en.Wedoany.com Reported - Westward Gold Inc. announced on July 20 the Phase 1 drilling program at the El Segundo target within the Toiyabe Hills claim block in Lander County, Nevada, USA, planning approximately 6,000 meters of reverse circulation and core drilling at eight approved drill sites.
El Segundo is one of three targets in the company's 2026 exploration program, now ready for development after two years of data collection and interpretation, with no historical drilling ever conducted. The target is located approximately four kilometers south-southeast of the SSD target and three kilometers south of the Campfire target, situated in the footwall of the regional-scale north-trending Hilltop structural corridor. Westward controls 13 kilometers of strike length along this corridor, with Wenban Formation footwall carbonate host rocks exposed across most of the target area.
The company has received approval for eight drill platforms, with construction of the remaining eastern platform nearing completion. Planned drill holes aim to test vertical sections of the Wenban Formation and the underlying Roberts Mountains Formation, which the company identifies as the primary host strata in the Cortez district. Core drilling will primarily be used to cross-cut major structural zones and collect geological information, with final drill depths determined based on real-time analysis. Drilling activities target laterally disseminated Carlin-type gold mineralization in favorable sub-units of the Wenban Formation, as well as high-grade gold mineralization along dike margins and fracture corridors. Drill hole orientations and inclinations have been adjusted to intersect interpreted silicified alteration zones, including argillic alteration and jasperoid identified through controlled-source audio-frequency magnetotelluric surveys, as well as potential decalcified zones interpreted from residual gravity anomalies.
Surface work has identified large Carlin-type element anomalies, particularly arsenic. Soil anomalies align with anomalous values of up to 1.6 g/t gold and 589 ppm antimony in rock chip samples, with antimony values representing the highest reported for the claim block. Geophysical datasets supporting drilling include a 2024 gravity survey, a 2025 airborne magnetic survey, and a 2026 controlled-source audio-frequency magnetotelluric survey, which collectively identify decalcification in footwall carbonates as well as silicified and argillized alteration zones. 1:5,000 scale geological mapping has also identified features such as surface decalcification and silicification, and northeast-trending dike-filled fracture corridors.
Robert Edie, Vice President of Exploration for the company, stated that after two years of data collection and interpretation, the company fully expects new targets to emerge in the footwall of the Hilltop corridor, and the Phase 1 drilling is a continuation of this work. He added that drilling from footwall carbonates across multiple holes allows for more effective testing of the regional host strata, while also providing the opportunity to drill the first hole ever to cross the Hilltop corridor.
The Toiyabe Hills claim block consists of a continuous 84-square-kilometer land package, assembled from seven claim blocks over more than five years. The claim block is located near Nevada Gold Mines' Cortez, Cortez Hills, Pipeline, Goldrush, and Fourmile operations and deposits. Westward describes it as the third mineralized footwall dome structure in the Cortez district and the only area not controlled by a major mining company, noting that this footwall window belongs to the same regional structural, magmatic, and stratigraphic system as the adjacent mining complexes.
