West Red Lake Gold Announces Mineral Resource Update for the Rowan Mine Deposit
April 26, 2024
Vancouver, BC
West Red Lake Gold Announces Mineral Resource Update for the
Rowan Mine Deposit
West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. (“West Red Lake Gold” or “WRLG” or the “Company”) (TSXV:
WRLG) (OTCQB: WRLGF) announces an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) effective as
of March 1, 2024, on its 100% owned Rowan Mine Deposit, located in the Red Lake Gold District
of Northwestern Ontario, Canada.
• Indicated resources of 476,323 tonnes grading 12.78 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold ("Au"),
for a total of 195,746 ounces ("oz") Au.
• Inferred resources of 410,794 tonnes grading 8.76 g/t Au, for a total of 115,719 oz Au.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
• The 2024 MRE has added a significant portion of higher confidence Indicated ounces at
grades 40% higher than the 2022 MRE.
• Relative to the 2022 Rowan MRE, there was a decrease in the Inferred mineral resources
from approximately 827,000 ounces to 116,000 ounces and an increase in Indicated
mineral resources from zero to approximately 196,000 ounces. The drop in Inferred metal
content is mainly attributed to 1) conversion of Inferred to Indicated resources, 2) a more
rigorous modeling approach, and 3) more stringent resource estimation parameters
implemented to account for the high gold grades typically seen at Rowan.
• The integration of oriented drilling data and top-to-bottom geochemical analysis allowed
the team to reconstruct the geologic interpretation at Rowan resulting in a much more
tightly constrained, higher-grade resource that should lend itself more effectively to any
future reserve calculation and underground mining design (Figure 1).
• A $4.5M drill program is planned and fully funded for up to 15,000m of drilling at Rowan
in 2024, focused on growth and resource expansion on the main Rowan Mine deposit
(Figure 3).
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Shane Williams, President & CEO, stated, "The 2024 Rowan MRE model represents a complete
reinterpretation of the structural controls on mineralization and reflects a more conservative
estimation approach in-line with industry best practices . When drilling off structurally complex
high-grade gold systems that contain significant amounts of coarse gold it is essential to have a
solid understanding of the geology and controls on mineralization early in the p rocess. We are
very encouraged to see a significant portion of higher confidence Indicated resources come from
this MRE update - and at grades 40% higher than the 2022 MRE. The objective for this year at
Rowan will be growth, and we continue to see significant potential for expanding this deposit at
depth and along strike."
ROWAN 2024 MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE:
• The 2024 MRE update for Rowan incorporated an additional 62 holes for 20,211.4m of
oriented NQ diamond drill core since the December 2022 MRE.
• A total of twenty-six (26) mineral domains were created to constrain the mineralization.
• For more detailed information on the Rowan 2024 MRE model please refer to the
Technical Report entitled “ Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Rowan Property,
Ontario, Canada” dated April 26 , 2024 and filed contemporaneously with this press
release on April 26, 2024 , prepared for WRLG by Sims Resources , LLC (the “Technical
Report”), copies of which can be found on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.
TABLE 1. Summary of the Rowan 2024 Mineral Resources as of April 26, 2024
Mineral Resource Statement - Rowan Mine Deposit
Classification Tonnes (t) Gold Grade (g/t) Gold Troy Ounces (oz Au)
Indicated 476,323 12.87 195,746
Inferred 410,794 8.76 115,719
Notes:
1) CIM (2014) definitions were followed for Mineral Resources.
2) Mineral Resources were estimated at a gold cut-off grade of 3.80 g/t using a long-term gold price
of $1,800 USD per ounce.
3) Density used for the estimation on all domains was set at 2.8 g/cm3.
4) There are no Mineral Reserves currently estimated at the Rowan Project.
5) Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
6) Mineral Resources are reported within vein wireframes at the stated cut-off grade of 3.80 g/t Au.
7) The effective date of the Mineral Resources is March 1, 2024.
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FIGURE 1. Plan view image comparing the 2022 MRE domains to 2024 MRE domains.
DISCUSSION
The Rowan Vein System has been the focus of most of the exploration on the Property since the
initial discovery of four sub-parallel narrow veins on surface at “Discovery Hill”. Since then, these
veins have been drifted upon from underground on three levels and extensively drilled, including
62 drill holes for 20,211.4m in 2023. The drilling completed at the Rowan Mine deposit in 2023
focused on validating historical data across the Inferred Resource, and also infilling apparent gaps
in the analytical data set which was a product of very selective sampling techniques implemented
during previous drilling campaigns.
The overall deposit consists of numerous, narrow, high -grade quartz veins that define an east-
northeast trending corridor, approximately 150 m wide. This corridor mainly transects the lower
mafic to intermediate metavolcanic units of the Ball assemblage in the hinge of the property scale
antiform and appears to dissipate once it intersects the unconformity with the metasedimentary
Slate Bay assemblage to the east (Figure 2).
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The best gold grades often occur when coarse and visible native gold is present. This occurs
within distinct 10 cm to 30 cm up to a metre of bluish to grey, glassy quartz veins/stringer zones.
Rarely do these individual veins exceed 60 cm wide with alteration halos tending to be localized.
Broad zones of diffuse silicification have generally not been found. Trace to 1% pyrite and
pyrrhotite is common within these veins/stringers. Less common but a better positive indicator
of gold grade is the occurrence of sphalerite, galena, arsenopyrite, and chalcopyrite. Generally
total sulphides make up less than 2%. Metallurgical tests indicate favourable recovery
characteristics.
