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West Red Lake Gold Provides Update on Madsen Mine Restart Activities
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. (“West Red Lake Gold” or the “Company”) (TSXV: WRLG) (OTCQB: WRLGF) is pleased to provide an update on restart readiness activities at the Madsen Mine project in Red Lake, Ontario.
“Advancing multiple projects and goals simultaneously in preparation for restart means the Madsen Mine site is a busy place,” said Shane Williams, President and CEO. “The tailings dam lift is now complete and came in ahead of schedule and under budget, which is a great example of how strong alignment and effective communication between contractors, site personnel, and management can yield positive results. This accomplishment sets the standard for delivery of all projects at the Madsen operation as we move through the redevelopment phase and towards our goal of a full mine restart next year.
“We look forward to issuing a pre-feasibility study in the coming weeks and then pushing ahead to an official restart decision.”
Pre-Feasibility Study
The Company is working with SRK Consulting to complete a pre-feasibility study (“PFS”) for the restart of the Madsen mine. The study is nearing completion; West Red Lake Gold expects to announce PFS results within one month.
The PFS will be the basis of the Madsen Mine restart. Regulations require companies to define initial reserves on a project via a PFS and this applies to the Madsen project today under West Red Lake Gold. However, there are three reasons why the Company believes the Madsen PFS will be an accurate, comprehensive, and sufficient plan for the mine restart.
Real Costing: Operating underground at the Madsen Mine for the last year means West Red Lake Gold has good understanding of real costs, from blasting, mucking, and moving a tonne of material to running a consistent definition drill program to operating the water treatment facility. In addition, the mill operated only two years ago, so costs for that facility are also well understood. Most pre-feasibility studies rely on estimates for key costs; the Madsen Mine PFS will have actual costs for most parameters.
Final Engineering: the Madsen Mine is essentially built. Most pre-feasibility studies include as-yet unanswered questions on important aspects; examples include full definition of processing flowsheets or mining methods or tailings facility design or human resource requirements. With the mine having operated only a few years ago and with West Red Lake Gold having studied and remedied many of the issues from that period over the last 18 months, there are very few outstanding engineering questions at Madsen.
Detailed Mine Plan: pre-feasibility studies are conventionally completed before definition drilling into a deposit is complete. For underground mines, this means a PFS predates a detailed mine design, which is a list of stope-defined targeted mining areas with engineered access. West Red Lake Gold has built a detailed mine design for the first 18 months of operation (approximately 100,000 ounces of production) and intends to have 24 months of stope-defined mineable inventory defined prior to restart, which is targeted for mid-2025. This level of operational readiness is unusual alongside a PFS.
Tailings Dam Lift
The project to increase the height of the tailings dam by four feet was completed on October 8th, a week ahead of schedule. The total cost came in approximately 18% under the expected budget.
This lift creates enough additional capacity in the tailings facility to accommodate more than 5 years of mining at a rate of 800 tonnes per day, which is the nameplate throughput of the Madsen mill.
Figure 1
FIGURE 1. Aerial view of the tailings dam lift project at completion.
Definition Drilling
Definition drilling continues at Madsen with two underground drills. The Company has now completed approximately 42,500 metres of definition drilling since October 2023, which has outlined over 100,000 ounces of mineralization within stope-defined mining areas with engineered access as per the detailed mine plan.
Most of these metres were planned to tighten up spacing between intercepts that define the mineral resource estimate (MRE) at the Madsen project. The Company’s goal is to tighten average drill hole spacing from twenty metres, which was the average distance between holes included in the MRE when West Red Lake Gold purchased the Madsen project, down to six to eight metres, which the Company believes is a necessary drill density to inform an accurate short range model upon which stopes can be engineered with confidence.
The geology team ranked areas of the MRE down to 12 Level (approximately 600m depth) based on gold grade, tonnage potential, and accessibility and prioritized accessible areas with the highest grade and tonnage potential. The engineering team then planned out underground development to position the drill for efficiently defining each area.
Drill programs are continuously monitored and managed by the on-site geology team. The team makes decisions in real-time as drilling progresses, which may include adding holes in an area that has returned positive results or extending holes beyond planned length if geologic observations suggest mineralization beyond modeled domains.
