Western Copper and Gold Corporation (TSX: WRN) (NYSE American: WRN) announces the launching of a metallurgical testing program for its wholly-owned Casino Copper-Gold Project. Fifteen composite samples were prepared from core acquired in 2023. Western’s Technical and Sustainability Committee, comprised of members from Western, Rio Tinto Canada Inc. and Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, prepared the Drill and Metallurgical Programs.

Drill Program

The 2023 Drill Program consisted of seven holes for 2,244 m ranging from 130 m to 556 m in length. The drill holes were located inside the current pit boundaries and were selected to provide a range of grades, host rocks, and mineralogy for the Metallurgical Program (see Figure 1). The drill holes were also selected to convert indicated resource to measured.

The drill results continue to show the importance of the Core Zone wherein relatively higher grades are encountered as shown by DDH23-05, which intersected 158.5 m of supergene mineralization, in part oxidized, with 0.82% CuEq¹. Furthermore, DDH23-04, which is approximately one kilometre west of the Core Zone, and DDH23-06, which is at the northwest edge of the Core Zone, intercepted 86.0 m of 0.56% CuEq¹ and 174.0 m of 0.52% CuEq¹, respectively, in the supergene zone. Table 1 includes all results from the Drill Program.

Metallurgical Program

The fifteen composite samples represent supergene and hypogene mineralization at various grades and will be subjected to comminution and flotation tests to produce a definitive concentrate from each composite. The results from this testing will be used to develop a more detailed geometallurgical model of the deposit. The test program is being carried out at ALS Metallurgy, based in Kamloops, BC, and is being supervised by Western, Rio Tinto Canada Inc., and Mitsubishi Materials Corporation personnel.

Table 1: 2023 drill program results

Qualified Persons

The geological information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosures for Minerals Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators and supervised, reviewed, and verified by Bill Williams, CPG and Interim Chair of Western, who is a “Qualified Person” as defined by NI 43-101.

QA/QC protocol for DDH22-01, including assurance of chain of custody, has been implemented. Core samples are evenly cut by rock saw, then prepared and analyzed by ALS Geochemistry. Prepared samples are initially run using a four-acid digestion process and conventional multi-element ICP-AES analysis. Additional assaying for total copper and molybdenum is run using a four-acid digestion – AES or AAS method to a 0.001% detection limit. Gold assays are run using 30-gram samples by fire assay with an AA finish to a 0.005 ppm detection limit, with samples greater than 10 ppm finished gravimetrically. The QA/QC procedure involves regular submission of Certified Analytical Standards and property-specific duplicates.  Check samples are also included and are sent to a secondary lab to test the primary labs’ methods/procedures.

ABOUT WESTERN COPPER AND GOLD CORPORATION

Western Copper and Gold Corporation is developing the Casino Project, Canada’s premier copper-gold mine in the Yukon Territory and one of the most economic greenfield copper-gold mining projects in the world.

The Company is committed to working collaboratively with our First Nations and local communities to progress the Casino project, using internationally recognized responsible mining technologies and practices.

Figure 1: Drill hole map showing 2023 drilling (NAD83 / UTM Zone 7N). (CNW Group/Western Copper and Gold Corporation)