Dundee Corporation (TSX: DC.A) has announced the commencement of exploration activities at Westhaven Gold Corp's Spences Bridge Gold Belt properties in southern British Columbia. The program includes prospecting, geological mapping, and soil sampling surveys on priority targets at the Prospect Valley and Shovelnose properties, along with mobilization of a fifth drill rig to Shovelnose for a 15,000-metre exploration drilling program expected to start mid-month and continue through mid-December 2026.
2026 Exploration Program Details
The 2026 program combines potential resource growth through drilling and district-scale exploration with project derisking via resource infill drilling and advancement of Pre-Feasibility Studies (PFS). The ongoing 35,000-metre resource infill drilling program continues to confirm mineralization continuity within the South Zone deposit, including intersections of 9.8 metres grading 8.3 g/t gold and 11 g/t silver (hole SNR26-83) and 11.46 metres grading 4.59 g/t gold and 43 g/t silver (hole SNR26-92).
Strategic Earn-In Agreement
On February 23, 2026, Dundee completed a strategic earn-in agreement with Westhaven, under which Dundee may earn up to a 60% interest in Westhaven's four Spences Bridge Gold Belt properties through staged project expenditures of up to CDN$85 million. In the first phase, Dundee has committed a minimum of CDN$30 million, including a fully funded 50,000-metre drill program at Shovelnose, which is funding the activities outlined in this release and is expected to continue through the remainder of 2026.
Management Commentary
Jonathan Goodman, President and CEO of Dundee Corporation, commented: "We are excited to see exploration activity underway across the Spences Bridge Gold Belt. The combination of district-scale exploration and continued advancement of engineering studies and resource work provides multiple opportunities to unlock value while improving our understanding of the broader potential of these assets."
Spences Bridge Gold Belt Exploration Programs
In addition to ongoing PFS studies, targeted exploration work has commenced on both the Shovelnose gold property and the Prospect Valley gold property, located 30 kilometres northwest of Shovelnose. Prospecting, mapping, and more detailed sampling are underway at priority targets throughout the Shovelnose property ahead of potential drill testing later this season. This field work follows the successful completion of airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys in spring 2026 over the property's expanded landholdings, acquired by Westhaven in 2024. The geophysical surveys 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 gold and 96.2 g/t silver.
Prospect Valley Property Work
Field work 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 gold in rock samples and 1,795 ppb gold 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 southwest 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 gold, 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 gold.
