Vancouver’s Pure Gold Mining has started testing mining at its Madsen Gold Project near Red Lake in northwestern Ontario.
The mine developer announced July 10 that the decline has been extended by 87 metres and mining has started on the first of two planned stopes in the McVeigh Zone.
Muck samples from the blasted material is averaging 18.8 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold with chip samples averaging 15.3 g/t.
The company said the results have “exceeded expectations in terms of grades and widths and have highlighted the clear visual nature of the mineralization.”
The testing mine wraps up in September when it’s expected they’ll have excavated a 7,200-tonne bulk sample of gold-bearing material.
The results will be used in their resource modelling and provide valuable geotechnical data in the feasibility study that’s currently underway and scheduled for release later this year.
The company firmly believes the Madsen project will be Ontario’s next gold mine.
“Our test mining and bulk sample program are key components of the Madsen Gold Project Definitive Feasibility Study,” said Ken Donner, Pure Gold’s vice-president of operations, in a statement.
“Ramp development was rapidly completed in excellent ground conditions, allowing lateral development to commence in late June. Thus far, the underground geological team has demonstrated the ability to identify and follow the mineralized structure, and development has returned wide zones of high grade mineralization through the first stoping unit.
"Grade control results to date have exceeded the resource model in this area. Near surface, ramp-accessible high grade gold will form an important component of the mine schedule during a period when capital payback is important.”
The Madsen property hosts two former gold mines plus extensive mining and milling infrastructure.
Since the Red Lake district went into production in 1928, the Madsen Mine became the camp’s first million ounce gold producer and eventually recorded 2.5 million ounces between 1938 and 1976, averaging 9.9 grams per tonne.
Pure Gold picked up the property in 2014.
The current indicated resource is 1,744,000 ounces gold at 8.7 g/t gold (in 6.2 million tonnes) with an inferred resource of 296,000 ounces gold at 7.9 g/t gold (in 1.2 million tonnes).
