Wesdome Gold Mines posted a record-setting second quarter and its Eagle River mine, outside Wawa, has been a major catalyst.
On Aug. 13, the Toronto gold company posted a record quarterly profit of $82.7 million and generated $53 million in free cash flow during the quarter, surpassing its figure for all of 2024.
Of the company’s total gold production of 42,781 ounces during the quarter, Eagle River produced 25,612 ounces of gold, up 33 per cent from the same time last year.
Through the first half of this year, Eagle River produced 54,611 ounces, up 24 per cent from the first half of 2024.
Eagle River’s gold revenue increased by 119 per cent to $122.6 million during the quarter and 78 per cent during the first half of 2025 due to the higher average price of gold.
Eagle River is 50 kilometres west of Wawa and is one of the company’s two underground mines, the other being Kiena at Val d’Or, Que.
Wesdome expects Eagle River gold production in the second half of this year will occupy 55 per cent of the company’s total output in 2025.
In a conference call with analysts last week, Wesdome president-CEO Anthea Bath chalked up the mine’s “excellent” performance to a multi-year turnaround program launched in mid-2024 that’s led to safety improvements, increases in production, higher gold grades, better mill performance, and decreases in costs.
Higher gold prices, robust cash generation, liquidity of more than $500 million, and a debt-free balance sheet has put Wesdome in its “strongest position in company history,” Bath said.
Bath said Wesdome is following through on its strategy in “shifting from a short-term, just-in-time approach to one that is focused on building long-term, sustainable value.”
To that end, Wesdome has decided to boost Eagle River's production goals for 2025 from 100,000 to 110,000 ounces to 105,000 to 115,000 ounces.
Company management said they’re starting to see tangible results from a dedicated improvement program at Eagle River that’s now producing results in the form of cost savings, which has lowered the all-in-sustaining cost to produce an ounce of gold.
Wesdome said it’s targeting up to $4 million in annual savings this year from several areas, including improved maintenance from a new surface workshop opening in September and more integrated planning across the mine and mill.
Wesdome said it’s shifting away from contractors to more owner-operated work in areas such as surface ore haulage as new trucks arrive.
Since late 2024, the company has been steadily bringing underground development work in-house. This year, half of the development metres are now being carried out by Eagle River crews.
The underground mine and mill employs 532, including 182 contractors.
Investments are also being made into infrastructure including making upgrades to its mill at Eagle River during an 18-day shutdown in May and June.
“We’re aligning the best practices and it’s paying off,” Guy Baloo, Wesdome’s chief operating officer.
The Eagle River team is looking to create more mining fronts and use the drill bit to discover new zones and stock up on gold resources to keep mining for years to come.
Through exploration drilling of new zones at Eagle River, Wesdome sees more mining fronts being created in increasing from “three to four zones to between five and seven zones in the next two years,” said Baloo.
Wesdome officials acknowledge that exploration is key to the mine’s future. Now they’ll have more land to explore.
Wesdome closed its acquisition of neighbouring Angus Gold on June 27, increasing its land package to more than 400 square kilometres. With it comes a wealth of geological data from a highly prospective land package.
With this property comes some top-tier exploration targets around the mine, the company said, which supports their growth strategy to prolong the mine's life.
To evaluate its pipeline of gold prospects for the next wave of expansion at Eagle River, Wesdome said it’s investing up to $50 million in exploration to fully unlock the property’s potential. A mineral resource update is expected out by month’s end with a new resource model for Eagle River due out at some point.
