West Red Lake Gold Further De-Risks Fork Satellite Deposit with Successful Infill Drilling
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 17th, 2026, FinanceWire
West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd.(“West Red Lake Gold” or “WRLG” or the “Company”) (TSXV:WRLG)(OTCQB: WRLGF) is pleased to announce results from the infill drilling program at its 100% owned Fork Deposit located approximately 250 metres (“m”) southwest from its Madsen Mine in the Red Lake Gold District of Northwestern Ontario, Canada.
Shane Williams, President and CEO, stated, “Successful completion of the infill drilling program at Fork was an important step in de-risking this resource area ahead of a construction decision. The results of the drill program are very encouraging and further support the gold grade and vein continuity at Fork which will be necessary for efficient mine planning and any future extraction scenario. The engineering team at Madsen is already working on the initial mine design for this satellite area, and we look forward to continuing to evaluate this non-remnant, near surface opportunity which currently sits a mere 250 metres from our existing underground infrastructure.”
FORK DRILLING HIGHLIGHTS:
- Hole WRL26-047 Intersected 1m @ 41.25 g/t Au, from 117.6m to 118.6m; Including 0.5m @ 77.8 g/t Au, from 117.6m to 118.1m. This intercept was complimented by visible gold spatially associated with quartz veining and pyrite + pyrrhotite mineralization (Figure 1).
FIGURE 1. Multiple instances of visible gold in hole WRL-26-047 associated with quartz veining and pyrite + pyrrhotite. Drill core is NQ (47.6 mm) diameter.
- Hole WRL25-037 Intersected 4.5m @ 5.8 g/t Au, from 145.65m to 150.15m; Including 1m @ 7.68 g/t Au, from 145.65m to 146.65m; Also including 2.5m @ 6.97 g/t Au, from 147.15m to 149.65m.
- Hole WRL25-036 Intersected 3.3m @ 4.22 g/t Au, from 130.0m to 133.3m; Including 1m @ 6.83 g/t Au, from 130.3m to 131.3m; Also including 1m @ 5.7 g/t Au, from 132.3m to 133.3m. This intercept was complimented by visible gold spatially associated with quartz-diopside veining (Figure 2).
FIGURE 2. Multiple instances of visible gold in hole WRL-25-036 associated with quartz-diopside veining. Drill core is NQ (47.6 mm) diameter.
TABLE 1. Significant intercepts (>1 g/t Au) from 2025-2026 drilling at Fork Deposit.
*The “From-To” intervals in Table 1 are denoting overall downhole length of the intercept. The gold assay results presented are uncapped values. True thickness has not been calculated for these intercepts but is expected to be ≥ 70% of downhole thickness based on intercept angles observed in the drill core. Internal dilution for composite intervals does not exceed 1m for samples grading <0.1 g/t Au.
TABLE 2: Drill collar summary for 2025-2026 Fork Surface Drilling.
FORK SURFACE DRLLING PROGRAM OVERVIEW:
- The surface drilling program at Fork consisted of 3,204 m of NQ diameter diamond drilling in 17 holes to help inform a construction decision on bringing this adjacent resource area into consideration for near-term production at Madsen (initial mine design concept is illustrated in Figure 3).
- Infill drilling was focused on a shallow, high-grade, low-plunging zone of gold mineralization that was recognized during a re-evaluation of the Fork deposit by WRLG in 2024 (Figures 4 & 5).
- The zone trends north-south and has been defined by previous drilling over an area of 400 m by 250 m and shows potential for further expansion down plunge to the south. Average thickness of the zone is conservatively estimated at approximately 2 m based on existing core length intercepts.
- The shallow nature of this target allowed for systematic and efficient infill and expansion drilling from surface with holes averaging 170 m depth.
- The extension of underground development towards Fork will also open significant exploration potential and underground drilling opportunities along the main structural trend from Madsen towards the past-producing Starratt-Olson Mine which historically produced ~164,000 ounces of gold between 1948-1956.
The Fork deposit currently contains an Indicated mineral resource of 20,900 ounces (“oz”) grading 5.3 grams per tonne (“g/t”) gold (“Au”) within 123,800 tonnes with an additional Inferred resource of 49,500 oz grading 5.2 g/t Au within 298,200 tonnes. West Red Lake Gold announced the interpretation of a high-grade core within this resource in December 2024 (news release available here).
FORK DRILLING HIGHLIGHTS (HISTORIC):
- Hole RUM-08-49 Intersected 13.05m @ 13.97 g/t Au, from 107.65m to 120.7m, Including 3.63m @ 30.79 g/t Au, from 110.37m to 114.00m, Also including 1.97m @ 32.55 g/t Au, from 118.73m to 120.70m.
