Wesdome Gold Mines (TSX: WDO; OTCQX: WDOFF) says it has assayed drill core as high as 55.6 g/t gold over an intersection of 3.5 metres from the Kiena Deep Footwall zone during the latest underground program at the gold mine in Val d’Or, Que. The operation is 100% owned.
“We expect that 2024 will see a significant increase in exploration at Wesdome with approximately $30 million budgeted between our two sites [Kiena and Eagle River], or 185,000 meters across surface and underground exploration as well as delineation drilling,” said president and CEO Anthea Bath. “Currently, we are seeing immediate returns from this stepped-up effort at Kiena, with results that are not only expanding and defining existing zones at Kiena Deep, but also identifying potentially significant gold mineralization in historically underexplored areas like Wish from the 33-level.”
The Footwall zone at the Kiena Deep target is being better defined with highlights such as these:
- Hole N127-6913: 55.6 g/t gold over 3.5 metres core length (25.7 g/t gold capped, 2.0 metre true width).
- Hole N127-6912: 13.8 g/t gold over 11.1 metres core length (13.8 g/t gold capped, 5.0 metres true width); and 22.0 g/t gold over 6.7 metres core length (19.6 g/t gold capped, 3.0 metres true width).
- Hole N127-6890: 35.7 g/t gold over 5.3 metres core length (20.9 g/t gold capped, 3.0 metres true width).
The South Limb zone is also returning high gold grades:
- Hole N103-6807W5: 30.3 g/t gold over 5.8 metres core length (17.7 g/t gold capped, 5.0 metres true width).
- Hole N103-6807W4: 25.2 g/t gold over 6.0 metres core length (18.4 g/t gold capped, 1.6 metre true width).
Grades in the Footwall and South Limb zones were capped at 90 g/t gold.
Initial reconnaissance drilling closer to the surface returned high-grade intercepts from the Wish zone, although the assays were uncapped:
- Hole N033-6901: 36.4 g/t gold over 1.5 metre core length.
These initial high-grade results are all near the mine’s existing underground infrastructure, making them low-cost to develop, said Wesdome.
The Kiena Deep A zone is now known to extend from 1,100 metres below surface to at least 1,800 metres, and it remains open at depth. Exploration at the Footwall and South Limb zones will ramp up as the Kiena Deep main ramp is expected to reach the 136 level by the end of 2024.
The Wish zone received little drilling until this year. It lies about 1 km east of the Kiena mine . Development from the existing 33 level has intersected narrow, high-grade mineralization from quartz veins. Recent results, combined with historic hole 4344 (65.5 g/t gold over 1.0 metre core length), have traced mineralization over 300 metres along strike.
Guidance for the Kiena mine this year is between 80,000 to 90,000 oz. of gold.
More detailed drilling results are posted in the news on www.Wesdome.com.
