Western Ridge Resources Limited has commenced its maiden reverse circulation drilling program at the flagship Keystone Project in Northern Nevada, marking the first modern surface drilling campaign at the historic mine in more than 80 years.

The drilling program focuses directly on the historic Keystone Mine and its immediate surrounds, testing strike and depth extensions of the main lode and historic workings. Priority targets include areas where recent rock chip samples returned grades up to 941 g/t silver and 44.4 g/t gold. Prior project disclosures outlined an initial Exploration Target of 7.9 to 14.5 million ounces of silver for the mine, which previous operators worked between 1937 and 1943 to yield approximately 36,000 ounces of silver from roughly 1,500 tonnes before operations ceased.

“The first modern drilling program at Keystone is an important phase of the systematic exploration that we have been undertaking. Drilling will focus directly on the historic mine and its immediate surrounds, where the strongest geological evidence and several of our recent high-grade rock chip results are concentrated.”

— Dr Matthew Cobb, Managing Director

Western Ridge expanded its landholding at the project by approximately 500% earlier in the year by staking an additional 248 lode claims covering around 4,960 acres.

The company expects assay results for the current reverse circulation drilling program from ALS Laboratories in Reno in approximately three weeks. As this data becomes available, Western Ridge will incorporate it into the working model for the deposit to update preliminary planning for Phase 2 drilling and preparations for earthworks toward the end of 2026.

Read the full announcement: Maiden Drilling Commenced at Keystone