Figure 2
FIGURE 2. Long Section View of Madsen deposit showing location of underground drill bays relative to existing mineral resource. White dots mark past drill stations, red dots mark current drill stations, and orange dots mark upcoming drill stations.
One drill is currently in the 09-4026 drill bay on 9 Level to follow up on a prospective growth area in South Austin that was previously drilled from 7 and 9 Levels (see 2024 news releases April 18th, and May 7th, and June 11th).
The second drill is currently testing the McVeigh zone from 3 Level following positive results from 1 Level. The higher geologic complexity of McVeigh relative to other mineralized zones at Madsen proved challenging for the prior operator but West Red Lake Gold was able to incorporate learnings from those efforts into a new geologic model for the McVeigh zone that has guided drills to strong gold intercepts in the Company’s first round of drilling there, including 107.6 grams per tonne (“g/t”) gold (“Au”) over 2.5 metres (see news release August 12th, 2024) and 17.8 g/t Au over 5.5 metres (see news release August 27th, 2024).
When the campaigns at these drill bays are complete, one drill will move back to the Austin zone while the other moves to the deepest bay drilled to date, on South Austin. The Company is excited to move its drills deeper because Madsen was mined only to the 7 Level during its inconsistent 1997-2014 operational period and only in McVeigh and the top of South Austin in its 2020-2022 operational period. As such, the Madsen deposit has seen less mining below 7 Level and thus offers potential to host larger areas of mineralization and new discoveries than the areas higher up that have seen more mining.
Underground Development
West Red Lake Gold has ramped up from one to three development crews operating underground at Madsen throughout 2024. Miners are creating access for definition drilling, completing the Connection Drift, and creating access to multiple areas in advance of mining, as well as starting the test mining program.
Year to date, the Company has completed 2,016 metres of underground development at the Madsen Mine. The pace of development substantially increased in H2 with the addition of new equipment and additional hires, and this will continue into 2025.
The Madsen mine has seen significant development by previous operators, starting with the 1936 to 1972 operational period. In recent times, the mine had 19,919 metres of underground development from 2019 through 2022 that created access to multiple parts of the Madsen resource. This significant amount of modern underground development is fundamental to West Red Lake Gold’s restart plan and provides significant opportunities for flexibility and optionality as the Company moves toward production.
Mill Pre-Commissioning
The Madsen mill has been in dry shutdown for 20 months. West Red Lake Gold is taking a progressing approach to preparing the mill for restart. This approach is expected to have the mill available for restart in Q1 2025, so that the Company can turn it on when stockpiles and mining reach levels to supply steady state mill feed.
Pre commissioning activities are well underway. Tailing pumps and discharge lines have been commissioned, the reclaim water feed line and pump are recycling process water through the mill, the carbon kiln has been brought up to operating temperature, the flocculant system has been reassembled, reagent sub systems are 60% complete, and carbon-in-pulp and leach agitators have been bumped for rotation as a test of operational readiness.
All senior mill staff positions have been filled, including mill superintendent, frontline supervisors, control room operators, and the metallurgical team. Onboarding of these staff members is on track for completion by November 30.
“Redrilling of the SAG mill liner bolt holes are a critical path task and this job will get underway on October 25,” said David Towle, Mill Manager. “Installing the liner and lifter packages for the SAG and ball mills are also key tasks, as is setting up the on-site metallurgical lab for operational readiness and setting up and commissioning the primary crusher, which is scheduled to arrive on site this week. These are all part of our restart plan, which has the mill ready to go in Q1 2025.”
figure 3
FIGURE 3. Photograph of the interior of the Madsen Mill (upper level)
Test Mining
The test mining program is advancing the first set of development levels to access the 1099/1100 area.
“Once the first ore-bearing development headings are advanced, crews will commence mining, utilizing both Longhole Stoping and Mechanised Cut and Fill,” said Maurice Mostert, Vice President of Technical Services. “Test mining is planned for areas of the mine where we want to test our ability to mine efficiently and safely adjacent to historic stopes, in addition to proving our understanding of the geology.”
“All the stopes will be stockpiled separately, then batch processed when the mill is started up next year so we can reconcile milled grades against the geologic model,” Mostert continued. “Our primary goal with the test mining phase is to establish, prior to production, the mining practices that will keep our people safe and optimise the value of the Madsen orebody.”
