The results strengthened management's belief the company was dealing with a large, high-grade gold system, president and CEO Gareth Thomas said.

The latest results from the ongoing programme included 12.66m at 39.31g/t gold and 133.11g/t silver from 154.34m.

Thomas said the above-mentioned drill hole contained the "highest gram-metres (497.66g-m) intercept to date on Shovelnose".

Westhaven owns four properties in the Spences Bridge Gold Belt and began attracting attention in October when the company started finding visible gold in core at Shovelnose for the first time since starting drilling in 2011.

The company raised C$2.5 million (US$1.9 million) for exploration at Shovelnose last month through an arrangement structured by PearTree Securities at $1.1325 per flow-through share.

The explorer's shares had started 2018 about 14c and finished the year at $1.38, with its 980% share price increase, market capitalisation growth and trading volume putting it at the top of the 2019 TSX Venture 50 ranking.

Its shares jumped more than 20% or 19c yesterday to close at $1.12, capitalising it at $99.3 million.