Mr. Ken Armstrong reports

WESTHAVEN APPOINTS ANDERSON TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND GRANTS STOCK OPTIONS

Westhaven Gold Corp. has appointed Patrick F.N. Anderson to its board of directors as an independent director.

Eira Thomas, chairperson of Westhaven, commented: "We are very pleased to welcome Patrick Anderson to Westhaven's board. Patrick has an exceptional track record of discovery and development of world-class gold deposits, including the best-in-class Fruta del Norte epithermal gold and silver deposit. Patrick's strong technical background, together with his deep capital markets experience, will strengthen the board's ability to support Westhaven's management and technical teams as we pursue our revitalized exploration and growth strategy within British Columbia's Spences Bridge gold belt, including development of the Shovelnose epithermal gold deposits. Patrick has a long history of creating meaningful shareholder value, and we look forward to benefiting from his insight and leadership."

Mr. Anderson, newly appointed director of Westhaven, commented: "I'm excited to finally work with Westhaven's team of proven professionals, a group that I have known for my whole career. I'm excited to finally and for the first time have an opportunity to work in and contribute to my home province of British Columbia. Lastly, I'm very excited to be able to help the team push forward with more discoveries in this under explored epithermal camp. I love epithermal systems!"

Mr. Anderson is an entrepreneur and business executive with over 30 years of experience in the global mineral resource sector. He has held key roles across gold, base metals and diamond projects for junior explorers, major producers and consulting firms in North and South America and Europe. His board experience includes companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, Toronto Stock Exchange and LSE-AIM (London Stock Exchange-Alternative Investment Market) exchanges. Mr. Anderson is the founder, chief executive officer and a director of Dalradian Resources Inc., where he has led the discovery of over six million ounces of gold at the Curraghinalt deposit in Northern Ireland, resulting in a $537-million go-private transaction. He previously co-founded and was president and CEO of Aurelian Resources Inc., overseeing discovery of the 13.7-million-ounce Fruta del Norte epithermal gold-silver deposit in 2006 which was subsequently acquired for $1.2-billion and is now Lundin Gold's flagship asset. Mr. Anderson has been named Mining Man of the Year by The Northern Miner and received the PDAC's Thayer Lindsley award for an international mineral discovery. He recently served as lead independent director for Osisko Mining in its $2.2-billion acquisition by Gold Fields Ltd., and is currently CEO of Dalradian Resources (privately held) and chairman of Cornish Metals PLC.

Pursuant to the terms of the company's equity incentive plan approved by shareholders at the annual general meeting held June 24, 2025, the company has granted a total of 7,025,000 incentive stock options to directors, officers, employees and consultants of the company. The stock options are exercisable to acquire one common share of Westhaven at 25 cents per share and can be exercised until Feb. 4, 2031. The grant includes 2.9 million stock options allocated to directors; these stock options vest on the grant date. The stock options granted to officers, employees and consultants vest in thirds over 18 months from the grant date, becoming fully vested Aug. 4, 2027. Included in the grant are 200,000 incentive stock options to Grignan Holdings Ltd., doing business as Peterson Capital. These stock options have been granted as additional compensation pursuant to an investor relations services agreement between Peterson Capital and the company (as announced in a Westhaven news release dated Dec. 24, 2025). All grants are subject to regulatory approval.

The company's equity incentive plan allows for the issuance of up to 10 per cent of issued and outstanding share capital in the form of incentive stock options and other types of share-based compensation. Following this grant of stock options there are 22,405,000 stock options outstanding, representing 8.6 per cent of the company's issued and outstanding common shares. The common shares issuable in connection with an exercise of stock options will be subject to applicable resale restrictions in accordance with Canadian securities legislation and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Westhaven Gold Corp.

Westhaven is a gold-focused exploration and development company targeting low-sulphidation, high-grade, epithermal-style gold mineralization within the Spences Bridge gold belt in Southern British Columbia. Westhaven controls about 60,263 hectares within four gold properties spread along this underexplored belt.

The Shovelnose gold project is the most advanced property, with a recently updated 2025 preliminary economic assessment that validates the project's potential as a robust, low-cost and high-margin 11-year underground gold mining opportunity with average annual life-of-mine production of 56,000 ounces gold and 313,000 ounces silver with a $454-million after-tax net present value (at a 6-per-cent discount rate) and 43.2-per-cent IRR (internal rate of return) (base case parameters of $2,400 (U.S.) per ounce gold, $28 (U.S.) per ounce silver and Canadian dollar/United States dollar exchange rate of $1:72 U.S. cents).

Qualified person

The technical and scientific information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Robin Hopkins, PGeol (NT/NU), vice-president, exploration, for Westhaven and a qualified person for the company under the definitions established by National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

We seek Safe Harbor.