Propane Infrastructure
A project to improve the propane system at the Madsen Mine site is largely complete. The project includes installation of a second 30,000-gallon tank and pipe reticulation through the site, eliminating the need for small satellite tanks at each building.
The Company expects that this project, with a completed cost of $225,000, will generate annual savings of approximately $800,000 through reduced propane delivery costs (larger volumes less often to one location) and through eliminating the need for an employee dedicated to propane maintenance through the winter.
QUALIFIED PERSON
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”.
The technical information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Maurice Mostert, P.Eng., Vice President of Technical Services for West Red Lake Gold and the Qualified Person for technical services at the West Red Lake Project, as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
MARKETING AGREEMENT
West Red Lake also announces that it has entered into a services agreement dated October 25, 2024 with Creative Direct Marketing Group, Inc. (“CDMG”), for the provision of certain marketing and investor relations services to be initiated October 31, 2024. (the “CDMG Agreement”) for a term of three months expiring January 31, 2025. Under the terms of the CDMG Agreement, CDMG will execute a customized marketing plan that incorporate web design, search engine optimization, digital marketing, social, targeted display, and traditional media including direct mail. In consideration for services to be provided by CDMG, the Company agreed to pay CDMG a retainer of US$1,073,860, of which the Company has paid US$346,860 to date.
CDMG is a full-service marketing agency based out of Nashville, Tennessee. CDMG and its principal, Craig Alan Huey are arm’s length to the Company and hold no interest, directly or indirectly, in the securities of the Company or any right to acquire such an interest.
The CDMG Agreement is subject to TSX Venture Exchange (“TSXV”) final approval.
ABOUT WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES
West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. is a mineral exploration company that is publicly traded and focused on advancing and developing its flagship Madsen Gold Mine and the associated 47 km2 highly prospective land package in the Red Lake district of Ontario. The highly productive Red Lake Gold District of Northwest Ontario, Canada has yielded over 30 million ounces of gold from high-grade zones and hosts some of the world’s richest gold deposits. WRLG also holds the wholly owned Rowan Property in Red Lake, with an expansive property position covering 31 km2 including three past producing gold mines – Rowan, Mount Jamie, and Red Summit.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT AND FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
The decision to continue with the advancement of the Madsen Mine restart and the Company’s operations and plans with respect thereto, as described herein (the “Madsen Mine Restart”), are based on economic models prepared by the Company in conjunction with management’s knowledge of the property and the existing estimate of indicated and inferred mineral resources on the property set out in the report entitled, “Independent NI 43-101 Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the PureGold Mine, Canada”, with an effective date of July 31, 2022, as amended on April 24, 2024, a copy of which is available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The Madsen Mine Restart is not based on a preliminary economic assessment, a pre-feasibility study or a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability. Accordingly, there is increased uncertainty and economic and technical risks of failure associated with the Madsen Mine Restart, in particular: the risk that mineral grades will be lower than expected; the risk that additional ongoing mining operations are more difficult or more expensive than expected; and the risk that production and economic variables may vary considerably, due to the absence of a detailed economic and technical analysis undertaken in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information generally can be identified by words such as “anticipate”, “expect”, “estimate”, “forecast”, “planned”, and similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Forward-looking information is based on current expectations of management; however, it is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information in this news release and include without limitation, statements relating to plans for the potential restart of mining operations at the Madsen Mine, the potential of the Madsen Mine; any untapped growth potential in the Madsen deposit or Rowan deposit; and the Company’s future objectives and plans. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.
Forward-looking information involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking information. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, market volatility; the state of the financial markets for the Company’s securities; fluctuations in commodity prices; timing and results of the cleanup and recovery at the Madsen Mine; and changes in the Company’s business plans. Forward-looking information is based on a number of key expectations and assumptions, including without limitation, that the Company will continue with its stated business objectives and its ability to raise additional capital to proceed. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Additional information about risks and uncertainties is contained in the Company’s management’s discussion and analysis for the year ended November 30, 2023, and the Company’s annual information form for the year ended November 30, 2023, copies of which are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.
The forward-looking information contained herein is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Forward-looking information reflects management’s current beliefs and is based on information currently available to the Company. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this news release and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by applicable law.
For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company’s continuous disclosure filings that are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
