With the drilling done on its gold deposit, Red Pine Exploration has started a technical and economic study to consider carving out a small open-pit gold mine, ahead of a potentially larger operation, outside Wawa.
The Toronto junior miner is evaluating the potential to begin mining operations at its Wawa Gold Project with two initial starter pits. The details will be fleshed out through a preliminary economic assessment (PEA), which the company said it has commenced and expects to release in the first half of next year.
Red Pine wrapped up 24,600-metre drilling program last month that it had started back November on its 7,000-hectare property, located 500 metres west of the Wawa airport. The property package contains a number of historic, past-producing gold mines.
Drilling had been in and around an existing deposit to better determine its size as well as going deeper down to expand its parameters in a very promising geological structural feature called the Jubilee Shear.
In a July 23 news release announcing the PEA, Red Pine released a smattering of drill results, including an impressive drill hit of 45.38 grams per tonne gold over a 3.13-metre length of core. More assay results are on the way.
A PEA is a study that provides an initial evaluation to determine if a mining project is economically viable. It’s an important first step to guide a decision if a given deposit warrants further investment for development.
In a statement, Red Pine CEO Michael Michaud said the drill program not only expanded the potential size of their deposit, “but it has also better defined the near-surface mineralization, providing confidence for our review of the starter pit development scenario that is ongoing.”
Breaking ground on a starter pit on the surface might lead to a larger open pit or an underground operation, the company said.
When the PEA is released in 2026, it will outline a development scenario for a mine and highlight the value of the deposit.
Earlier this month, Red Pine successfully raised $8.5 million in financing to fund the PEA and start the required baseline studies to begin the permitting process. In designing and permitting a mine, the company is doing metallurgical testing and geotechnical ground work at the site, as well as environmental studies, taking into account the surface and ground water, and area terrestrial and aquatic life.
Red Pine made news in 2024 for the wrong reasons. The company was subject to a drill assay tampering scandal, forcing them to independently verify their drill data catalogue.
The company recovered and posted a new gold resource last year, based off of 65,000 metres of drilling over the last five years.
The company said then it was examining its mining options, which could begin with a low-grade starter pit before transitioning to higher grade gold deeper down. Red Pine also expects to release a new mineral resource estimate at some point.
