Wasamac

Brief history:

Gold mineralization on the Wasamac property was originally discovered in 1936 by Mine d’Or Champlain through surface trenching work. A considerable amount of exploration and development work has been carried out on the property since this time, and resulted in the discovery of several ore bodies. Intermittent production from the Wasamac Mine between 1965 and 1971 totaled 1,892,448 metric tons grading 4.16 g/t Au, for a total of 252,923 recovered ounces of gold, mostly from the Main Zone.

 

On May 7, 1986, Ressources Minières Rouyn (now Richmont Mines Inc.) signed an option agreement with Lac Minerals, the property owners at the time. This agreement entitled Richmont to earn a 50% interest in the property by incurring exploration expenses of CAN $5.0 million.

 

In 1992, Richmont acquired 100% ownership of the Wasamac property, at which time the Company began dewatering the pre-existing underground operations and completed additional surface drilling. Unfavourable economic conditions at the time, however, led to the project being shelved in 1994.

 

Over the 2002 – 2004 period, 13,754 metres of surface drilling on this property intersected mineralization in the #2 East Zone, which lies within the Wasa Shear Zone. This drilling resulted in estimated Inferred Resources of 1,282,000 tonnes, grading 6.92 g/t Au, for 285,200 ounces of gold.

 

Exploration drilling programs:

Richmont began a 10,000 metres drilling campaign on this property in May 2010, with the goal of reassessing resources using a lower cut-off grade in order to evaluate the potential for an underground bulk mining operation. Subsequent to favourable results being obtained, the 2010 drilling program was extended to 20,000 metres.

 

Richmont completed approximately 52,000 metres of drilling on its Wasamac property during 2011, and announced an updated resource estimate for the property. Specifically, Measured and Indicated resources increased 35% to 556,385 Au ounces as of December 2011, from 411,073 Au ounces at the end of 2010, and Inferred resources increased 111% year-over-year to 2,130,532 Au ounces, from 1,007,875 Au ounces previously. The increases were generated by the extensive 2011 exploration drilling program as well as from the addition of existing geological data in the area surrounding the Main Zone.

 

Richmont released details of an independent Regulation 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) for the Wasamac Gold Project located in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec during the first quarter of 2012. The study outlined several areas in which the project economics may be improved, and as a result Richmont plans to conduct further surface and underground exploration work and technical studies on the property in 2012.

 

Geological characteristics:

The Francoeur-Wasa Shear, the most favourable geological target in this area, runs through the center of the property with an east-west trend (260°) and a northern dip between 50° – 55°. The mineralization, which remains open at depth, is closely associated with pyrite dissemination and alteration of the volcanic rocks within the shear zone. Five known gold bearing zones are located within this north dipping Shear: the Main Zone, Zone 1, Zone 2, Zone 3 and the Macwin Zone. Another zone of interest, the Wildcat Zone, is located approximately 300 metres south of the Main Zone, within a south dipping structure sub-parallel to the Francoeur-Wasa Shear.