West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. (TSXV: WRLG) (OTCQB: WRLGF) is pleased to report drill results from its 100% owned Madsen Mine located in the Red Lake Gold District of Northwestern Ontario, Canada.
The drill results featured in this news release are focused on the high-grade Austin Zone. The Austin Zone currently contains an Indicated mineral resource of 914,200 ounces (“oz”) grading 6.9 grams per tonne (“g/t”) gold (“Au”), with an additional Inferred resource of 104,900 oz grading 6.5 g/t Au.
The purpose of this drilling was definition within priority areas of Austin to continue building an inventory of high-confidence ounces to support the restart of production at the Madsen mine, which is expected to commence in H2 2025. The Company expects to complete a pre-feasibility study in support of that restart goal in the coming months.
AUSTIN ZONE HIGHLIGHTS:
- Hole MM24D-12-4791-020 Intersected 4m @ 54.19 g/t Au, from 32m to 36m, Including 1m @ 215.61 g/t Au, from 33m to 34m.
- Hole MM24D-12-4791-026 Intersected 3.53m @ 23.73 g/t Au, from 27.50m to 31.03m, Including 1m @ 79.81 g/t Au, from 30.03m to 31.03m.
- Hole MM24D-12-4791-023 Intersected 3m @ 24.49 g/t Au, from 32m to 35m, Including 1m @ 71.02 g/t Au, from 33m to 34m; AND
- Hole MM24D-12-4791-041 Intersected 6m @ 11.65 g/t Au, from 35m to 41m, Including 1m @ 10.86 g/t Au, from 36m to 37m, Also including 1.05m @ 47.27 g/t Au, from 39.95m to 41.00m.
- Hole MM24D-12-4791-035 Intersected 3.2m @ 15.84 g/t Au, from 38.8m to 42.0m, Including 2m @ 24.32 g/t Au, from 39.4m to 41.4m.
- Hole MM24D-12-4791-002 Intersected 4.8m @ 9.95 g/t Au, from 26.2m to 31.0m, Including 0.87m @ 10.47 g/t Au, from 26.20m to 27.07m, Also including 0.52m @ 43.08 g/t Au, from 29.82m to 30.34m.
- Hole MM24D-12-4791-023 also Intersected 3.15m @ 15.06 g/t Au, from 20.35m to 23.50m, Including 0.88m @ 22.62 g/t Au, from 21.12m to 22.00m, Also including 0.98m @ 20.20 g/t Au, from 22.52m to 23.50m.
This resulted in very selective mining practices targeting just the core of the system that left behind a lot of mineralization that would be considered high grade by current standards. With gold prices now in excess of US $2,500/oz we are taking full advantage of that remnant material and see a lot of upside at depth in Madsen.Shane Williams, President & CEO, West Red Lake Gold Mines Inc.
Plan maps and section for the Austin drilling outlined in this release are provided in Figures 1 through 10. To see these drill holes in the context of a 3-dimensional model of the Madsen project mineral resource, click here. https://vrify.com/decks/16834?auth=fa5e3754-1ad2-440b-b5cc-fcfee08d8175
TABLE 1. Significant intercepts (>3 g/t Au) from drilling at Austin Zone.
TABLE 2: Drill collar summary for holes reported in this News Release.
DISCUSSION
The Austin zone is accessed through the Madsen Mine West Portal. Like the other mineralized domains that comprise the Madsen Mine, the Austin structures are hosted within broad, kilometer-scale planar alteration and deformation corridors that have been repeatedly reactivated during gold mineralization and subsequent deformation and metamorphism.
At the deposit scale the Austin, South Austin, North Austin, and McVeigh Zones are locally folded and structurally dismembered by transposition and rotation into the penetrative S2 Foliation. In addition to this intense deformation overprint, the mineralized veins and alteration have been subjected to the relatively high temperatures of amphibolite facies metamorphism, which led to extensive recrystallization and growth of the skarn-like replacement mineral assemblage of diopside-amphibole-quartz-biotite.
