing of the private placement, 15,811,666 common shares of the company were issued at a price of 12 cents per share.

The securities issued in connection with the private placement are subject to a four-month hold period, in accordance with applicable securities laws.

The company intends to use these proceeds from the private placement on an exploration drilling program and all related work on its landholdings, including general and administrative expenses.

Subject to final review by the TSX Venture Exchange, the company has agreed to pay finders' fees or issue finders' warrants, as applicable, in respect of the aggregate sales to subscribers under the private placement that were introduced by certain parties, as follows: (i) to Canaccord Genuity Corp., a cash finder's fee of $4,680 and finders' warrants to acquire up to 39,000 common shares at a price of 20 cents per share for 12 months from the date of issuance; (ii) to Haywood Securities Inc., a cash finder's fee of $12,210 and finders' warrants to acquire up to 101,750 common shares at a price of 20 cents per share for 12 months from the date of issuance; (iii) to StephenAvenue Securities Inc., a cash finder's fee of $990 and finders' warrants to acquire up to 8,250 common shares at a price of 20 cents per share for 12 months from the date of issuance; and (iv) to Rupert Williams, a cash finder's fee of $96,858.

Related party disclosure

Under the private placement, Zila Corp., an insider of the company because of it holding more than 10 per cent of the issued and outstanding common shares, acquired two million common shares at an aggregate subscription price of $240,000. Its participation in the private placement constitutes a related party transaction, as defined in Multilateral Instrument 61-101 -- Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transaction, which has been adopted by the TSX-V pursuant to its Policy 5.9 -- Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transaction. These transactions are exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of such instrument and policy, pursuant to subsections 5.5(a), 5.5(b), 5.5(c), 5.7(a) and 5.7(b) of MI 61-101, as the fair market value was not more than 25 per cent of Western Gold's market capitalization, the distribution of securities was for cash and the fair market value was not more than $2.5-million.

The company did not file a material change report more than 21 days before the expected closing of the private placement because the details of the participation therein by related parties of the company were not settled until shortly prior to closing of such transactions and the company wished to close on an expedited basis for sound business reasons.

About Western Gold Exploration Ltd.

The company is focused on exploring mineral properties in Scotland, discovering new opportunities across the underexplored Caledonian Appalachian and identifying locations of gold and critical-metal deposits. The company's principal focus is its Lorne project, which includes the Lagalochan copper gold porphyry property, located in Argyll, Scotland, and the adjacent and nearby properties along the Lorne fault zone. Glasgow is the nearest city and lies 85 kilometres to the southeast of the Lagalochan property. On Nov. 29, 2022, the company filed a National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects-compliant, independent technical report on the Lagalochan property. The company expects to advance the Lagalochan property exploration work in accordance with the report recommendations. Additional exploration of the Lorne project may include geophysics testing, including a joint induced polarization/magnetic survey proposed to test the subsurface expression of mineralized bodies, identifying and prioritizing potential target areas, site preparation and drilling.

We seek Safe Harbor.