Wallbridge Mineral resource estimate delivers grade increase at Detour-Fenelon

Wallbridge Mining (TSX: WM; US-OTC: WLBMF) announced an updated resource estimate for its Fenelon and Martiniere gold projects, located on the company’s Detour-Fenelon gold trend land package in the Abitibi region of Quebec.

The company gave estimates for both the Fenelon and Martiniere projects. Together the indicated resource is 30.7 million tonnes grading 3.09 grams gold per tonne for 3.1 million contained ounces. That is a 14% increase in grade and a 14% jump in contained metal, compared to the 2021 resource estimate. The inferred portion is 24.7 million tonnes at 2.96 grams gold, for 2.4 million oz., representing a 76% jump in grade and a bump up of 36% in contained gold.

Of the combined total, the Fenelon deposit contains 21.7 million indicated tonnes grading 3.40 grams gold (2.4 million oz.) and 18.5 million inferred tonnes at 2.89 grams gold (1.7 million oz.). The second deposit, Martiniere, contains 9.0 million indicated tonnes at 2.35 grams gold (684,300 oz.) and 6.2 million inferred tonnes at 3.17 grams gold (632,300 oz.). Both deposits have open pit and underground potential.

Regional view of the Detour-Fenelon gold trend. Wallbridge Mining map

“Building on the success of our 2021 maiden MRE, the subsequent exploration program has delivered an MRE with significantly improved grade and a larger resource. This confirms our belief that a potential underground bulk mining scenario is the most attractive option at Fenelon, as it has the potential to deliver attractive economics with lower capex, a smaller footprint and faster permitting process than a large open pit,” said Marz Kord, president and CEO of Wallbridge Minerals. 

The updated estimate for Fenelon is based on 1,350 recent and historic drill holes totalling approximately 537,000 metres, variably spaced from 20 to 200 metres on the Gabbro, Tabasco-Cayenne, Area 51, and Ripley-Reaper zones. This includes 917 drill holes totalling approximately 460,000 metres drilled by Wallbridge since 2016.

The updated estimate for Martiniere is based on 596 recent and historic drill holes totalling over 169,000 metres, variably spaced from 20 to 150 metres on the Martiniere North, Martiniere West, Martiniere Central, Bug Lake and Horsefly zones. A total of 54 holes drilled to date by Wallbridge since the acquisition of Balmoral have been incorporated into the Martiniere estimate.

These resources will form the foundation for Wallbridge’s upcoming preliminary economic assessment of Fenelon, which is expected to be completed in 2023.

Weighing in on the resource update, Andrew Mikitchook of BMO Capital Markets noted that Wallbridge has delivered on its goal of outlining a potential underground bulk mining scenario.

“We would suggest that Wallbridge has successfully defined a bulk-mining underground resource–at 3.4 g/t the underground resource grades higher than the Goldex and Young-Davidson mines (in northern Quebec and Ontario) before their respective production decisions.”

This year the company plans to drill a total of 49,500 metres spread across Martiniere, Fenelon and regional exploration.