(TheNewswire)
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Vancouver, Canada - 26th August, 2026 – TheNewswire - Western Star Resources Inc. (CSE: WSR) (OTC: WSRIF) (FRA: 4K2) (the “Company” or “Western Star”) is pleased to announce the results of a district-scale three-dimensional geophysical inversion across its Rowland and White Star tungsten properties in Elko County, Nevada, USA. The modelling has defined buried and partially exposed intrusive bodies across the district and has refined the fault network that is interpreted to be involved in channelling mineralising fluid into the tungsten skarn system. Importantly, the Company’s highest-grade rock chips, 4.02% WO₃ at Rowland and 3.00% WO₃ at White Star (July 28, 2026) both correspond spatially with the contact between these modelled intrusive rocks and the carbonate host. The modelled intrusive framework extends well beyond the limits of the mapped outcrop, opening substantial new search space across both properties.
Blake Morgan, the CEO and President of Western Star, stated “This is the result we were hoping for. The inversion has modelled intrusive bodies spatially associated with areas where we sampled high grade tungsten values, and it has mapped the faults that we believe carried the fluid there. That is the tungsten skarn recipe, and we can now see it in three dimensions across the whole district. Better still, the modelled intrusives are more extensive than has been previously mapped, which means the ground that has produced our best rock chips continues into untested areas. Soil geochemistry from Phase 2 is due back shortly and we can use these in our drill hole planning.”
Key Highlights:
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A district-scale three-dimensional magnetic inversion has been completed across the Rowland and White Star properties by Warren Hughes, P.Geo., of East Coast Consulting, a specialist in geophysical modelling and interpretation.
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The modelling defines buried and partially exposed intrusive bodies across the district. A causative intrusion is the essential ingredient of a tungsten skarn system, and the modelled intrusive framework extends well beyond the mapped outcrop.
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The Company’s highest-grade rock chips, 4.02% WO₃ at Rowland and 3.00% WO₃ at White Star, both are associated with the contact between modelled intrusive rock and carbonate host rocks, and adjacent to interpreted structures.
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Approximately 25 kilometres of structure has been interpreted in two dominant orientations, north-east–south-west and north-west–south-east. These are interpreted as the fluid conduits that fed the skarn, and represent the first structural framework mapped at property scale in this district.
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The modelled magnetic domains correspond closely with the units mapped by Coats (1964). The inversion adds depth and continuity to that mapping and will be used to refine the geological model in the next phase of work.
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The inversion resolves geology beneath the extensive Quaternary cover on the eastern flank of the district, providing an exploration vector into ground that cannot be mapped or sampled at surface.
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Soil geochemistry from the Phase 2 programme is expected shortly and will be integrated with the inversion model, the structural framework and the geological mapping to define and rank drill targets.
The updated geological & structural framework for the consolidated district
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Figure 1: Three-dimensional magnetic susceptibility block model of the district (MAG3D inversion, 25 m cells. Claim boundaries and rock-chip samples grading ≥2% WO₃ are shown. Grid UTM NAD83 Zone 11N
The Tungsten Skarn Model
Tungsten skarns form where a granitic intrusion is emplaced into a carbonate sequence. As the intrusion cools it expels metal-bearing hydrothermal fluid, which reacts with the surrounding limestone to produce the garnet-rich calc-silicate rock known as skarn or tactite, and it is within that skarn that scheelite, the principal tungsten mineral, is deposited. Three elements must therefore be present together: an intrusion to drive the system, reactive carbonate rock to host the replacement, and structures to focus the fluid where it can do its work.
The deposit model set out in the U.S. Geological Survey assessment of tungsten skarn resources across the Great Basin (Lederer and others, 2021) shows this arrangement clearly. Skarn develops both at depth along the flanks of the intrusion and at shallower levels where fluid has migrated out along faults and permeable horizons. Fault-channelled fluid is central to the model: it determines where the highest-grade skarn is developed.
Figure 2: Schematic cross-section of a tungsten skarn system, reproduced from Lederer and others (2021). Skarn develops where fluid expelled from a granitic pluton reacts with carbonate rocks; fault-channelled fluid generates skarn both at depth along the intrusive contact and at shallower levels
Both of the Company’s properties sit squarely within this model. Coats (1964) mapped a quartz monzonite intrusion, a Palaeozoic carbonate sequence and the skarn (tactite) developed at the contact between them, and the Company’s own field observations recognised this in the field where the high grade samples have been collected from.
High-Grade Sampling on the Modelled Intrusive Contact
The most important outcome of the inversion is the relationship it reveals between the modelled intrusive rocks and the Company’s existing rock-chip results. At Rowland, the sample that returned 4.02% WO₃ sits directly on the mapped tactite where it abuts the modelled intrusive body. At White Star, the sample that returned 3.00% WO₃ occupies the same position on the same contact on a separate instructive body. Both are within, or immediately adjacent to, interpreted structural corridors.
The modelled intrusive extends considerably beyond the mapped outcrop, so that search space is now materially larger than the mapped geology alone would suggest.
