Mr. Shane Williams reports
WEST RED LAKE GOLD INTERSECTS 54.19 G/T AU OVER 4M AND 23.73 G/T AU OVER 3.53M AT AUSTIN -– MADSEN MINE
West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. has released drill results from its 100-per-cent-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 grading 6.9 grams per tonne gold, with an additional inferred resource of 104,900 ounces 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 the second half of 2025. The company expects to complete a prefeasibility study in support of that restart goal in the coming months.
Austin zone highlights:
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Hole
MM24D-12-4791-020 intersected four metres at 54.19 g/t Au, from 32 m to 36 m, including one m at 215.61 g/t Au, from 33 m to 34 m.
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Hole
MM24D-12-4791-026 intersected 3.53 m at 23.73 g/t Au, from 27.5 m to 31.03 m, including one m at 79.81 g/t Au, from 30.03 m to 31.03 m.
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Hole
MM24D-12-4791-023 intersected three m at 24.49 g/t Au, from 32 m to 35 m, including one m at 71.02 g/t Au, from 33 m to 34 m.
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Hole MM24D-12-4791-041 intersected six m at 11.65 g/t Au, from 35 m to 41 m, including one m at 10.86 g/t Au, from 36 m to 37 m, also including 1.05 m at 47.27 g/t Au, from 39.95 m to 41 m.
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Hole MM24D-12-4791-035 intersected 3.2 m at 15.84 g/t Au, from 38.8 m to 42 m, including two m at 24.32 g/t Au, from 39.4 m to 41.4 m.
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Hole MM24D-12-4791-002 intersected 4.8 m at 9.95 g/t Au, from 26.2 m to 31 m, including 0.87 m at 10.47 g/t Au, from 26.2 m to 27.07 m, also including 0.52 m at 43.08 g/t Au, from 29.82 m to 30.34 m.
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Hole MM24D-12-4791-023 also intersected 3.15 m at 15.06 g/t Au, from 20.35 m to 23.5 m, including 0.88 m at 22.62 g/t Au, from 21.12 m to 22 m, also including 0.98 m at 20.20 g/t Au, from 22.52 m to 23.50 m.
Shane Williams, president and chief executive officer, stated: "The deeper portions of the Austin zone are continuing to return very positive results as we advance the infill drilling programs and increase our confidence in these areas of the mine. Due to limited underground development, the two previous operators were only able to access portions of the Madsen deposit down to around nine level. We are very excited to continue accessing deeper portions of the deposit which were historically mined during a period when gold was only valued at $20 to $40 per ounce. 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 $2,500 (U.S.) per ounce, we are taking full advantage of that remnant material and see a lot of upside at depth in Madsen."
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, kilometre-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 0.5 kilometre. 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 (submillimetre) 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.
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 0.5 m. Maximum allowable sample length is 1.5 m. Control samples (certified standards and uncertified blanks), along with duplicates, are inserted at a target 5-per-cent insertion rate. Results are assessed for accuracy, precision and contamination on a continuing 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 preselected 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 Resources' facility in Red Lake, Ont., for assay.
Samples are then prepped by SGS, which consists of drying at 105 C and crushing to 75 per cent passing two millimetres. A riffle splitter is then utilized to produce a 500 g course reject for archive. The remainder of the sample is then pulverized to 85 per cent passing 75 micrometres, from which 50 g are analyzed by fire assay and an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish (SGS code GO-FAA50V10). Samples returning gold values greater than 100 g/t Au are reanalyzed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish on a 50 g sample (SGS code GO_FAG50V). Samples with visible gold are also analyzed via metallic screen analysis (SGS code GO_FAS50M). For multielement analysis, samples are sent to SGS's facility in Burnaby, B.C., and analyzed via four-acid digestion with an atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) finish for 33-element analysis on 0.25 g sample pulps (SGS code GE_ICP40Q12). SGS Natural Resources' analytical laboratories operate 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, indicated resource of 1.65 million ounces of gold grading 7.4 g/t Au and an inferred resource of 370,000 ounces 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 $1,800 (U.S.) per ounce. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Please refer to the technical report titled "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 resource estimate has an effective date of Dec. 31, 2021, and excludes depletion of mining activity during the period from Jan. 1, 2022, to the mine closure on Oct. 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+.
The technical information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Will Robinson, PGeo, vice-president of exploration for West Red Lake Gold, the qualified person for exploration at the West Red Lake project, as defined by NI 43-101.
About West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd.
West Red Lake Gold Mines is a mineral exploration company that is publicly traded and focused on advancing and developing its flagship Madsen gold mine and the associated 47-square-kilometre, highly prospective land package in the Red Lake district of Ontario. The highly productive Red Lake gold district of Northwestern Ontario, Canada, has yielded over 30 million ounces of gold from high-grade zones and hosts some of the world's richest gold deposits. West Red Lake Gold Mines also holds the wholly owned Rowan property in Red Lake, with an expansive property position covering 31 square kilometres, including three past-producing gold mines -- Rowan, Mount Jamie and Red Summit.
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