Westward Gold Details 2026 Exploration Plans at SSD Target
Vancouver, British Columbia — April 27, 2026 — Leads & Copy — Westward Gold Inc. is proceeding with 2026 exploration plans at the SSD Target, one of three zones slated for drilling at the company’s Toiyabe Hills Property in Lander County, Nevada.
The company plans reverse-circulation and core drilling at the SSD Target. Field activities are underway, including sampling programs across newly-staked ground, surface geological and alteration mapping, and expanded geophysical surveys. Drilling is expected to commence in early June, preceded by trenching, road, and pad construction in May.
The SSD was identified through an investigation of legacy drill hole data. It is a zone of gold mineralization that lies beneath the Courtney Zone, an area of shallow gold mineralization that was the focus of historical drilling. Westward expanded upon SSD with drilling in 2022 and 2023, and has since completed large-scale systematic programs including surface mapping, relogging of drill holes, soil and rock-chip sampling, gravity and magnetic surveys.
The SSD target zone is proximal to the recently-identified Threemile Stock, a deep-seated intrusive center interpreted from magnetic data, dike swarms, and mapped/logged thermal alteration. SSD earthwork is permitted under the company’s existing Exploration Plan of Operations with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
Westward’s Lead Technical Advisor Steven Koehler said that the Westward Technical Team began to recognize a potential target opportunity beneath the Courtney Zone in 2022. That potential has been refined through the integration of surface mapping, detailed re-logging of RC and core holes, gravity and magnetic surveys, and historical geochemical sampling.
According to Koehler, combining exploration techniques with experienced eyes on the rocks led to the confirmation of a geological setting known as the SSD Zone. It is characterized by crosscutting high-angle faults, a blind thrust fault, multiple pulses of igneous intrusion within a northeast-striking fault corridor, deeper oxidation, and a hydrothermal system that creates higher gold grades in select outcrop and drill samples.
Gold mineralization is associated with quartz porphyry dikes, shearing, decalcification, and silicification. These features are reminiscent of pre-discovery geological patterns documented at several gold deposits on the Cortez and Carlin Trends. Koehler said that SSD is a compelling, Carlin-type gold target, and that he is eager to begin the discovery-oriented trenching and drilling activities at SSD.
The target area is roughly 1.6 km long by 0.8 km wide, along a northeast-striking dike-filled fault corridor cut by west-northwest-striking faults, including the Roberts Mountains Thrust. SSD gold mineralization is hosted in the lower-plate Wenban Formation, exposed at surface across much of the area. Alteration and structural characteristics include decalcification, silicification, oxidation to depths exceeding 600 metres, dolomitization, association with quartz porphyry and lamprophyre dikes, and a blind thrust fault.
Significant gold intervals reported in historical SSD drilling ranged from 9.1 to 50.3 metres thick at depths of 255 to 570 metres, with intervals grading between 0.34 and 3.03 g Au/t and sub-interval grades of up to 17.0 g Au/t. Mineralization remains open in all directions, particularly to the northeast and northwest, which will be a focus for 2026 trench sampling, surface mapping, and drilling.
SSD and the Courtney Zone represent the only areas of the property where the following observations have been made: an abundance of quartz porphyry dikes that host strong silica alteration; altered quartz porphyry dikes and lamprophyre dikes close to one another, with near-surface gold grades of up to 21.8 g Au/t in drilling samples; upper-plate siliciclastic rocks structurally-emplaced within lower-plate carbonate rocks along a blind thrust / duplex; and silicification as either carbonate replacement or as quartz veins, with a strong correlation between gold mineralization and silica.
In the months leading up to 2026 drilling, the company has undertaken an extensive re-logging campaign of available legacy core and RC chips across SSD and the Courtney Zone, led by Steven Koehler. To date, 3,273 metres of core and 4,116 metres of RC chips have been re-logged, and the program remains ongoing.
There is clear evidence of a hydrothermal system at depth that is expressed up-dip in high-grade gold samples in surface rocks and shallow historical drilling. In T722, in the limonitic interval from surface to 30 feet (9.1 m), clay-altered lathy lamprophyre grading up to 21.8 g Au/t (from 5-10 ft), hosted in the northeast-striking, dike-filled Diamond Fault. 750 m to the northeast, a rock-chip sample contained 16.4 g Au/t, pointing to the scale and strength of the underlying system.
Three distinct types of igneous rocks were identified, including: quartz porphyry; diorite; and lamprophyre. Elevated gold concentrations occur with silicification, or in close proximity to igneous rocks. In upper-plate siliciclastic rocks, higher grades are associated with quartz stringers / stockworks. In lower-plate carbonate rocks (Wenban Formation), higher grades are associated with decalcification, silicification, and/or quartz stringers / stockworks.
Dolomitic alteration is an important characteristic of the hydrothermal system and occurs as a broader halo above gold mineralization. The blind thrust, deep oxidation, and gold occurrences at SSD are confirmed features with compressional fabrics evident in multiple RC and core holes across a distance of approximately 600 m along the mapped northeast strike.
SSD will be tested with RC and core drilling across approximately 8-12 holes / 4,500-9,000 metres, with a focus on high-grade gold along dike margins, thrust and / or duplex-controlled gold, and Carlin-type laterally-disseminated gold in lower-plate rocks of the Wenban Formation.
A 468-metre trenching program will be completed in the coming weeks to sample and map structures, contributing to the final determination of collar locations and dips / azimuths. High-grade structures will be projected down-section based on mapped dips and strikes. Drills will be aimed to intersect these structures within carbonate host rocks.
All three 2026 target areas are permitted for drilling. At SSD, drilling and trenching falls under the existing EPO, which allows for up to 100 acres of disturbance. At Campfire, the company will be operating under its 2025 Notice of Intent with the BLM. At El Segundo, the company recently received approval for a new NOI and has posted the required bond with the BLM.
Details related to 2026 drilling plans at the other two target areas (Campfire and El Segundo) will be provided in subsequent press releases.
Source: Westward Gold
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