TORONTO, Sept. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX: WDO) (“Wesdome” or the “Company”) today announces underground exploration drilling results from the Kiena Deep Zone and initial surface exploration drilling results at the Company’s 100% owned Kiena Mine Complex in Val d'Or, Quebec.

Kiena Deep A Zone and Footwall Zone Drilling
On March 23, 2021, Wesdome announced the discovery of a new high grade gold zone in the footwall of the A Zone, (the Footwall Zone), which has been the focus of our in-fill drilling over the past several months.

The Footwall Zone is interpreted as lenses of gold mineralization located within a 50 metre (‘m’) wide corridor adjacent to the footwall of the A2 Zone. Gold mineralization is associated with quartz ± visible gold veins that are spatially associated with amphibolite altered komatiite, basaltic komatiite and basalt units.

Because the recent drilling has been impacted by the industry wide shortage of skilled drillers, 11 holes and their wedges having reached the Footwall and A Zones since the last press release. As such, additional drilling is still required to determine the geometry of the mineralized lenses forming the corridor of the Footwall Zone. The orientation, dip and geometry of these new lenses will need to be confirmed in order to determine true widths. However, it is interpreted that the Footwall zone runs parallel to the A Zone and extends at least 300 m. Mineralization remains open laterally and down plunge (Figure 1).

Figure 1: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3430c154-f363-40ca-837d-555870a93e9c

Additionally, the recent A Zone high grade drill intersections inside and outside of the current A Zone resource block model shows the potential to expand the current resource estimate.

Highlights of the recent drilling are listed below and summarized in Table 1.

• Hole 6762: 132.1 g/t Au over 7.4 m core length (27.6 g/t Au capped, 3.9 m true width) A Zone
• Hole 6752W4: 34.3 g/t Au over 7.2 m core length (32.2 g/t Au capped, 3.5 m true width) A2 Zone
• Hole 6762W2: 13.4 g/t Au over 16.0 m core length (13.0 g/t Au capped) Footwall Zone
• Hole 6762W1: 20.1 g/t Au over 9.1 m core length (18.5 g/t Au capped) Footwall Zone

All assays cut to 90.0 g/t Au. True widths are unknown at this time for the Footwall Zone.

Regional Surface Exploration Drilling

Initial surface drilling has focused on the Presqu’ile and Shawkey areas located northwest and southeast of the Kiena Mine, respectively (Figure 2). Since July 2021, two drills on barges have been testing the continuity of some gold anomalies in the Jacola Formation which host the Kiena mine. In early September 2021, a third drill was added in the Shawkey area to follow up on historical gold anomalies and newly intersected mineralization.

Figure 2: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0eee8d9b-acee-4ed5-b4c0-25861f3661f1

Highlights of the recent drilling at Presqu’ìle and Shawkey zones are listed below and summarized in Table 2.

• Hole PR-20-001: 1515.0 g/t Au over 0.5 m core length
• Hole PR-20-001: 23.1 g/t Au over 2.2 m core length
• Hole PR-21-008: 63.9 g/t Au over 0.9 m core length
• Hole SW-21-009: 20.80 g/t Au over 1.5 m core length
• Hole SW-21-013: 29.40 g/t Au over 1.1 m core length

The true widths of the intersections of the Presqu’ìle zones are believed to be of 70% or higher of the intersected length.

Previous drilling at the Presqu’ile zones has defined a small near surface mineral resource (see press release dated December 15th, 2020). Eleven of the reported holes for this zone intersected gold mineralization and helped to define a steeply east-plunging trend. Future drilling will continue to test the extent of the mineralization which is near to an underground access at a vertical depth of 320 m below surface and approximately 450 m to the north.

The drilling in the Shawkey area was following up on gold anomalies in historical holes and exploring untested areas along strike. Eight holes intersected a new zone called Bourgo which is perpendicular to the general northwest-southeast trend. It consists of quartz veins with very low sulphide content hosted in a komatiitic basalt unit. The northern orientation is similar to the orientation of the nearby Kiena Deep A Zones. Drilling is planned to improve the understanding of this area.

Mr. Duncan Middlemiss, President and CEO commented, “We are pleased with the recent underground exploration drilling that continues to define the high grade Footwall Zone, which already extends over 300 metres down plunge. This new discovery could have major positive impacts on the project as the underground infrastructure utilized to access the A Zones would only incrementally be added to for the potential mining of the Footwall Zones. It is our goal to include this zone in the updated mineral resource estimate at year end.

