West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. (TSXV: WRLG) (OTCQB: WRLGF) reported on progress of its ongoing Madsen mill cleanup and gold recovery program (the “Gold Recovery Program”) at its 100% owned Madsen Mine located in the Red Lake Gold District of Northwestern Ontario, Canada.
The Company carried out a preliminary phase of the Gold Recovery Program in late 2023 that recovered 415 troy ounces (“oz”) of gold (“Au”) with proceeds of approximately $750,000.
Based on the significant amount of gold recovered during the initial investigation, a second and more comprehensive phase of the Gold Recovery Program was initiated in early 2024 with a focus on the ball mills and the semi-autogenous grinding (“SAG”) mills. The SAG mills are the primary or first stage grinder for material entering the mill, which is then followed by the secondary ball mills. Photographs of sample material being recovered from the mills are below in Figures 1 and 2.
It is anticipated that the Company may recover at least 2,500 oz Au from the clean up.
As part of the second phase of the Gold Recovery Program, the Company has engaged a firm in February 2024 which specializes in gold mill cleanup and recovery. The Gold Recovery Program is expected to be completed by the end of May 2024.
It was known that the previous operator had reconciliation issues between the mined ore and the milled ore at the Madsen Mine.
After finding substantial gold locked up in the circuits during the preliminary phase of the Gold Recovery Program, the Company launched a thorough technical investigation of the mill and mill workings to understand the degree to which this contributed to the previous operator’s reconciliation issues.
In certain locations on site, installation errors had created sizeable “gold traps”, resulting in a notable amount of gold remaining in these physical gold traps instead of making it through the mill. Gold was found physically trapped in ill-fitting liners in the ball mill, in the SAG mills and in uncleaned filters, all of which certainly would have impacted the previous operator’s reconciliation issues.
The WRLG Madsen Mine team is making adjustments to the mill workings and processes to ensure that similar loss will not be repeated.
The Company looks forward to reporting the total amount of gold recovered on completion of the Gold Recovery Program.
FIGURE 1. Photograph of sample concentrate material with coarse visible gold collected as part of the cleanup program.
FIGURE 2. Photograph of material to be processed from the mill cleanup program.
QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL
The Madsen Mine deposit presently hosts a National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”) Indicated resource of 1.65 million ounces (“Moz”) of gold grading 7.4 g/t Au and an Inferred resource of 0.37 Moz of gold grading 6.3 g/t Au. Mineral resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 3.38 g/t Au and a gold price of US1,800/oz. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Please refer to the technical report entitled “Independent NI 43-101 Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the PureGold Mine, Canada”, prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. and dated June 16, 2023, and amended April 24, 2024 (the “Madsen Report”). The Madsen Resource Estimate has an effective date of December 31, 2021 and excludes depletion of mining activity during the period from January 1, 2022 to the mine closure on October 24, 2022 as it has been deemed immaterial and not relevant for the purpose of the Madsen Report. A full copy of the Madsen Report is available on the Company’s website and on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.
The technical information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Will Robinson, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for West Red Lake Gold and the Qualified Person for exploration at the West Red Lake Project, as defined by NI 43-101.
West Red Lake Gold is a market awareness client of Capital 10X. For more information, including potential conflicts of interest please see our Content Disclaimer.
