Assays hint at future mineable gold at West Red Lake’s Madsen site

Recent high-grade drill results in the Austin Complexes at West Red Lake Gold Mines’ (TSXV: WRLG) Madsen site in northern Ontario could point to mineralization to be added to the company’s mine plan next year.

Highlight hole MM26D-13-4955-003 returned 13.35 metres grading 10.22 grams gold per tonne from 81 metres depth, including a very high-grade interval of 1.1 metres at 69.85 grams gold, West Red Lake reported Tuesday. That result was from the Austin 904 Complex at Level 13 inside the producing Madsen mine, about 650 metres underground. Madsen is about 1,400 km northwest of Toronto.

“Definition drilling at Madsen continues to intercept significant gold mineralization within the 904 Complex,” Will Robinson, vice president of exploration said in a release. “Our ultimate objective at the 904 Complex is to define a broad panel of non-remnant mineralization, positioning it to be sequenced into our H1 2027 mine plan. The technical team remains well on schedule to deliver on that target.”

Deeper potential

The results reinforce the prospectivity of Madsen, which reached commercial production in January. It’s forecast to produce 35,000 to 45,000 oz. this year, mostly during the second half of the year.

Another 904 Complex highlight result, in hole MM26D-13-4955-006, cut 10.2 metres grading 11.98 grams gold from 88.3 metres depth.

The Austin 904 Complex, which comprises a gold mineralization panel of about 200 metres by 200 metres, wasn’t historically mined by past producers, the company said. That panel is expected to yield larger stopes and increased efficiency during design and extraction.

At the Austin 955 complex, drilled from Level 12 of the mine about 600 metres underground, hole MM26D-12-5110-021 cut 15 metres grading 6.93 grams gold per tonne from 72 metres depth. Another hole, MM26D-12-5110-022, returned 12 metres at 4.26 grams gold from 60 metres depth.

PFS milestone

The company plans to release a prefeasibility study in the second half of the year that would evaluate an integrated operation including Madsen and the nearby Rowan project. Rowan is about 80 km northwest of Madsen.

West Red Lake shares fell 1% to 64¢ apiece on Tuesday morning in Toronto, for a market capitalization of $264.3 million. The stock has traded in a 12-month range of 59¢ to $1.49.