The previous interpretation of the Rowan Vein System (Kita, 2022) was that the veins were
emplaced after D2 and were essentially undeformed and highly continuous over hundreds of
meters. Such an interpretation was supported by the consistency of multiple narr ow vein
occurrences in drillholes spanning long strike lengths. With the benefit of a tighter drill spacing
and oriented core following the 2023 WRLG drill campaigns, this interpretation is no longer
tenable. Strictly planar vein continuity could no longer be demonstrated since east-west trending
veins appeared to line up along east-northeast trends. Such an arrangement requires long trains
of minor folds, and transposition into the dominant fabric. This is further supported by: (i)
strongly recrystallized textures in the quartz veins, (ii) dominant parallelism with the strong
penetrative S2 foliation, (iii) the great -circle distribution of poles to foliation as measured in
oriented core, and (iv) locally observed minor folds, showing that the veins are overprinted by
the strong ductile D2 deformation.
Modelling such complex geological shapes as transposed veins systems can be achieved using
implicit methods in Leapfrog provided enough closely spaced data are present to capture the
variability of the deformed vein geometries. This method is being used su ccessfully at the
Madsen mine where drill spacing is predominantly six meters or less. At Rowan, the drill spacing
is not nearly as tight, but still tight enough to produce geologically plausible representations of
the transposed vein geometries. Unfortunately, due to the wider drill spacing in some areas, the
implicit shapes could not be adequately controlled for unsupported ‘blowouts’, which could lead
to unreasonably inflated tonnage estimates. For this reason, and to minimize dilution in the
model, the implicit shapes were used only as a guide for manually constructed vein models, using
the vein modelling tool in Leapfrog. This approach allowed the construction of more tightly
controlled shapes that capture the structural style of the vein system yet rem ain optimized for
use in resource estimation.
The result is a much more realistic model of the vein system that agrees with the structural
observations at the deposit and core scales, and that aligns with the structural setting and
controls seen at other deposits within the belt, such as at the Madsen and Red Lake mines.
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FIGURE 2. Plan view of Rowan deposit projected to surface, with a transparent geology overlay.
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FIGURE 3. Rowan Deposit longitudinal section showing high-priority expansion target areas for 2024 drill program[1]. Drill intercepts shown
in this figure have been composited to 2m intervals.
1 Mineral Resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 3.8 g/t Au and using a gold price of US$1,800/oz. Please refer to the technical report entitled “Updated Mineral
Resource Estimate for the Rowan Property, Ontario, Canada” dated April 26, 2024 prepared for WRLG by Sims Resources, LLC.
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QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL
Drilling completed at the Rowan Property consists of oriented NQ-sized diamond drill core. All
drill holes are systematically logged, photographed, and sampled by a trained geologist at
WRLG’s Mt. Jamie core processing facility. Minimum allowable sample length is 0.5m. Maximum
allowable sample length is 1.5m. Standard reference materials and blanks are inserted at a
targeted 5% insertion rate. The drill core is then cut lengthwise utilizing a diamond blade core
saw along a line pre-selected 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 WRLG personnel directly to SGS
Natural Resource’s Facility in Red Lake, Ontario for assay.
Samples are then prepped by SGS, which consists of drying at 105°C and crushing to 75% passing
2mm. A riffle splitter is then utilized to produce a 500g course reject for archive. The remainder
of the sample is then pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns from which 50g is analyzed by fire
assay and an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish. Samples returning gold values > 10 g/t
Au are reanalyzed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish on a 50g sample. Samples with visible
gold are also an alyzed via metallic screen analysis (SGS code: GO_FAS50M). For multi- element
analysis, samples are sent to SGS’s facility in Burnaby, British Columbia and analyzed via four-acid
digest with an atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP -AES) finish for 33 -element analysis on 0.25g
sample pulps (SGS code: GE_ICP40Q12). SGS Natural Resources analytical laboratories operate s
under a Quality Management System that complies with ISO/IEC 17025.
West Red Lake Gold’s Rowan Property presently hosts a National Instrument 43-101 – Standards
of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“ NI 43-101”) Indicated Mineral Resource of 473,974 t at an
average grade of 12.87 g /t Au containing 196,120 ounces of gold , and an Inferred Mineral
Resource of 379,571 t at and average grade of 8.49 g/t Au, with a cut-off grade of 3.8 g/t Au (as
set out in the Technical Report).. The Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources are located in the
area of the historic underground Rowan Mine site and situated within a 1.8 k m strike length
portion of the regional scale Pipestone Bay St Paul Deformation Zone.
For a better understanding of the Rowan deposit, readers are encouraged to read the Technical
Report and other public disclosure of the Company, including all qualifications, assumptions,
exclusions and risks that relate to the Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates. The
Technical Report is intended to be read as a whole, and sections should not be read or relied
upon out of context.
The technical information presented in this news release has be en 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. Mr. Robinson is not
independent of West Red Lake Gold.
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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 km 2
highly prospective land package in the Re d 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 Row an Property in Red Lake, with an expansive property position covering 31 km 2
including three past producing gold mines - Rowan, Mount Jamie, and Red Summit.
ON BEHALF OF WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES LTD.
“Shane Williams”
Shane Williams
President & Chief Executive Officer
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Freddie Leigh
Tel: (604) 609-6132
Email: [email protected] or visit the Company’s website at
https://www.westredlakegold.com