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Figure 3: Magnetic susceptibility depth slice at 2,229 m ASL (shallow). Modelled intrusive outlines (0.01 / 0.015 / 0.02 SI), magnetic lineaments, claim boundaries and rock-chip assays
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Figure 4: Depth slice at 2,079 m ASL (medium)
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Figure 5: Depth slice at 1,730 m ASL (deep). High-susceptibility bodies interpreted as the upper levels of buried intrusive phases
Refining the Geological Model
The geological mapping of Coats (1964), published as U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1141-M, was detailed work and remains the authoritative geological base map for the district. The magnetic domains defined by the inversion correspond closely with the units Coats mapped, which gives the Company confidence in both datasets.
What the inversion adds is the third dimension and continuity beneath cover. It shows how far the intrusive rocks extend at depth, where the intrusive–carbonate contact runs beneath the Quaternary landslide, moraine and outwash deposits that blanket much of the eastern flank of the district, and how the structural network cuts through both. The Company intends to use this to refine the mapped geology directly, through targeted field mapping in the next phase of work.
Next Steps
Soil geochemical results from the Company’s Phase 2 programme are expected shortly. These will be integrated with the three-dimensional inversion model, the interpreted structural framework and the geological mapping to build a single targeting model for the district. Follow-up field mapping and sampling will be undertaken to refine the geological model, and the resulting targets will be ranked to support the drill programme and the permitting process now underway.
First Milestone Achieved
Western Star is also pleased to announce that it has satisfied the first performance milestone under the option agreement for the Rowland tungsten project (see news release dated November 5, 2025). Under the agreement with NorthEx Capital Partners Inc. and 1249445 BC Ltd., Milestone One required the Company to (i) increase the total project claim area by at least 30%, and (ii) identify at least three rock-chip samples grading above 2.0% WO₃.
Both conditions have been met well beyond the required thresholds. As previously announced (see news release dated April 9, 2026), the Company expanded the Rowland claim package from the original ten unpatented claims (approximately 84 hectares) to its current 221-hectare footprint — an increase of approximately 165%. Rock-chip sampling reported in the Company's news release of July 28, 2026 returned four Rowland samples grading above 2.0% WO₃: 4.02% (RO-16-01), 2.69% (RO-19-15), 2.56% (RO-19-10) and 2.11% WO₃ (RO-16-02).
The Company will issue 500,000 common shares to the vendors, valued at the 10-day volume-weighted average price immediately preceding the verification date, subject to the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Jasper Mowatt, MIMMM, MAusIMM a consultant to the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr Mowatt is not independent of the Company.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC):
The UAV magnetic survey was by AJ Mining LLC using a DJI Matrice M300 platform carrying a GSMP-35U v8.0 potassium vapour magnetometer at a nominal sensor height of 70 metres with terrain following. Flight lines were oriented east–west at spacings of 25 to 100 metres, varied according to topography and target density, with tie lines at 400 metres. Approximately 110 line-kilometres were processed over approximately 3,000 acres. Data were quality-checked in the field and corrected against base-station readings, with diurnal, lag and heading corrections applied. Processing, levelling, gridding, three-dimensional inversion and interpretation were completed by Warren Hughes, P.Geo., of East Coast Consulting using Geosoft Oasis Montaj, with inversion performed using the MAG3D algorithm on a 50-metre cell following removal of the regional field. Rock-chip and channel assay results referred to in this news release were previously reported by the Company in July 2026. All coordinates are reported in the NAD83 UTM Zone 11N coordinate system. Magnetic susceptibility is a physical rock property and is not a direct measurement of mineralisation; the interpretations described in this news release require confirmation by drilling.
References
Coats, R.R., 1964. Geology of the Jarbidge quadrangle, Nevada–Idaho. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1141-M, Plate 1, scale 1:62,500.
Lederer, G.W., Solano, F., Coyan, J.A., Denton, K.M., Watts, K.E., Mercer, C.N., Bickerstaff, D.P. and Granitto, M., 2021. Tungsten skarn mineral resource assessment of the Great Basin region of western Nevada and eastern California. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, doi:10.1016/j.gexplo.2020.106712.
Western Star Resources is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and advancement of mineral properties, with a growing strategic emphasis on tungsten and critical minerals in the United States. The Company is advancing a portfolio of past-producing tungsten assets in Nevada and New Mexico while maintaining additional exploration exposure through its Western Star Property in British Columbia.
For additional information and to view the Company's new investor presentation, please visit www.westernstarresources.com. The Company's website is its current official corporate site.
For further information, please contact:
Blake Morgan
President, CEO and Director
Western Star Resources Inc.
Email: blake@acvc.vc
Phone: 236-878-4938
Certain statements contained in this news release constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding future exploration activities; proposed drilling at Eagle Point, Rowland, White Star or other Company properties; timing and receipt of permits and regulatory approvals; the identification, prioritization and testing of exploration targets; the potential preparation of mineral resource estimates; the potential size, continuity, grade or economic significance of mineralization; potential applications for or receipt of government grants, funding, cost-sharing or other assistance; the Company's critical-minerals strategy; and the Company's future plans and objectives.
Forward-looking information is based upon management's current expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that proposed exploration programs will proceed as anticipated, that necessary permits or financing will be obtained, that exploration will result in the discovery or definition of a mineral resource, that any mineral resource estimate will be completed, or that the Company will qualify for or receive government funding.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking information as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.
Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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