Westward Gold Inc. announced that, further to its press release dated February 15, 2023, diamond drilling is now underway at the Company's Toiyabe Project in Lander County, Nevada. The first hole of the 2023 field season represents the culmination of all the datasets available to Westward's Technical Team, including recent work completed by the Company such as extensive field mapping and a significant induced polarization survey. Based on 2022 work, the Company's Technical Team believes that the gold mineralization associated with the historical resource estimate at Toiyabe (~173 koz at 1.2 g Au/t) (the "Historical Estimate") remains open, down- dip to the north.

The newly-identified mineralized zone at dept remains open in all directions. Core hole T2301 is designed to: follow up and verify historical, near-surface gold assays (including 10.7m of 2.47 g Au/t from 7.6 to 18.3m, and 15.2m of 0.80 g Au/t from 22.9 to 38.1m) and geology in reverse-circulation drill hole T802; and test the SSD Zone target where a northeast-trending structure (the "Diamond Fault") and a syncline (the "Courtney Syncline") intersect at depth. During 2022, 1:5000 scale Anaconda-style mapping was completed at Toiyabe, led by Steven Koehler (a member of the Company's Technical Team and recipient of the 2005 Thayer Lindsley International Discovery Award for his contribution to the nearby Cortez Hills discovery).

The mapping identified two significant features that have a direct bearing on drill targeting, including the presence of northwest and northeast-striking dike-filled fault corridors, and compressional structures - folds and thrust faults in the favourable lower plate carbonate section. The northeast-trending corridor of igneous dikes is interpreted to run parallel to the Diamond Fault, which is associated with the Historical Estimate and has the potential to be a control on mineralization. Recent work by the Westward Technical Team has also identified the various units of the Devonian Wenban at Toiyabe.

Wenban 5, one of the key host rocks at the nearby Goldrush and Fourmile deposits, is also the host rock at the Historical Estimate, and has been interpreted to be structurally-thickened by thrusting. This unit dips to the northeast below the IP anomaly and will be tested for down-dip mineralization with T2301. T2301 is situated approximately 150 meters northeast of the intersection of the Roberts Mountains Thrust ("RMT") and the Diamond Fault; intersections of northeast and northwest structures are known to be strong mineralization controls in deposits along the Carlin and Battle Mountain-Eureka Gold Trends in Nevada.

In addition, T2301 will be the first hole at Toiyabe to test the observed gravity anomaly (which has been interpreted as folded rocks) to a meaningful depth. Proximity to the RMT also creates the potential for a favourable fluid trap, and the vertical nature of T2301 (vs. historical angled holes), will confirm the dip angle of the RMT and help inform future drill targeting.

The IP survey conducted by Westward also offers distinct targeting advantages, and valuable insight as to why previous campaigns were limited in their scope at depth. Historically, the IP anomaly was never drilled entirely through, likely due to the appearance of reduced, carbon-rich rock. This "pooled carbon" can lead to high- chargeability, low-resistivity anomalies, and is also a potential fluid trap.

In T802 - a relatively shallow historical hole collared nearby to T2301 - the IP anomaly began at ~65 meters depth, and continues for another ~115 meters below. Previous drilling in other areas has demonstrated 1) oxidation at surface associated with the high-grade zones of the Historical Estimate, followed by 2) a zone of reduced carbon-rich rock (where many holes ended), and then 3) another zone of oxidized rock (the SSD Zone). The available data suggests this deeper oxidized zone was missed in historical holes drilled in the area of T2301.