All significant gold mineralization on the mine property is demonstrably early relative to the most significant, penetrative deformation (D2) and metamorphic events. The North Austin Zone displays ‘mine-style’ alteration and mineralization and consists of multiple mineralized domains defined over a strike length of 0.5km. 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. All high-grade intervals generally contain visible gold on drill core exteriors, although numerous examples exist of high-grade assays where visible gold was only identified within the interior (cut surface) of the core samples. Apart from the presence of free gold, pervasive silicification (locally accompanied by discrete quartz veining) and quartz-carbonate or diopside veining are the best indicators that a given interval is within a high-grade zone along/within the mineralized structure.
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, North Austin and McVeigh Zones. This will continue to be the strategy through 2024.
High resolution versions of all the figures contained in this press release can be found at the following web address: https://westredlakegold.com/september-10th-news-release-maps/
FIGURE 1. Madsen Mine long section showing location of 12-4791 Drill Bay in Austin Zone.[1]
FIGURE 2. Austin plan view drill section showing assay highlights for Holes MM24D-12-4791-001 through -041.[1]
FIGURE 3. Austin section view showing assay highlights for Holes MM24D-12-4791-039 through -041.[1]
FIGURE 4. Austin section view showing assay highlights for Holes MM24D-12-4791-034 through -038.[1]
FIGURE 5. Austin section view showing assay highlights for Holes MM24D-12-4791-029 through -033.[1]
FIGURE 6. Austin section view showing assay highlights for Holes MM24D-12-4791-023 through -028.[1]
FIGURE 7. Austin section view showing assay highlights for Holes MM24D-12-4791-019 through -022.[1]
FIGURE 8. Austin section view showing assay highlights for Holes MM24D-12-4791-015 through -018.[1]
FIGURE 9. Austin section view showing assay highlights for Holes MM24D-12-4791-07 through -09 and -012 and -013.[1] Holes -008 and -013 broke into historic stopes.
FIGURE 10. Austin section view showing assay highlights for Holes MM24D-12-4791-002 through -005.[1]
QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL
Drilling completed underground at the Madsen Mine consists of BQ-sized diamond drill core for definition drill programs and oriented NQ-sized diamond drill core for exploration focused drilling. All drill holes are systematically logged, photographed, and sampled by a trained geologist at the Madsen Mine core processing facility. Minimum allowable sample length is 0.5m. Maximum allowable sample length is 1.5m. Control samples (certified standards and uncertified blanks), along duplicates, are inserted at a target 5% insertion rate. Results are assessed for accuracy, precision, and contamination on an ongoing basis. The BQ-sized drill core is whole core sampled. The NQ-sized drill core is then cut lengthwise utilizing a diamond blade core saw along a line pre-selected by the geologist. To reduce sampling bias, the same side of drill core is sampled consistently utilizing the orientation line as reference. For those samples containing visible gold (“VG”), a trained geologist supervises the cutting/bagging of those samples, and ensures the core saw blade is ‘cleaned’ with a dressing stone following the VG sample interval. Bagged samples are then sealed with zip ties and transported by Madsen Mine personnel directly to SGS Natural Resource’s Facility in Red Lake, Ontario for assay.
Samples are then prepped by SGS, which consists of drying at 105°C and crushing to 75% passing 2mm. A riffle splitter is then utilized to produce a 500g course reject for archive. The remainder of the sample is then pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns from which 50g is analyzed by fire assay and an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish (SGS Code GO-FAA50V10). Samples returning gold values > 100 g/t Au are reanalyzed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish on a 50g sample (SGS Code GO_FAG50V). Samples with visible gold are also analyzed via metallic screen analysis (SGS code: GO_FAS50M). For multi-element analysis, samples are sent to SGS’s facility in Burnaby, British Columbia and analyzed via four-acid digest with an atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) finish for 33-element analysis on 0.25g sample pulps (SGS code: GE_ICP40Q12). SGS Natural Resources analytical laboratories operates under a Quality Management System that complies with ISO/IEC 17025.
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 “Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects”.
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.
