Mr. Ken Armstrong reports

WESTHAVEN ANNOUNCES THE START OF EXPLORATION AT THE SPENCES BRIDGE GOLD BELT PROPERTIES, SOUTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA

Westhaven Gold Corp. has started exploration at its Spences Bridge gold belt properties in southern British Columbia, including prospecting, geological mapping and soil sampling surveys on priority target areas at the Prospect Valley and Shovelnose properties as well as mobilization of a fifth drill rig to the Shovelnose property in preparation for a 15,000-metre exploration drilling program expected to commence mid-month and continue through mid-December. With the start of exploration, the 2026 program is now combining potential resource growth through drilling and district-scale exploration with project derisking through resource infill drilling and advancement of prefeasibility studies (PFS). The continuing 35,000-metre resource infill drilling program continues to confirm the continuity of mineralization within the South Zone deposit, including intersections of 9.8 metres grading 8.3 grams per tonne gold and 11 grams per tonne silver (SNR26-83) and 11.46 metres grading 4.59 g/t Au and 43 g/t Ag (SNR26-92). This work is being financed under a strategic earn-in agreement with Dundee Corp., whereby Dundee may earn up to a 60-per-cent interest in Westhaven's four Spences Bridge gold belt properties through up to $85-million in staged project expenditures. Under the first phase, Dundee has committed a minimum of $30-million, inclusive of a fully financed 50,000-metre drill program and PFS work at Shovelnose.

Ken Armstrong, president and chief executive officer of Westhaven, commented: "With resource infill drilling over 50 per cent complete and PFS-related studies well under way at Shovelnose, we are pleased to have also started field exploration work at both the Shovelnose and Prospect Valley gold properties. Exploration is perhaps the most important component of our 2026 field programs with prospecting, mapping and soil sampling planned as well as 15,000 metres of exploration drilling focused on discovery of new gold-bearing epithermal mineralization at Shovelnose. The addition of a fifth drill will allow exploration drilling to start without impacting ongoing infill and technical drilling of the South Zone deposit. Three drills are currently focused on resource infill drilling, whereas the fourth drill completed a three-hole (1,200-metre) hydrogeological program in early June and is currently completing a four-hole (1,260-metre) geotechnical drill program. Exploration drilling will initially focus on testing targets located proximal to the northwest-trending structure hosting mineralization associated with the South Zone, FMN and Franz gold deposits."

Spences Bridge gold belt 2026 exploration programs

In addition to the continuing PFS (prefeasibility study), targeted exploration work has commenced on both the Shovelnose gold property and the Prospect Valley gold property, located 30 kilometres to the northwest of Shovelnose.

Prospecting, mapping and more detailed sampling are under way at priority targets located throughout the Shovelnose property, ahead of potential drill testing later this season. This fieldwork follows on the successful completion of airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys (spring 2026) over the property's expanded landholdings (acquired in 2024). The geophysical surveys were intended to support reconnaissance-scale sampling undertaken by Westhaven in 2025, which identified spatially restricted areas with geological and geochemical similarities to known high-grade gold-silver deposits elsewhere on the property. One area of particular focus is located approximately 15 kilometres southeast of the South Zone deposit, where silicified and clay-altered volcanic rocks were identified in 2025 with float, subcrop and outcrop rock grab samples returning from background levels up to 2.45 g/t Au (96.2 g/t Ag). Please see Westhaven's news release dated Jan. 26, 2026.

Fieldwork has also started at the Prospect Valley property, which hosts low-sulphidation epithermal systems associated with the Discovery North, Discovery South, Dog Leg, NEZ and NIC occurrences, identified by previous, locally focused drill programs. During 2024 and 2025, Westhaven collected 389 rock samples and 121 stream sediment samples from underexplored areas of the 10,927-hectare property, returning from background levels up to 2.76 g/t Au in rock samples and 1,795 parts per billion Au from a stream silt. Westhaven's sampling also reconfirmed the presence of anomalous unsourced quartz breccia float samples from the Bonanza Valley area in the southwestern corner of the property. Historic gold values returned from numerous float clasts in this area are higher than any encountered in drilling elsewhere on the property (up to 43.34 g/t Au), and the bedrock source has yet to be located. Maximum gold values in new quartz float samples collected by Westhaven are up to 3.20 g/t Au.

Initial work completed so far in 2026 includes collection of over 75 soil samples from the Bonanza Valley area to better constrain possible source locations of these compelling float samples. Recent logging activities have also opened up new roads and areas of bedrock exposure that will be evaluated this field season.

South Zone mineral resource infill drilling

Assay results from the continuing 35,000-metre resource infill drilling program at the South Zone deposit continue to show excellent continuity of mineralization in each of vein zones 1, 2 and 3. Results have been received from an additional 15 infill drill holes (Table 1), mainly testing narrower Vein Zone 2 and Vein Zone 3 mineralization in the northern part of the deposit. The resource drilling program has been designed to infill the deposit at nominal 25-metre centres, with results to be included in an updated mineral resource estimate to support a PFS targeting completion in the second half of 2027. To date, 61 drill holes (18,925 metres) have been completed, representing approximately 54 per cent of the planned program metreage.

