Red Pine books near-surface gold at Wawa project

Red Pine Exploration (TSXV: RPX; US-OTC: RDEXF) said new drilling at the past-producing Wawa project in Ontario showed the presence of near-surface gold near a potential open pit. The stock rose.

Hole SD-25-573 in the Jubilee Shear zone cut 15.5 metres grading 7.76 grams gold per tonne from 85 metres downhole, Toronto-based Red Pine said Tuesday in a statement. Another hole, SD-25-587, intersected 8.85 metres at 5.37 grams gold from 155 metres depth.

“We are excited by these near-surface drill results that continue to identify higher grades within the Jubilee Shear zone,” CEO Michael Michaud said in the statement. “With funding in place to complete the preliminary economic assessment (PEA), we are on track in our work to unlock significant value as we advance toward production and transition from explorer to producer in today’s strong gold price environment.”

Updated resource

The results, covering 14 drill holes, are the last from a 24,500-metre drilling program for 2024-25 that the company wrapped up in June. They will form the basis of an updated resource and PEA that the company now expects to produce in the first half of 2026.

Red Pine shares jumped 3.7% to 14¢ Tuesday morning in Toronto, boosting the company’s market value to about $52 million. The stock has traded between 7.5¢ and 16¢ in the past year.

In July, Michaud had said the company expected to complete the PEA early next year. The company didn’t immediately provide a reason for the new timeline.

Other drilling highlights released Tuesday include hole SD-25-574, which cut 9.6 metres at 3.43 grams gold from 152 metres depth, and hole SD-25-589, which intersected 7.63 metres at 3.75 grams gold from 86 metres downhole.

New drilling

Metallurgical, geotechnical and baseline work is now under way to support permitting, Red Pine said. A new wave of drilling, which will aim to further expand near-surface gold mineralization, will begin shortly, the company said.

Located near Lake Superior, 2 km southeast of the namesake town and 225 km north of Sault St. Marie, Wawa covers about 70 sq. km. The site hosts several historic mines that produced about 120,000 oz. of gold. Red Pine acquired the project in 2014.

Red Pine’s most recent resource, released in August 2024, outlined 14.7 million indicated tonnes grading 1.8 grams gold for 842,000 oz. gold, inclusive of open pit and underground. That represented an 11-fold increase over the previous resource, which was released in 2019.

Wawa’s inferred resources were pegged at 16.2 million tonnes at 1.6 grams gold for 843,000 oz. of gold, a six-fold rise over the previous estimate.

Red Pine’s reputation with investors suffered a hit in May 2024 when the company disclosed assay inconsistencies it blamed on a previous CEO, who had stepped down about three months earlier for unrelated reasons. Michaud, a geologist and 30-year mining industry veteran, was appointed CEO in April 2024.