Wesdome continues to broaden data to reopen Kiena near Val D'or

Wesdome Gold Mines continues to build a strong case for the reopening of the Kiena Mine near Val D'Or. The company has announced additional results from underground definition drilling and development activities at the company’s 100% owned Kiena Mine complex.

Kiena Deep A Zone Drilling

Seven underground drills are in operation completing primarily definition drilling, with a lesser amount of extension drilling, of the Kiena Deep A Zone (the “A Zone”). Between May and August, a total of 21 holes totalling approximately 6,770 metres (“m”) were drilled within the A Zone and are being reported below. This drilling has continued to confirm the overall continuity of the geometry and the high-grade gold mineralization of the A Zone and identified additional mineralization down plunge of the most recent resource estimate (Figure 1). The A Zone now extends down plunge in excess of 880 m. 

Highlights of the recent A Zone drilling are listed below and summarized in Table 1.

• Hole 6584W1: 151.1 g/t Au over 13.1 m core length (35.4 g/t Au cut, 4.0 m true width) A2 Zone
   
• Hole 6584W2: 96.0 g/t Au over 10.8 m core length (25.7 g/t Au cut, 3.5 m true width) A2 Zone
   
• Hole 6668: 157.7 g/t Au over 2.7 m core length (27.3 g/t Au cut, 2.6 m true width) A Zone
   
• Hole 6583W1: 55.1 g/t Au over 6.5 m core length (31.4 g/t Au cut, 3.0 m true width) A1 Zone

All assays cut to 90.0 g/t Au. True widths are estimated.

Mr. Duncan Middlemiss, President and CEO commented, “We are pleased with the ongoing drilling program that continues to focus on definition drilling of the high grade A Zone, in order to convert inferred resources to indicated resources, in advance of an updated resource estimate later in the year and subsequent incorporation into the PFS. The PFS will be used to determine the viability of mining the existing resources in the immediate reach of the Kiena Mine to justify a mine restart. Longer term, our focus will turn to the remaining resources on the Kiena property and the exploration potential.

Drilling productivity was initially challenged upon the return to work May 11th due to manpower issues arising from the COVID-19 regional quarantines in Quebec; however, we now currently have a full complement of drillers and our drilling program is back on track. Recent drilling has indicated the VC1 zone has now been extended down plunge over 475 metres. This zone is reasonably accessible to existing infrastructure and could be an important source of mineralization in the early days of any future mine restart.”

“In addition, we are excited about advancing the access development towards the upper levels of the A Zone mineralization that will position the Company to take a bulk sample, which will validate the geological block model and assess the geomechanical conditions in order to complement the quality of the work being done in the PFS.”

Recent drilling completed from the 79 level exploration ramp has focussed on the down dip extensions of the VC zones, namely the VC1 zone. To date drilling the VC zones below 79 level has been challenged by a series of faults, which will require additional development off the 79 level to provide for a new drill platform. Drilling of the VC1 zone has returned a number of anomalous intersections and extended the zone to depth, which is now interpreted as a separate structure having a different orientation. The mineralization of the VC1 zone has transitioned from a more sulphide rich mineralization found in the upper extents of the mine, to a quartz rich environment with visible gold present at depth, which is congruent with many global high grade deposits. Drilling has extended the VC1 zone 475 m down plunge from 67 Level to 107 Level, where development and drilling are presently being completed (Figure 2). Previous drilling, and two holes from this campaign, namely Hole 6654 (64.0 g/t Au cut over 1.9 m true width (“TW”)) and Hole 6688 (5.5 g/t Au over 3.0 m TW) have provided support to the VC1 zone extending to Hole 6531 (previously released) which intercepted 31.1 g/t Au over 5.1 m (24.3 g/t Au cut over 3.9 m TW) and indicates the higher grade potential of the VC1 with depth. The VC1 zone could be accessed by the 67, 79 and 107 levels that have been recently established.  The VC1 zone remains open at depth and will be a focus for ongoing drilling.

Kiena Deep A Zone Development

In addition to the ongoing drilling, access development is currently being completed towards the A Zone on 111 Level so as to position the Company to take a bulk sample. Future bulk sampling on the A Zone will provide an opportunity to assess the geological block model and rock quality characteristics and will provide the necessary information to complete the ongoing Prefeasibility Study (“PFS”), expected to be completed by H1 2021.

Surface Exploration Drilling

Data compilation, combined with the recent MT and Airborne Mag surveys in the area immediately adjacent to the Kiena mine has resulted in a new geologic interpretation and has identified a number of exploration targets for drilling. A 10,000 m surface drilling program has commenced to test these targets from surface. These initial targets are located along the Marbenite Fault (within 1.5 km from Kiena Mine Complex).

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