- Hole PDM04-318 Intersected 9.3m @ 8.14 g/t Au, from 128.1m to 137.4m, Including 0.7m @ 85.70 g/t Au, from 128.1m to 128.8m, Also including 0.6m @ 21.3 g/t Au, from 136.8m to 137.4m.
- Hole RUM-08-68 Intersected 1.3m @ 50.48 g/t Au, from 95.7m to 97.0m, Including 0.2m @ 169.09 g/t Au, from 95.8m to 96.0m, Also including 0.4m @ 53.27 g/t Au, from 96.2m to 96.6m.
- Hole PG14-011 Intersected 3.5m @ 17.18 g/t Au, from 152.5m to 156.0m, Including 1.6m @ 33.80 g/t Au, from 154.4m to 156.0m.
FIGURE 3. Conceptual Fork deposit mine design, shown relative to the Madsen Mine and past-producing Starratt-Olson Mine (above) and close up (below), with access driven from Level 3 of the McVeigh area of the Madsen Mine. Note these are provided to illustrate the proximity of the Fork deposit to the Madsen Mine and the initial mine design concept; Fork is not part of the Madsen Mine Pre-Feasibility Study (“PFS”) and mining at Fork has not been proven economic according to a Preliminary Economic Assessment, PFS, or Feasibility Study.
TABLE 3. Significant intercepts (>1 g/t Au) from historic drilling at Fork Target.
*The “From-To” intervals in Table 1 are denoting overall downhole length of the intercept. The gold assay results presented are uncapped values. True thickness has not been calculated for these intercepts but is expected to be ≥ 70% of downhole thickness based on intercept angles observed in the drill core. Internal dilution for composite intervals does not exceed 1m for samples grading <0.1 g/t Au.
TABLE 4: Drill collar summary for Historic holes reported in this News Release.
DISCUSSION:
The Fork deposit lies within two concordant shear zones spaced 100-150 m apart. These structures strike north-north-easterly and dip about -60°. The upper lens is known as the Main Zone and occurs along a shear zone that is continuous to the southwest with the shear zone that hosts the DV and CK Zones. The distribution of gold within this shear zone is controlled by the intersection with the contacts of minor ultramafic sills and iron formation units within the basalt.
The lower lens has been referred to as the Fork Footwall Zone (and it occurs within the Russet Lake Shear Zone (Baker, 2017). Here the Russet Lake Shear Zone is wholly within ultramafic volcanic rocks of the Russet Lake Ultramafic and gold mineralization is interpreted to be associated with the intersection of the shear with internal flow contacts. Significantly, the Fork Footwall Zone occurs within the same structural/stratigraphic position as the 8 Zone which occurs about 1.8 km down plunge to the northeast.
A third resource domain (North-South Domain) has been modeled between the Fork Footwall Zone and Fork Main Zone. It is not clear geologically how this relates to the modeled structures but may be a short second-order splay.
The Fork deposit is cut by late, discordant felsic, intermediate, and mafic dikes as in the mine. The mineralized body is curvilinear and is weakly folded by steeply southeast plunging F2 folds. Gold is predominantly associated with deformed quartz veins hosted within an envelope of highly strained and hydrothermally altered rock controlled by shear zones that developed oblique to the host volcanic stratigraphy. Less commonly, gold is found in replacement-style disseminations within altered basalt along and proximal to contacts with interflow iron formation or ultramafic sills. Geochemically, altered rocks at the Fork deposit are sodium-depleted as at the Madsen deposit. The Fork deposit has been drill tested over a 600 m strike length and to a vertical extent of 375 m depth. The mineralized zones are typically 1 m to 5 m thick. The deposit is located approximately 350 m from existing underground development in the West Ramp.
The Fork Footwall target is the sparsely drilled southwestern extension of the Fork Footwall Zone that particularly targets the intersection of the host Russet Lake Shear Zone structure with the Russet Lake ultramafic and overlying Balmer basalt contact. This 300 m long target has been tested by 11 drill holes and remains an active target.
High resolution versions of all the figures contained in this press release can be found at the following web address: https://westredlakegold.com/march-2026-nr-figures/
FIGURE 4. Fork Vein Long Section Showing High-Grade Historic Intercepts from Drilling Completed Between 2004 and 2017. Existing underground development at Madsen shown along right margin of the figure approximately 250 m from the Fork resource.
FIGURE 5. Deposit-scale plan map of Fork deposit area showing traces and intercepts for holes highlighted in this News Release.
FIGURE 6: Fork drill section showing assay highlights for Holes WRL-25-033 through -035.
FIGURE 7: Fork drill section showing assay highlights for Holes WRL-25-036 through -038 and -048.
