Vancouver, BC, December 9, 2024 – Sponsored content disseminated on behalf of West Red Lake Gold. On December 4, 2024 West Red Lake Gold Mines (TSXV: WRLG) (OTCQB: WRLGF) published an operations update on restart readiness activities at its 100% owned Madsen Mine in Northwest Ontario, Canada.
West Red Lake Gold is working towards a restart at the Madsen Gold Mine. A Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for the Madsen Mine is targeted for release in early 2025. The WRLG management team projects a mine-restart date in 2025.
“The Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for the Madsen Mine is nearing completion,” stated WRLG in a November 21, 2024 press release. “The final phase of this study involves optimizing underground development and infrastructure sequencing and refining the associated operating and capital costs.”
The Connection Drift is the largest of the capital projects supporting the restart of the Madsen Mine. It is on track for completion by the end of March 2025.
In this December 5, 2024 video, Gwen Preston, VP of Communications, explains the importance of the news update.
“The Connection Drift is the 1.2-km tunnel that will allow us to use larger trucks on smoother routes that don’t cross public roads to move material from the mine to the mill,” explained Preston.
The Connection Drift will serve as a transport route from most parts of the Madsen mine including the Austin, South Austin, and McVeigh zones to the East Portal.
The Madsen Mine’s prior operator began developing the East Portal and workings. That project was abandoned in favour of the cheaper, quicker approach of using the historic West Portal. It underlines the idea that the prior operator had a constrained construction budget.
The West Portal’s inefficiencies include: 1. It is small, limiting hauling to 30-tonne trucks 2. It has sections that are steep and in places it has multiple notable corners, 3. The route from the portal to the mill crosses two public roads, 4. Trucks go past the town of Madsen, 5. It can only operate during daylight hours.
In contrast, the East Portal can accommodate 60-tonne trucks. There is a short haulage route to the primary crusher. It can operate 24 hours a day.
The West Portal will remain open for ventilation and emergency access.
“Efficiency in moving rock is essential for a successful mine,” stated Preston.
West Red Lake Gold raised $10 million in Canadian Development Expense flow through funds to finance the upgrading of the connections drift.
“A flow-through share permits the initial purchaser to claim a tax deduction equal to the amount invested,” explains the PDAC, “allowing public companies to transfer to investors certain exploration expenditures conducted on Canadian soil.”
“The Connection Drift is a key project as we prepare to mine, for several reasons,” said Maurice Mostert, VP of Technical Services. “It is creating an efficient way to move material, while unlocking the potential to drill test some prospective targets.”
The Connection Drift is on track for its targeted completion date in late March, 2025. To date, 604.8 metres of the 1.2 km total length, have been completed.
Figure 1. A view of the Connection Drift, which is progressing west to east. This 1.2-km haulage way is now 50% complete.
“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,” stated Shane Williams, President and CEO.
Further mine-restart readiness activities reported in the December 4, 2024 news update:
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.
“We love that 60% of our current workforce lives locally.,” stated Preston. “But the other 40% require housing; a camp is an efficient, cost-controlled way to do that, compared to finding rental housing in the community.”
Figure 3. The 114-person workforce accommodations facility for the Madsen Mine project during the unloading and installation process.
“The entire WRLG team has been collectively working towards a successful restart of the Madsen mine,” stated Shane Williams, President and CEO in the December 4, 2024 PR. “We are now approaching the finish line on many of the fundamental pieces that support this goal.”
The Madsen Mine deposit presently hosts an NI 43-101 Indicated resource of 1.65 million ounces of gold grading 7.4 g/t gold and an Inferred resource of 0.37 Moz of gold grading 6.3 g/t gold. [1.] [2.] [3.]
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”.
Contact: guy.bennett@globalstocksnews.com
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References:
- SRK Consulting. (2021). Independent NI 43-101 Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the PureGold Mine, Canada (West Red Lake Gold Mines, Ed.) [Review of Independent NI 43-101 Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the PureGold Mine, Canada.
- Mineral resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 3.38 g/t Au and a gold price of US1,800/oz. 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. A full copy of the SRK report is available on the Company’s website and on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca
- 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 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 updated report. A full copy of the SRK report is available on the Company’s website and on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca