The PFS mine plan, which was based on $1,680/oz gold, generated strong economics that supported the restart decision. Using a higher gold price in stope design effectively lowers the cutoff grade for resource inclusion, bringing additional resource tonnes into the mine plan, producing more overall ounces.
Vancouver, BC, June 5, 2025 – Global Stocks News – Sponsored content disseminated on behalf of West Red Lake Gold. On June 3, 2025, West Red Lake Gold Mines (TSXV: WRLG) (OTCQB: WRLGF) extrapolated from lessons learned from the mining and bulk sample program at its 100% owned Madsen Mine.
“The PFS mine plan, which was based on $1,680/oz gold, generated strong economics that supported the restart decision,” stated WRLG in the June 3, 2025 press release. “However, using a higher gold price in stope design effectively lowers the cutoff grade for resource inclusion, bringing additional resource tonnes into the mine plan, producing more overall ounces.”
“When lower-grade tonnes prove to be economic, it can result in larger stopes encompassing one or several high-grade gold lenses with surrounding halo mineralization,” added WRLG.
Recent drill results at South Austin have revealed high-grade lenses that went largely unnoticed when drill holes were still widely spaced, 20 meters apart.
“As the gold price rises, more of the gold bearing rock becomes economically viable,” Maurice Mostert, Vice President Technical Services told Guy Bennett, CEO of Global Stocks News (GSN). “We don’t have to be as selective. Larger stopes typically translate to an increase in tonnage and contained ounces, and leads to lower mining costs.”
The mine plan in the Madsen Mine Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) [1] used a gold price of US$1,680 per oz – about 50% of the current gold price. This led to a mine plan with 60% of the mining being small, high-grade stopes requiring the use of cut-and-fill mining, which is selective and relatively high cost. [2]
For its current mine design, West Red Lake Gold is using the “consensus long-term price” of US$2,350 per ounce – a conservative number about $1,000 per ounce below the current gold price.
The test mining and bulk sample program had two goals:
1. To confirm that the geologic, engineering, and mining workflow at Madsen enables the Company to model and mine mineralization accurately.
2. To test various mining scenarios and use the results to enable confident mine design that maximizes economic extraction.
On a complexity scale, if an open pit mine is like chopping firewood, the Madsen Mine is fine-cabinetry, requiring blueprints, meticulous planning, specialised knowledge and precision tools.
Communicating technical and geological complexities to retail investors also requires specialised knowledge.
On May 23, 2024 WRLG announced the appointment of Gwen Preston to the position of Vice President Investor Relations.
Preston holds an undergraduate degree in science and a master’s in journalism. Prior to her appointment at WRLG, Preston was the CEO of Resource Maven, a senior financial writer and a veteran public speaker.
“We are assembling an elite team of professionals,” Shane Williams, President and CEO of WRLG told GSN. “Gwen is a big asset to our roster of VPs. She understands geology, demand drivers, political risks, the regulatory environment and capital markets.”
In this June 3, 2025 video, Preston gives context to the lessons learned from the mining and bulk sample program.
“West Red Lake Gold reported on what we learned while test mining the bulk sample and how those learnings are guiding our mine plan at the Madsen mine,” stated Preston in the video.
“We learned that we can mine right up against old stopes. When we tried that, old stopes remained competent, and so did the backfill in them. It means that everything stayed in place. We can mine safely up against those old stopes, and the targeted mineralization won’t get diluted from material falling into it.”
“This reduces some barriers in how to engineer the mine, and it unlocks resources that were on the back burner until this test was complete.”
“The test mining program also showed the efficiency of mining larger shapes than we expected, and mining clusters of those stopes.”
“At Madsen, gold often exists as high-grade lenses, in some cases surrounded by lower-grade, mineralized halos,” stated Preston. “Small stopes that were targeting one high-grade lens often become larger mining shapes encompassing several high-grade lenses and the halo mineralisation around them. Those larger mining shapes can often be mined by long hole stoping.”
Larger stopes and clusters of proximal stopes, known as mining complexes, have the potential to increase a mine’s economic benefit and scale as compared to smaller, isolated stopes. This is because they can positively impact three key economic drivers:
- Mining cost: Larger stopes can generally be mined via long hole stoping. Long hole stoping is significantly lower cost per tonne compared to cut and fill mining [3]. The Madsen Mine bulk sample was mined exclusively by long hole stoping methods with a very high success rate, and the majority of the 18-month detailed mine plan is long hole mining.
- Cost of access development per tonne mined: Larger stopes and stopes clustered in mining complexes spread the cost of developing access to a mining area over more ounces produced from that area, reducing the overall cost of access development.
- Flexibility and efficiency: The ability for a mine to focus on a few large mining complexes at any given time rather than multiple isolated stopes greatly supports efficiency in equipment, personnel, and material movement planning. The Company is realizing this efficiency advantage already at the site.
“The PFS generated strong economics that were the basis of our decision to restart the mine,” confirmed Preston. “The benefits we outlined this week from larger mining shapes are expected to have a positive impact on Madsen’s long-term profitability.”
“I’m recording this from a hotel in Quebec City ahead of a conference here,” concluded Preston in the video. “Then the team is going straight into two days of investor meetings in New York City. It’s exciting to be on our first road trip talking about West Red Lake Gold as an operating gold miner.”
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 technical disclosure at the West Red Lake Project, as defined by NI 43-101 “Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects”.
Contact: guy.bennett@globalstocksnews.com
Disclaimer: West Red Lake Gold paid Global Stocks News (GSN) $1,750 for the research, writing and dissemination of this content.
Full Disclaimer: GSN researches and fact-checks diligently, but we cannot ensure our publications are free from error. Investing in publicly traded stocks is speculative and carries a high degree of risk. GSN publications may contain forward-looking statements such as “project,” “anticipate,” “expect,” which are based on reasonable expectations, but these statements are imperfect predictors of future events. When compensation has been paid to GSN, the amount and nature of the compensation will be disclosed clearly.
References:
1. Please refer to the technical report entitled “NI 43-101 Technical Report and Prefeasibility Study for the Madsen Mine, Ontario, Canada”, prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. and dated January 7, 2025. A full copy of the SRK report is available on the Company’s website and on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.
2. See PFS Section 16.5.3 Mining Methods – Underground Mining Methods – Planned Mining Methods.
3. See PFS Report Section 21.3.2 Capital and Operating Costs – Operating Cost Estimates – Mining.
Additional References:
4. Mineral reserve estimates based on a gold price of US$1,680/oz and an exchange rate of 1.31 C$/US$. Longhole stope cut-off grade of 4.30 gpt Au based on an estimated operating cost of C$287.34/t including mining, plant and G&A. Mechanized Cut and Fill stope cut-off grade of 5.28 gpt Au based on an estimated operating cost of C$354.90/t including mining, plant and G&A. Incremental development cut-off grade of 1 gpt Au. A small amount of incremental longhole tonnes were included at a cut-off grade of not less than 3.4 gpt Au, these must be immediately adjacent to economic stopes that will pay for the capital to access area.
5. Mineral resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 3.38 g/t Au and a gold price of US$1,800/oz. Mineral resources are not considered mineral reserves as they have not demonstrated economic viability.
6. See Section 24.1 Other Relevant Data – Gold Price Sensitivity.
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