Wallbridge starts Detour-Fenelon resource estimate and starts Preliminary Economic Assessment

“The drilling and underground exploration work we have completed at Fenelon since our initial 2021 MRE has increased our confidence in the geometry of the mineralization," Marz Kord, President and CEO of Wallbridge said. 

"We have identified mineralized zones that show continuity over several metres in thickness and tens of metres in strike length, with average grades above three grams per tonne. This has led us to consider modelling most of the deposit as an underground bulk mineable resource, analogous to other underground bulk mining operations located on the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, rather than the less selective open pit mining approach used in 2021, when drilling density at the project was lower.”

Wallbridge Mining Company Limited has commissioned an update to the 2021 mineral resource estimate for its flagship Fenelon Gold and Martiniere project. In addition, the Company has initiated a preliminary economic assessment of Fenelon.

For Fenelon, the 2023 MRE will incorporate data from an additional 100,000 metres of drilling completed since the 2021 MRE, and will focus on optimizing the resource for a predominantly underground bulk mining operation, as opposed to the less selective large open pit approach used in 2021. The 2023 MRE will also include an updated resource for Martiniere, situated 30 km west of Fenelon, where the Company has completed an additional 30,000 metres of drilling since the 2021 MRE.

The 2023 MRE, expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2023, will form the foundation for a PEA which will assess the potential for a predominantly underground bulk mining operation at Fenelon. The PEA is expected to be completed by end of second quarter 2023.

Marz Kord continued: “The commencement of a preliminary economic assessment and updated mineral resource estimates represent a major stepping stone in bringing Fenelon closer to production. Assets of this quality and location are increasingly rare and we believe there will be significant opportunities to create shareholder value as we continue to de-risk and advance the projects.

A bulk underground mining operation at Fenelon has a number of critical advantages over the less selective, deep open-pit/underground approach contemplated in the 2021 MRE. These benefits include lower upfront capital requirements, a smaller surface footprint with significantly less environmental disturbance - an approach which is more favorable to local communities, and a potentially shorter permitting timeline.” 

Fenelon is located 75 kilometres east of the Detour Lake gold mine, at the centre of Wallbridge’s strategic land package which covers roughly 910 square kilometres of the most prospective ground on the Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend in Northern Abitibi, Quebec. Martiniere is located 30 kilometres west of Fenelon.

The quality of the gold resources at Fenelon and Martiniere have the potential to improve further. Beyond these known gold resources, the Company sees strong potential to make additional discoveries on its large, prospective Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend land package spanning 97 kilometres of strike length. The Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend is a vast area that remains largely unexplored compared with the southern portion of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt where more than 100 million ounces of gold has been produced over a similar strike distance.

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