Selected assay highlights include:

• SNR26-79: 4.28 m grading 10.26 g/t Au and 57 g/t Ag from 115.50 m downhole;
• SNR26-83: 6.81 m grading 7.72 g/t Au and 32 g/t Ag from 149.41 m downhole and 9.85 m grading 8.30 g/t and 11 g/t Ag from 301.65 m downhole;
• SNR26-87: 8.22 m grading 4.77 g/t Au and 61 g/t Ag from 115.78 m downhole;
• SNR26-88: 7.04 m grading 2.92 g/t Au and 141 g/t Ag from 125.00 m downhole;
• SNR26-92: 11.46 m grading 4.59 g/t Au and 43 g/t Ag from 160.54 m downhole and 4.86 m grading 9.95 g/t Au and 86 g/t Ag from 305.15 m downhole;
• SNR26-95: 6.98 m grading 6.48 g/t Au and 37 g/t Ag from 262.02 m downhole.

Assay intervals noted above represent downhole intersections, not true widths. True widths can be estimated at approximately 70 to 80 per cent of the reported intervals. Table 1 shows assay results, including drill hole locations and orientations.

Sampling, laboratory analyses and quality assurance/quality control

Most core samples consist of halved drill core cut by manual sawing using industry-standard core saws. In rare cases and where required by physical core conditions, manual splitting may be used. Half of the core is retained in the original core box for reference samples and any required future work, including QA/QC. Core samples, controlled by a unique bar-coded reference number, are delivered to ALS's Kamloops facility and prepared using the PREP-31 package. Each core sample is crushed to better than 70 per cent passing a two-millimetre (Tyler 9 mesh, U.S. standard No. 10) screen. A split of 250 grams is taken and pulverized to better than 85 per cent passing a 75-micron (Tyler 200 mesh, U.S. standard No. 200) screen.

Further analytical and assay procedures are conducted in ALS's North Vancouver facility. A 0.75-gram subsample of the pulverized split is subjected to four-acid digestion and analyzed through ICP-MS (method code ME-MS61m (plus mercury)), which reports a suite of 49 elements.

All samples are also analyzed for gold by fire assay with an AES finish, method code Au-ICP21 (30-gram sample size) or Au-ICP22 (50-gram sample size). Samples returning gold values over 10 parts per million are subjected to overlimit check assays using fire assay and a gravimetric finish (method code Au-GRA21 and a 30-gram sample size or Au-GRAV22 and a 50-gram sample size). The switch to 50-gram aliquots applies to 2026 resource infill drill holes starting at, and including, SNR26-98. Other overlimit elements may also be subjected to ore-grade analyses, which vary depending on the element of interest.

ALS's facilities are accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard for gold assays, and all analytical methods include quality control materials at set frequencies with established data acceptance criteria.

QA/QC incorporates the laboratory's internal quality assurance controls as well as Westhaven's field controls, including the insertion of quarter-core duplicates, certified reference materials and blanks, each at a rate of roughly one per 20 to 25 core samples.

Additional blanks are inserted following samples with visible gold or significant concentrations of ginguro (fine-grained bands of dark gray to black sulphides). QA/QC data are evaluated on receipt for failures, and appropriate action is taken if results for duplicates, standards and blanks fall outside allowed tolerances. Westhaven's continuing QA/QC programs are consistent with industry best practices and include auditing of all exploration data. Any significant changes will be reported when available.

About Westhaven Gold Corp.

Westhaven is a gold-and-silver-focused exploration and development company targeting low-sulphidation, high-grade, epithermal-style gold and silver mineralization within the Spences Bridge gold belt in Southern British Columbia. Westhaven controls approximately 60,263 hectares within four properties spread along this underexplored belt.

The Shovelnose gold and silver project is the most advanced property, with a 2025 updated preliminary economic assessment that validates the project's potential as a robust, low-cost and high-margin 11-year underground gold mining opportunity with average annual life-of-mine production of 56,000 ounces gold and 313,000 ounces silver with a $454-million (Canadian) after-tax net present value (at a 6-per-cent discount rate) and 43.2-per-cent internal rate of return (base-case parameters of $2,400 (U.S.) per ounce gold, $28 (U.S.) per ounce silver and Canadian-dollar/U.S.-dollar exchange rate of $1 (Canadian equal to 72 U.S. cents).

On Feb. 23, 2026, Westhaven closed a strategic earn-in agreement with Dundee Corp., whereby Dundee may earn up to a 60-per-cent interest in Westhaven's four Spences Bridge gold belt properties through up to $85-million (Canadian) in staged project expenditures. Under the first phase, Dundee has committed a minimum of $30-million (Canadian), inclusive of a fully financed 50,000-metre drill program and prefeasibility work at Shovelnose. The agreement allows for the accelerated exploration and evaluation of one of Canada's most compelling, undeveloped, high-margin gold and silver assets.

Qualified person

The technical and scientific information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Robin Hopkins, PGeol (Northwest Territories/Nunavut), vice-president, exploration, for Westhaven and a qualified person for the company under the definitions established by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

We seek Safe Harbor.