We are also pleased with initial surface exploration results which could potentially increase our resource base in areas proximal to the mine. These results also illustrate the excellent potential to find new discoveries on our large, and hugely underexplored property. The fact we have mineralization in a similar orientation as the A Zones in the Bourgo Zone is notable. Any near mine resource has the potential to add additional mill feed and place less strain with increased flexibility on mine production.

Drilling has been impacted by a very competitive market, and we are working with our drilling contractors to mitigate the shortage of drillers in the area and hope to increase drilling rates going forward.

We are also pleased with the progress being made ramping up production at Kiena. The first stope from the Kiena Deep A Zone is now in production as per plan and will be processed soon at the Kiena mill, which has been processing ore from the S-50 zone since mid-July. We are satisfied with the advancement of the project so far and will provide updates accordingly.”

TECHNICAL DISCLOSURE
The underground technical and geoscientific content of this release has been compiled, reviewed and approved by Bruno Turcotte, P.Geo., (OGQ #453) Chief Geologist – Underground Exploration of the Company. The surface technical and geoscientific content of this release has been compiled, reviewed and approved by Yan Ducharme, P.Geo., (OGQ #690) Exploration Manager of the Company. Both are a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 -Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Analytical work was performed by ALS Minerals of Val-d’Or (Quebec), a certified commercial laboratory (Accredited Lab #689). Sample preparation was done at ALS Minerals in Val d'Or (Quebec). Assaying was done by fire assay methods with an atomic absorption finish. Any sample assaying >3 g/t Au was rerun by fire assay method with gravimetric finish, and any sample assaying >10 g/t Au was rerun with the metallic sieve method. In addition to laboratory internal duplicates, standards and blanks, the geology department inserts blind duplicates, standards and blanks into the sample stream at a frequency of one in twenty to monitor quality control.

COVID-19
The health and safety of our employees, contractors, vendors, and consultants is the Company’s top priority. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Wesdome has adopted all public health guidelines regarding safety measures and protocols at all of its mine operations and corporate offices. In addition, our internal COVID-19 Taskforce continues to monitor developments and implement policies and programs intended to protect those who are engaged in business with the Company.

Through care and planning, to date the Company has successfully maintained operations, however there can be no assurance that this will continue despite our best efforts. Future conditions may warrant reduced or suspended production activities which could negatively impact our ability to maintain projected timelines and objectives. Consequently, the Company’s actual future production and production guidance is subject to higher levels of risk than usual. We are continuing to closely monitor the situation and will provide updates as they become available.

ABOUT WESDOME
Wesdome Gold Mines is a 100% Canadian focused Company that has had over 30 years of continuous gold mining operations in Canada.  The Company’s strategy is to build an intermediate gold producer, producing 200,000+ ounces from two mines in Ontario and Quebec. The Eagle River Complex in Wawa, Ontario is currently increasing gold production from the high-grade Eagle River Underground Mine.  Wesdome is actively exploring its brownfields asset, the Kiena Complex in Val d’Or, Quebec.  The Kiena Complex is a fully permitted former mine with a 930-metre shaft and 2,000 tonne-per-day mill.  The Company is currently completing a PFS in support of a production restart decision. The Company is in the process of divesting of its Moss Lake gold deposit, located 100 kilometres (“kms”) west of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Company has approximately 140.8 million shares issued and outstanding and trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “WDO.”

For further information, please contact:

220 Bay St, Suite 1200
Toronto, ON, M5J 2W4
Toll Free: 1-866-4-WDO-TSX
Phone: 416-360-3743, Fax: 416-360-7620
Website: www.wesdome.com

This news release contains “forward-looking information” which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the future financial or operating performance of the Company and its projects. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates”, or “believes” or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this press release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances, management’s estimates or opinions should change, except as required by securities legislation. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company has included in this news release certain non-IFRS performance measures, including, but not limited to, mine operating profit, mining and processing costs and cash costs. Cash costs per ounce reflect actual mine operating costs incurred during the fiscal period divided by the number of ounces produced. These measures are not defined under IFRS and therefore should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to or more meaningful than, net income (loss) or cash flow from operating activities as determined in accordance with IFRS as an indicator of our financial performance or liquidity. The Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company's performance and ability to generate cash flow

Table 1: Kiena Complex Underground Drilling Assay and Composite Results

Composites

Assays

Table 2: Kiena Complex Surface Drilling Assay and Composite Results

Assays

PDF available: http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/736587a2-bdac-4c0f-8777-79461bbb780c 

Figure 1Footwall ZoneFigure 2Surface Results