Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX: WDO) has continued to obtain promising underground exploration drilling results from the Kiena Deep A Zone at the company’s 100% owned Kiena Mine Complex in Val d’Or, Quebec.
Since the completion of the PFS in 2021 and subsequent preproduction activities, underground drilling has been focussed on exploration to test sectors proximal to the Kiena Deep A Zones.
As part of this exploration focus, early success discovered the Footwall Zones last year. Earlier this year, exploration confirmed the presence of the South limb in the folded Kiena Deep A Zone at depth.
Recent drilling has continued to return high grade assays from this South limb area. This area remains open along strike and down dip. The discovery of additional zones proximal to the A Zones represents a significant benefit to the mining from using common infrastructure. Development metres planned per sub level will leverage access to more ounces, thereby positively impacting future mining.
Most recently, drilling intersected two new zones in the hanging wall basalt. The first zone was observed in holes N103-6839W1A, N103-6839W2, and N103-6839W3.
Up to now, the strike, dip and true thickness of this zone are unknown. The second zone, observed in hole N103-6839W4, consists of a quartz-cabonate vein ( <10 cm-thick) with visible gold that returned 2,850g/t Au over 1.5m.
Currently, the strike and dip of this vein are unknown. The adjacent or “shoulder” assays are pending for this hole. These new basalt zones all occur below an observed bend or steepening in the plunge of the Kiena Deep A Zone. Early hypothesis is that folding/faulting represented by fracturing in the hanging wall basalt could allow for a favourable environment for this type of mineralization.
Highlights of the recent drilling include:
- Hole N103-6839W4: 2,850g/t Au over 1.5m core length New Basalt Zone
- Hole N103-6839W2: 11.6g/t Au over 41.3m core length (9.7g/t Au capped,) New Basalt Zone
- Hole N112-6838A: 36.0g/t Au over 6.4m core length (32.5g/t Au capped, 4.3 m true width) A1 Zone (South Limb)
- Hole 6839W3: 20.3g/t Au over 12.4m core length (19.0g/t Au capped, 5.5m true width) A Zone (South Limb)
- Hole N103-6839W1A : 10.4g/t Au over 53.5m core length (5.9g/t Au capped) New Basalt Zone
“We are pleased with the recent discoveries of the South Limb and Footwall zones, and most recently the high-grade results in the basalt in the hanging wall of the A Zone,” President and CEO, Duncan Middlemiss, said.
“These discoveries demonstrate the exploration potential of the Kiena Deep Zone. These zones have the potential to increase the number of ounces per vertical metre and to provide additional working faces during mining.
“The discovery of these zones highlight the potential to add ounces within the basalt, where the rock quality is significantly better than in the footwall of the A Zone allowing for increased development rates. Obviously, this area remains one of the focuses of the current drilling.
“We are also very pleased with the continued expansion of the South Limb of the A Zone and local expansion of the A and A1 zones. This can positively impact project economics as the same underground infrastructure utilized to access the A Zone can be leveraged to mine these additional zones on a lower unit cost basis.
“Additionally at Kiena, our paste fill plant commissioning activities remain on track and we expect the plant to be fully operational shortly, with the first paste pour scheduled for later this month.”
As well, recent drilling from 112 Level also continued to confirm the lateral extension of the A and A1 Zones. These new results continue to add confidence in the existing 3D model.
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