VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Headwater Gold Inc. (CSE: HWG) (OTCQX: HWAUF) announced that Centerra Gold Inc. (TSX: CG) has commenced a drilling program at the Crane Creek Project in western Idaho. The program, operated and fully funded by Centerra, represents the first drilling at the project since the 1990s and the initial phase under the earn-in agreement announced on December 3, 2025.
Drilling Program Details
Approximately 3,000 metres of reverse circulation (RC) and core drilling is underway, comprising up to 15 RC holes and five diamond core holes. The program targets multiple areas identified through integration of historical drilling, surface sampling, geologic mapping, and recent geophysical surveys. Planned exploration expenditures for 2026 are approximately US$1.7 million, contributing to Centerra’s US$2.5 million minimum commitment under the earn-in agreement.
Historical Gold Mineralization and New Targets
Drilling is designed to follow up on shallow historical gold mineralization, test below outcropping gold-bearing veins, and step out along strike from known mineralized zones. Historical drilling at Crane Creek includes intercepts such as 62.5 metres grading 1.21 g/t gold, including 8.14 g/t gold over 3.0 metres in hole 96-243. The program follows Headwater’s recent geological and geophysical work, which expanded the target footprint beyond the area of historic drilling and defined multiple new structural targets.
CEO Statement
Caleb Stroup, President and CEO of Headwater, stated: “We are very pleased to see Centerra drilling this high-priority project. This program represents the first major test of the Project under our earn-in partnership and is expected to account for approximately US$1.7 million of partner-funded exploration toward Centerra’s US$2.5 million minimum commitment. Prior explorers identified gold mineralization at Crane Creek, including localized high-grade epithermal vein intercepts, but historical drilling was shallow and potential deeper epithermal vein targets were largely untested. The current program is designed to follow up shallow mineralization identified with historical drilling, test below known vein-controlled mineralization, and step out along strike and between zones. This is exactly the kind of partnership we seek at Headwater: meaningful discovery exposure for shareholders, funded by a technically strong partner, while preserving capital for continued generative exploration.”
Project Location and Significance
The Crane Creek Project is located in western Idaho within the Crane Creek Graben, a major extensional fault system that hosts the Nutmeg Mountain epithermal gold deposit, approximately 40 kilometres south of the recently discovered copper porphyry belt centered on the Hercules project. The current program represents a significant step in testing the underexplored epithermal system at Crane Creek.
