Western Exploration/WEX

Western Exploration Inc. has announced results from its National Instrument 43-101-compliant preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its flagship Doby George resource at its Aura gold-silver project in Nevada.

The company said the PEA features a base case after-tax NPV of US$70.7 million and an IRR of 25.4% using a gold price of US$2,150 per ounce, increasing to US$211.2 million with a 62.2% IRR utilizing a US$3,000 per ounce gold price.

"In 2022, Western Exploration outlined a plan to take the Doby George project to a PFS study," President and Chief Executive Officer Darcy Marud said. "With the completion of the PEA, we have achieved another milestone towards that goal. The PEA demonstrates Doby George to be a low-capex, potentially profitable development project with a rapid payback, all using conservative gold price expectations."

Using a US$3,000 gold price, it has a total Life-of-Mine (LOM) after-tax net cash flow of US$271.2 million over a five-year project life, with an average annual operating cash flow of US$112.1 million and a less than 18-month payback period.

LOM all-in sustaining cost is US$1,197 per ounce using a US$3,000 gold price and US$1,152 per ounce at the base case with US$2,150 per ounce gold.

Also, Western Exploration noted an LOM average grade of 1.01 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) creating potential for significant profit margins.

Estimated pre-production capital costs are US$115.2 million, excluding upfront working capital of US$12.4 million, which is credited back to the operation on year five.

"The focus of the current PEA was to demonstrate the viability of Doby George, while outlining a project scope that maximizes the return on investment for our stakeholders," Marud said. "We focused on maximizing value by preserving grade, bringing ounces forward, minimizing capital outlay and identifying future opportunities to further enhance the project. Those opportunities include, an exploration plan looking to expand the resource at Doby George, the feasibility of oxide resources at Wood Gulch and improvements to recovery through additional test work."

Kappes, Cassiday & Associates was lead independent consultant on the PEA, supported by RESPEC Company LLC on mineral resource estimation, mine planning and production scheduling, in accordance with NI 43-101, the company said. WEX plans to file the technical report for the PEA on SEDAR+ within 45 days.

Project is a High-Potential Asset

Headquartered in Reno, Nev., Western Exploration owns a high-potential asset (a 6,000-hectare land package) containing a promising project in a premier mining jurisdiction, described Fundamental Research Corp. (FRC) Analyst Sid Rajeev in a research report.

The project is Aura, consisting of three sediment-hosted, Carlin-type gold deposits, each with its own NI 43-101-compliant resource: Gravel Creek, Wood Gulch, and Doby George. Together, the trio hosts 1,320,000 ounces (1.32 Moz) of Au eq, Indicated and Inferred.

Aura is about 120 km north of the city of Elko in mining-friendly Nevada, the top gold-producing and second-highest silver-producing state in the U.S. in 2024, according to Investing News Network. Adequate infrastructure, including road access, water, and power, are nearby.

Western's strategy, outlined on its website, is to make grassroots discoveries and evolve them into world-class gold mining operations. This is what the management team is working toward at Aura, now specifically with its back-to-back exploration programs.

Collectively, the professionals leading the charge at Western are well-experienced, the company said. President and CEO Marud himself, for example, most recently worked for 10 years as an executive at Yamana Gold and previously held positions at Homestake Mining Co., FMC Gold Co., and Meridian Gold (MNG:TSX.V). He has been involved in the discovery and development of notable precious metal deposits, including El Penon in Chile, Mercedes in Mexico, and Pilar and Corpo Sul (Chapada) in Brazil.

Western Exploration holds a spot as one of FRC's Top Picks among the precious metals companies in its coverage universe, according to Rajeev. He purported recently that WEX is becoming a strong acquisition target. On the stock, the analyst has a Buy rating and a fair value estimate implying a 207% potential return. 

Co.'s Resources in 'Prime Territory'

Western Exploration has the attention of several experts. *Technical Analyst Clive Maund in February noted that the stock "has been fluctuating within a large trading range since the spring of last year, with two sizable uptrends followed by two equally sizable downtrends."

"The last of these brought the price down from a peak last October, and since we last looked at it in January, this downtrend has morphed into a bullish Falling Wedge that has brought the price down to the zone of strong support and as it is now closing up it promises a reversal to the upside soon," Maund continued.

He noted a buildup in volume from the middle of last year is bullish and denotes a "significant rotation of stock from weaker to stronger hands, with the new buyers less inclined to sell until they have turned a profit."

He rated the stock an Immediate Strong Buy with the first target for advance at CA$1.45-CA$1.50.

Brien Lundin, editor/publisher of Gold Newsletter, is positive on the company and its prospects, he wrote on Jan. 30, and rated it Buy. He pointed out that the company's resources are in "prime territory in Nevada." In a December 2025 newsletter edition, he commented: "I think Western Exploration makes for a compelling bet on rising gold prices and exploration success in 2025."

The Gold Advisor's Jeff Clark told Streetwise Reports he liked Western Exploration, in large part, because its global resource at Aura could be expanded to 2 million ounces (Moz), based on recent drill results. Other company highlights he wrote included Geologist Mark Hawksworth managing and overseeing exploration at Aura, given his experience and success in making discoveries. Also of note, Clark wrote, is Western's strategic investors: Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM:TSX; AEM:NYSE) and Golkonda LLC.

Western Exploration holds a spot as one of FRC's Top Picks among the precious metals companies in its coverage universe, according to its analyst, Rajeev. He purported recently that WEX is becoming a strong acquisition target. On the stock, the analyst has a Buy rating and a fair value estimate implying a 207% potential return. 

What's more, WEX made the 2025 OTCQX Best 50, a ranking of top-performing companies on the OTCQX Best Market based on 2024 total return and average daily dollar volume growth.

The Catalyst: A Good Time for Gold

The gold market continued to bounce off its lows and pushed back to within striking distance of US$3,400, as the Federal Reserve maintained its neutral monetary policy stance, giving no clear signal regarding the next potential rate cut, Neils Christensen reported for Kitco News on May 7.

As expected, the Federal Reserve left the federal funds rate unchanged on Wednesday. At the same time, the central bank provided little forward guidance and downplayed the contraction in U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the first quarter.

"Although swings in net exports have affected the data, recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace. The unemployment rate has stabilized at a low level in recent months, and labor market conditions remain solid. Inflation remains somewhat elevated," the central bank said in its monetary policy statement, according to Christensen.

Some experts are predicting gold will go higher. Garth Friesen wrote for Forbes on March 15 that DoubleLine Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Gundlach said, "I think gold will make it to US$4,000. I'm not sure that'll happen this year, but I feel like that's the measured move anticipated by the long consolidation at around US$1,800 on gold."

And according to an April 10 post on Goldfix, Goldman Sachs has revised raised the upper boundary of its forecast range for the end of the year to US$3,520 an ounce and even introduced a "tall-risk scenario" as high as US$4,500 an ounce.

Ownership and Share Structure

According to Refinitiv, strategic entities own about 64% of Western Exploration. These include the Top 2 shareholders overall, Golkonda with 44% and Agnico Eagle with 14%. Insiders and management hold about 3%.

Institutional investors, Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC, Auramet Capital Partners, TXAU Ventures and U.S. Global Investors Inc., own about 12%. The rest is in retail.

The precious metals explorer has 45.43 million outstanding shares and 17.85M free-float traded shares. Its market cap is CA$33.77million. Its 52-week range is CA$0.62−1.49 per share.