West Red Lake Gold has achieved commercial production at its wholly owned Madsen gold mine in the Red Lake mining district of north-western Ontario, Canada.
The milestone was reached on 1 January 2026, with the mill reaching an average throughput of 689 tonnes per day (tpd) in December 2025.
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This throughput equates to 86% of the permitted capacity of 800tpd and fulfils the company’s requirement for commercial production, which is defined as maintaining at least 65% of permitted capacity over a 30-day period.
The mine also met operational stability standards during this time.
The mill achieved an average gold recovery rate of 94.6% in December, leading to production of 3,215oz of gold.
West Red Lake Gold president and CEO Shane Williams said: “We are delighted to announce commercial production at the Madsen Mine, achieved only seven months after completion of the bulk sample. Achieving commercial production is a major milestone for any producer and it comes after a strong December that saw tonnage, grade, recoveries and production all perform to plan.
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By GlobalData“Credit and gratitude go to the site operations team, who delivered a responsible and methodical mine ramp up. I also want to thank our partners the Lac Seul and Wabauskang First Nations and the community of Red Lake for their long-standing support. We will continue to ramp up from this strong base, and I anticipate Madsen will reach sustained permitted capacity by mid-2026.”
During the first quarter of 2026 (Q1 2026), most of the mill feed is expected to originate from the 4447 area high-grade zone in South Austin, with expectations that feed will exceed an average gold grade of six grams per tonne (g/t).
Last month, the Madsen mine processed 21,389t of ore at an average gold grade of 4.94g/t.
The total ore processed in Q4 amounted to 49,162t, with an average processing rate of 534tpd and a grade of 5.06 g/t gold.
Mill recovery during this period was approximately 95%, resulting in 7,379oz of gold being produced.
The operation poured a total of 7,200oz in Q4, generating $30m (C$41.62m) from sales at an average price of $4,150/oz.
Throughout 2025, the mine poured a total of 20,000oz of gold sold at an average price of $3,650/oz, yielding $73m in revenue.
By year-end, the company reported having C$46m in cash and gold receivables.
In October 2025, West Red Lake Gold begun a 5,000m drilling programme at its Rowan project in the Red Lake gold district.
