West Red Lake Gold Mines outlines Madsen Mine restart plan, Ontario
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West Red Lake Gold Mines [TSXV-WRLG; OTCQB-WRLGF] reported drill results from the Madsen Mine located in the Red Lake Gold District of northwestern Ontario.
The North Austin Zone sits adjacent to existing underground development marking it as a high caliber, near-surface target that could potentially be developed early during future mine restart and production.
The holes reported July 9, 2024 were drilled from underground on the North Austin Zone , which represents a new area of high-grade mineralization extending the current Madsen resource to the northeast.
Highlights: Hole MM24X-03-5195-018 intersected 10m of 13.40 g/t gold from 82m to 92m, including 1.0m of 17.75 g/t Au from 82m to 83m, also including 1.0m of 85.61 g/t Au from 88.31m to 89.31m, also including 1.0m of 14.05 g/t Au, from 89.31m to 90.31m.
Hole MM24X-03-5127-012 intersected 3m of 12.21 g/t Au from 58m to 61m, including 1m of 32.84 g/t Au from 60m to 61m.
Hole MM24X-03-5195-015 intersected 16.98m of 3.12 g/t Au from 82m to 92m, including 0.98m of 11.78 g/t Au from 72.52m to 73.50m, also including 1.0m of 14.69 g/t Au from 74.45m to 75.45m, also including 0.79m of 15.60 g/t Au from 87.21m to 88.00m.
Mine Restart Infrastructure & Development Projects: connection Drift: 1,200-metre haulage way to connect the East and West portals/declines at the Madsen Mine, to increase material hauling efficiency, ventilation, and safety.
Primary Crusher: Install a permanent primary crusher as part of the Madsen mill, which previously relied on a temporary leased crusher.
Test Mining: Initiate a test mining program to assess longhole stoping and cut-and-fill mining methods
Bulk Sample: Analyze samples from the test mining program through a sample tower to determine representative grade of a bulk sample.
Camp: Procure and install a mine camp to house 100 workers at the Madsen mine site. Mine Dry: Procure, install, and staff a facility with showers, change areas, and laundry where workers can transition into and out of work shifts.
Evaporators: Install two evaporator fans with the ability to manage 2,000 cubic meters of water daily, to increase overall water management capacity at the mine site.
Shaft Rehabilitation: Continue the process of dewatering the mine and rehabilitating the existing shaft
Concurrent with the above infrastructure and development, WRLG has two diamond drills operating regularly in a program totaling up to 39,000 metres.
The program has two prongs: Resource Expansion Drilling (approximately 12,000 metres) and Resource Definition Drilling (approximately 27,000 metres) to increase resource confidence across all known resource domains, in support of the mine restart plan.
“With the team now working towards a planned mine restart in the second half of 2025,” stated Shane Williams, President and CEO, “The drills at Madsen will continue to delineate and define the high-value mineral inventory needed to support that objective.”
The North Austin Zone displays ‘mine-style’ alteration and mineralization and consists of multiple mineralized domains defined over a strike length of 500 metres . Mineralization remains open at depth and along strike to the northeast.
In drill core, or at underground face exposures, gold-bearing zones at the Madsen Mine are best identified visually by fine (sub-millimetre) grains of free gold within strong alteration and veining.
The current underground drilling program at the Madsen Mine is focused on further definition of near-term mining inventory, as well as growth of the current mineral resource.
Drilling has been focused on the more continuous and higher-grade portions of the Austin, South Austin, and North Austin Zones. This will continue to be the strategy moving into 2025.
“We know what needs to be procured, built, and developed at the mine site over the next six to 12 months to achieve our goal of restarting the mine in 2025,” stated Williams.
WRLG is working on a pre-feasibility study detailing that restart plan, which is targeted for release in early 2025. There are over 100 WRLG employees currently on site, preparing for a mine restart which involves constant underground development and drilling.
WRLG has about $44 million in the bank to fund its mine restart development activities.
The Madsen Mine deposit presently hosts an NI 43-101 Indicated resource of 1.65 million ounces of gold grading 7.4 g/t gold and an Inferred resource of 0.37 Moz of gold grading 6.3 g/t gold.