The Conversation (0)
Wesdome Gold Mines’ Eagle River mine has been in commercial production for 17 years, and today’s drill results continue to suggest that the property could hold an additional high-grade mining area.
The company has been mining gold in Canada for over 25 years, and Eagle River is one of two producing mines that it now operates. Currently, its assets also include the 3-million-ounce Moss Lake gold deposit in Ontario and the Kiena mine complex in Val d’Or, Québec.
Wesdome announced back in August 2013 that it had encountered two new gold structures as a result of exploration drilling at the Eagle River property — namely, the 7 Zone and the 300 Zone. It has since continued drilling in order to further define the potential of those structures, and today, drill results from the 7 Zone returned very high grades. The highest intersection reported is an exceptional 89.94 grams per tonne gold over 2.32 meters, with results also including 30.54 grams per tonne gold over 1.42 meters and 16.53 grams per tonne gold over 2.02 meters, true width.
Wesdome’s president and CEO, Rolly Uloth, commented, “[t]oday’s results confirm the potential for another additional high grade mining area at depth. Further drilling is underway to fully delineate its size potential and prospecting efforts will attempt to trace its projection to surface.”
Replacing reserves
Notably, the 7 Zone is located just 200 meters north of the 8 Zone, which is the main producing structure at Wesdome’s Eagle River mine. Wesdome’s website states that “[t]he deposit at the Eagle River mine has a 17 year history of replacing its reserves,” and today’s results appear to support that statement. Of late, exploration at the mine has been focused underground with the aim of expanding the current resource, evaluating further development priorities and getting the most out of the existing infrastructure at Eagle River.
Of course, although the company put out “promising drill results” this week, more work will be required to further delineate the structures. The 7 Zone remains open at depth, and Uloth seems confident that there will be more in store in terms of upcoming drill results. As he stated in today’s release, “[t]he Eagle River Mine has been steadily producing for 20 years and continues to show promise at depth and in recently recognized parallel zones within range of existing workings.”
Certainly, investors will want to keep an eye on Wesdome’s exploration activities to see what else the company turns up near its already well-established operations.
At close of day today, Wesdome Gold shares were up 16.44 percent, trading at $0.85.
Securities Disclosure: I, Teresa Matich, hold no direct investment inte rest in any company mentioned in this article.
