Dr. Paul West-Sells reports

WESTERN COPPER AND GOLD INTERSECTS 2.53% CUEQ OVER 65.8 M AND 1.01% CUEQ OVER 289.6 M AT CASINO

Western Copper and Gold Corp. has released assay results from the initial nine holes of the 2021 diamond drilling program at its wholly owned Casino project in Yukon, Canada. The program, developed with input from Rio Tinto, comprised a total of 6,074.97 metres in 22 holes.

Highlights:

• The importance of the core of the deposit to the overall resource at Casino (Deposit Core, see news release dated Feb. 2, 2021) was reinforced by long intercepts of above-resource grades in both the Leached Cap and Sulphide zones:
  • DDH21-02, -04 and -06 encountered over 200 metres of 0.86 per cent, 0.97 per cent and 0.81 per cent copper equivalent, respectively, in the Sulphide zone within the Deposit Core.
  • DDH21-02 and -04 intersected over 100 m of higher-grade Leached Cap in the Deposit Core with grades of 0.47 gram per tonne and 0.61 g/t gold, respectively.
• DDH21-07 and -09 intercepted above-resource grades in the Sulphide zone just east of the Deposit Core:
  • Hole DDH21-07 returned a 289.6 m intercept of 1.01 per cent CuEq from 36.6 m. This intercept confirmed the higher-grade nature of the upper zones of sulphide mineralization within previous holes and extended those higher-grade zones by approximately 100 m of true vertical depth.
  • DDH21-09 returned a 65.8 m intercept of 2.53 per cent CuEq from 10.6 m, one of the highest-grade intercepts drilled to date on the property.

Summary

The results from these nine drill holes essentially confirmed or, in some cases, improved upon historical drilling in the area. This confirmation, and in some cases an increase in grades and/or extension of higher-grade zones, is important achievements of these initial results.

At Casino, higher grades are hosted mostly by intrusive breccias and, in the Deposit Core, also by Patton porphyry intrusive rock. DDH21-07, -08 and -09, which were drilled east of the Deposit Core, indicate that higher grades also occur in the Dawson batholith proximal to the brecciated rocks.

"The results from the first holes drilled as part of the 2021 drilling campaign clearly outline the importance of the Deposit Core at Casino," said Paul West-Sells, president and chief executive officer. "Intercepted grades encountered in and around this area are some of the highest drilled to date on the property, and importantly occur at the top of the Sulphide zone in these areas, representing material that will be mined early on during operations."

                 INITIAL DRILL INTERCEPTS FROM 2021 DRILL PROGRAM
  
Hole            From       To    Width (2)        Cu       Au      Ag       Mo    CuEq (1)
                 (m)      (m)          (m)       (%)    (g/t)   (g/t)      (%)         (%)

DDH21-01         0.5     57.3         56.8      0.07     0.15    0.98    0.035        0.33
and             57.3    352.0        294.8      0.19     0.22    1.00    0.025        0.48
DDH21-02         5.2    109.9        104.7      0.01     0.47    3.92    0.010        0.46
and            109.9    350.2        240.3      0.28     0.44    2.69    0.050        0.86
DDH21-03         0.0    115.5        115.5      0.01     0.20    1.39    0.039        0.34
and            115.5    228.6        113.1      0.19     0.22    3.34    0.012        0.45
DDH21-04         3.0    115.9        112.9      0.05     0.61    3.67    0.020        0.65
and            115.9    350.5        234.6      0.36     0.53    4.20    0.037        0.97
DDH21-05         3.0     82.0         79.0      0.04     0.48    2.23    0.008        0.48
and             82.0    300.2        218.2      0.21     0.33    1.89    0.015        0.55
DDH21-06           0     39.6         39.6      0.11     0.19    0.77    0.007        0.30
and             39.6    324.6        285.0      0.29     0.48    2.20    0.028        0.81
DDH21-07        18.3     36.6         18.3      0.05     0.53    2.82    0.019        0.58
and             36.6    326.1        289.6      0.45     0.52    2.10    0.031        1.01
DDH21-08         1.5     18.6         17.0      0.06     0.12    1.02    0.004        0.18
and             18.6    256.0        237.5      0.18     0.23    1.24    0.005        0.39
DDH21-09         0.0     10.6         16.7      0.05     0.18    1.11    0.005        0.23
and             10.6    225.6        214.9      0.54     0.55    3.13    0.008        1.05
including       10.6     76.4         65.8      1.32     1.33    7.09    0.019        2.53
including       34.7     35.7          1.0      3.27     4.20  112.00    0.018        7.75

(1) CuEq metal prices: $2.75 (U.S.)/pound copper, $1,500 (U.S.)/oz gold, $11 (U.S.)/lb 
molybdenum, $18 (U.S.)/oz silver with no adjustment for metallurgical recovery.
(2) Widths are core length, not true width of mineralized intersection. 

Carl Schulze, PGeo, is the qualified person responsible for the execution of the Casino project exploration program and the preparation of the technical information in this news release.

Quality assurance/quality control including assurance of chain of custody has been implemented. Split core samples are prepared and analyzed by ALS. Prepared samples are initially run using a four-acid digestion process and conventional multielement ICP-AES (inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy) analysis. Additional assaying for total copper and molybdenum is run using a four-acid digestion AES or AAS (atomic absorption spectroscopy) method to a 0.001-per-cent detection limit. Gold assays are run using 30-gram sample fire assay with an AA (atomic absorption) finish to a 0.005-part-per-million detection limit, with samples greater than 10 ppm finished gravimetrically. The QA/QC procedure involves regular submission of certified analytical standards and property specific duplicates.

About Western Copper and Gold Corp.

Western Copper and Gold Corp. is developing the Casino project, Canada's premier copper-gold mine in Yukon and one of the most economic greenfields copper-gold mining projects in the world.

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