Wesdome Gold is planning an aggressive exploration program near its mining operations in Wawa.
The Toronto miner has earmarked $4.5 million for 63,000 metres of drilling at its Eagle River Mine and its nearby Mishi Project.
It's part of the company's larger $11.7 million exploration budget outlined for this year on its Ontario and Quebec properties.
At Wawa, work is focusing on accessing its high grade 811 Zone in the western part of the mine.
In a March 30 release, the company said an access decline will open up the central portion of the mine which will allow for a drilling drift to be established at a depth of 700 metres. It will allow for more deeper drilling of the 811 Zone down to depths of 1,000 metres starting in 2012.
Limited deep drilling so far has traced the host vein structure to depths of 1,300 metres.
Wesdome also said it expects to start early production on its Mishi Project by the fourth quarter of this year. It's located two kilometres west of the Eagle River mill.
The mine will have a five-year life and the plan is to use existing infrastructure to minimize costs.
Over the last 16 years, Eagle River has produced more than 858,000 ounces of gold from 2.8 million tonnes milled at an average recovered grade of 9.4 grams gold per tonne. Wesdome said almost all production has come from depths of 500 metres of less.
