West Red Lake Gold Mines has commenced a fully funded infill drilling programme at its wholly owned Fork deposit, situated around 250m south-west of the company’s Madsen mine in the Red Lake Gold District of north-western Ontario, Canada.
The Fork deposit infill drilling programme aims to inform a construction decision for potential near-term production at the adjacent resource area.
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The drill programme at Fork will include roughly 3,000m of NQ-diameter diamond drilling from surface.
West Red Lake Gold Mines will concentrate the infill drilling on a shallow, high-grade, low-plunging zone of gold mineralisation, which was identified during a re-evaluation of the Fork deposit in the past year.
This mineralised zone trends north-south and has previously been outlined through drilling across an area measuring 400m×250m, with potential for further expansion down plunge to the south.
West Red Lake Gold Mines president and CEO Shane Williams said: “Once considered a somewhat diffuse, intermediate-grade portion of the satellite resource inventory at Madsen, the core of Fork has been re-envisioned as a high-grade near-mine resource expansion target that is a priority for immediate advancement.
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By GlobalData“The shallow nature of the deposit will allow for efficient definition drilling from surface and, with its high grades and proximity to existing underground development, it is easy to envision this core zone of Fork becoming part of the production pipeline at Madsen, based on successful infill drilling results.”
The target zone’s average thickness is conservatively estimated at around 2m, based on current core length intercepts.
The shallow nature of the mineralised zone will enable systematic and efficient infill and expansion drilling from surface, with drill-holes averaging 170m deep.
Advancing underground development towards the Fork Deposit is expected to unlock significant exploration potential and underground drilling opportunities along the main structural trend from Madsen towards the past-producing Starratt-Olson mine.
The Starratt-Olson mine historically produced around 164,000oz of gold between 1948 and 1956.
West Red Lake Gold Mines reports that the Fork Deposit currently hosts an indicated mineral resource of 20,900oz grading 5.3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, along with an additional inferred resource of 49,500oz at 5.2g/t gold.
Williams added: “The Madsen Mine shows clear potential to become a sizeable and long-lived operation, with several satellite deposits not yet considered in the mine plan, multiple untested exploration targets, and a 1.5-million-ounce indicated resource that is wide open for expansion at depth.
“Fork is the first opportunity we are advancing to make good on that potential. As an unmined and near-surface deposit sitting just 250m from Madsen, Fork offers a non-remnant zone of mineralisation that could be accessed within a few months of development and sequenced into the mine plan with ease, providing additional optionality and ounces in the near term.
“With Madsen nearing commercial production in Q1 of 2026 we are ready to actively pursue a hub-and-spoke growth model at Madsen. Simultaneous surface drilling programmes at Fork and Rowan take us in that direction and we will continue to evaluate and develop additional high-grade gold opportunities within the Red Lake district.”
In October, West Red Lake Gold commenced a 5,000m drilling programme at its Rowan project in the Red Lake Gold District.
