West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. (“West Red Lake Gold” or the
“Company”) (TSXV: WRLG) (OTCQB: WRLGF) is pleased to
provide an operations update on restart readiness activities at its
100% owned Madsen Mine project in the Red Lake Gold District of
Northwestern Ontario, Canada.
“As we push towards our goal of restarting the
Madsen Mine next year, the team continues to make great progress on
achieving key operational readiness milestones,” said Shane
Williams, President and CEO. “Access development for test mining
has been underway since late summer, putting us on the edge of
mining. The bulk samples generated through the test mining program
will be stockpiled on surface and then batch processed. Meanwhile
the Connection Drift, primary crusher, and camp projects are being
completed on schedule while definition drilling and mine planning
and optimization continue.
“The entire WRLG team has been collectively
working towards a successful restart of the Madsen mine. We are now
approaching the finish line on many of the fundamental pieces that
support this goal, including final optimization on the
pre-feasibility study, completing key capital projects, mining our
first underground stopes, and starting up the mill. It is a very
exciting time for WRLG as we make the transition from developer to
producer.”
Connection Drift 50%
Complete
The Connection Drift, the largest of the capital
projects supporting restart of the Madsen Mine, is 50% complete and
is on track for completion by the end of March 2025.
The Connection Drift is a 1.2-km haulage way
connecting the historic West Portal, which through extensive
underground workings provides access to most parts of the Madsen
mine including the Austin, South Austin, and McVeigh zones, and the
East Portal, a modern portal from which development only extends a
modest distance into the North Austin area.
The prior operator developed the East Portal and
workings early in its construction effort but soon shifted to the
less capital-intensive approach of using the historic West
Portal.
West Red Lake Gold found notable inefficiencies
in using the West Portal for moving mined material, including:
- The portal is relatively small,
limiting hauling to 30-tonne trucks.
- The haulage ways descending from
the West Portal were developed over many years of historic
operations; an array of steep sections and sharp corners make the
route relatively inefficient for trucking.
- The route from the portal to the
mill crosses two public roads and goes past the town of Madsen.
Material must be dumped out of underground haul truck and reloaded
into surface-insured trucks and only hauled during daylight hours
(because of noise restrictions) to use this route.
- Much of the resource at Madsen sits
spatially under the mill. Moving it west to bring it up through the
West Portal and then driving it back east to the mill adds
kilometres of trucking distance.
The East Portal, by contrast, is a large portal
with modern workings. It can accommodate 60-tonne trucks, the
haulage route within the mine was designed with efficiency in mind,
and the East Portal is beside the primary crusher, which is close
to the mill.
The Connection Drift will allow West Red Lake
Gold to move all mined material out through the East Portal,
eliminating the inefficiencies of the West Portal (which will
remain open for ventilation and emergency access).
West Red Lake Gold raised $10 million in
Canadian Development Expense flow through funds to finance this
major project. Work started in August 2024.
“The Connection Drift is a key project as we
prepare to mine, for several reasons,” said Maurice Mostert, Vice
President Technical Services. “It is creating an efficient way to
move material, the effort to develop it is giving our mining teams
valuable experience working accurately and effectively underground
at Madsen, and it is unlocking the potential to drill test some
prospective targets.
“Investing in capital projects to create an
efficient operation before we restart this mine is one of the key
pillars of our Madsen thesis, which is that an efficient mine
tapping a well-drilled and understood resource in appropriate ways
will be very much worth the effort.”
The Connection Drift is on track for its
targeted completion date in late March. To date 604.8 metres have
been completed, of the 1.2 km total length.
Figure 1. A view of the Connection Drift, which
is progressing west to east. This 1.2-km haulage way is now 50%
complete.
Primary Crusher
Commissioned
The primary crusher was delivered to the Madsen
Mine site on November 5, 2024. It was unloaded, assembled, and has
now been commissioned.
“A fully functioning and reliable primary
crusher is a good example of the kind of capital investments we are
making to support efficient operations when we restart the Madsen
Mine,” said Williams. “It is exciting to see the crusher processing
material as we commission this key piece of infrastructure.”
Figure 2. The CRJ3042 Electric Primary Jaw
Crushing Plant being commissioned at the Madsen Mine site in late
November.
Camp Installation
The camp was delivered on November 11, 2024 and
is now being installed at the Madsen Mine site.
The camp is a 114-person facility. It offers
individual rooms with ensuite bathrooms for each worker, a kitchen
and dining hall, and recreation space.
Horizon North, an industry leader in providing
accommodations and services to meet workforce requirements within
the mining industry in Canada, supplied and will staff the camp
facility.
Figure 3. The 114-person workforce accommodations
facility for the Madsen Mine project during the unloading and
installation process.
QUALIFIED PERSON
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.
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.
ON BEHALF OF WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES
LTD.“Shane Williams”Shane WilliamsPresident & Chief
Executive Officer
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Gwen PrestonVice President CommunicationsTel:
(604) 609-6132Email: investors@wrlgold.com or visit the
Company’s website at https://www.westredlakegold.com
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.
Images accompanying this announcement are
available at:
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