FIGURE 8: Fork drill section showing assay highlights for Holes WRL-25-039 and -040.
FIGURE 9: Fork drill section showing assay highlights for Holes WRL-25-041 and -042.
FIGURE 10: Fork drill section showing assay highlights for Holes WRL-25-043 through -045.
FIGURE 11: Fork drill section showing assay highlights for Holes WRL-25-047.
FIGURE 12: Fork drill section showing assay highlights for Holes WRL-25-049 and -050.
QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL
Drilling completed at Fork consists of oriented NQ-sized diamond drill core. All drill holes are systematically logged, photographed, and sampled by a trained geologist at a temporary core processing facility setup to support the Fork surface drilling program. Minimum allowable sample length is 0.5m. Maximum allowable sample length is 1.5m. Standard reference materials and blanks are inserted at a targeted 5% insertion rate. After logging, the core is transported to the Madsen core logging facility for cutting. The drill core is then cut lengthwise utilizing a diamond blade core saw along a line pre-selected by the geologist. To reduce sampling bias, the same side of drill core is sampled consistently utilizing the orientation line as reference. For those samples containing visible gold (“VG”), a trained geologist supervises the cutting/bagging of those samples, and ensures the core saw blade is ‘cleaned’ with a dressing stone following the VG sample interval. Bagged samples are then sealed with zip ties with additional security tags, and transported by freight courier to ALS Thunder Bay, Ontario for assay.
Samples are then prepped by ALS, which consists of drying at 105°C and crushing to 70% passing 2mm. A riffle splitter is then utilized to produce a 250g course reject for archive. The remainder of the sample is then pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns from which 50g is analyzed by fire assay and an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish. Samples returning gold values > 100 g/t Au are reanalyzed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish on a 50g sample. Samples with visible gold are also analyzed via metallic screen analysis (ALS code: AU-SCR24). For multi-element analysis, samples are sent to ALS’s facility in Vancouver, British Columbia and analyzed via four-acid digest with a mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) finish for 48-element analysis on 0.25g sample pulps (ALS code: ME-MS61). ALS Geochemistry analytical laboratories operate under a single Global Geochemistry Quality Manual that complies with ISO/IEC 17025:2017.
The Madsen Mine deposit presently hosts a National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”) Indicated resource of 1.65 million ounces (“Moz”) of gold grading 7.4 g/t Au within 6.9 Mt, and an Inferred resource of 0.37 Moz of gold grading 6.3 g/t Au within 1.8 Mt. Mineral resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 3.38 g/t Au and a gold price of US$1,800/oz. Mineral resources as stated are inclusive of mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The Madsen Mine also contains Probable reserves of 478 thousand ounces (“koz”) of gold grading 8.16 g/t Au within 1.87 Mt. Mineral reserve estimates are based on a gold price of US$1,680/oz. Please refer to the technical report entitled “NI 43-101 Technical Report and Prefeasibility Study for the Madsen Mine, Ontario, Canada”, prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. and dated January 7, 2025 (the “Madsen Report”). The Madsen Resource Estimate has an effective date of December 31, 2021, and excludes depletion of mining activity during the period from January 1, 2022, to the mine closure on October 24, 2022, as it has been deemed immaterial and not relevant for the purpose of the Madsen Report. A full copy of the Madsen Report is available on the Company’s website and on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.
The technical information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Will Robinson, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for West Red Lake Gold and the Qualified Person for exploration at the West Red Lake Project, as defined by NI 43-101 “Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects”.
MARKETING AGREEMENT
The Company also announces it has entered into a marketing agreement with Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC, on behalf of Peter Schiff (“EPAM”) to provide investor awareness and promotional services in connection with WRLG’s commercial production activities and public market development. EPAM will provide the Company with services which include, commercial reads on podcasts, periodic social media mentions related to gold markets and WRLG developments. The engagement commences upon approval from the TSX Venture Exchange and is for an initial term of 12 months with a fee payable by WRLG to EPAM of USD $75,000 per month, payable in advance for a total campaign budget not exceeding USD $900,000. No securities will be issued as compensation under the agreement. EPAM and its principal Peter Schiff currently hold 700,000 common shares with intent that they may purchase additionally. The Company and EPAM act at arm’s length.
The marketing agreement with EPAM is subject to approval from the TSX Venture Exchange.
ABOUT WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES
West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. is a mineral exploration company that is publicly traded and focused on advancing and developing its flagship Madsen Gold Mine and the associated 47 km2 highly prospective land package in the Red Lake district of Ontario. The highly productive Red Lake Gold District of Northwest Ontario, Canada has yielded over 30 million ounces of gold from high-grade zones and hosts some of the world’s richest gold deposits. WRLG also holds the wholly owned Rowan Property in Red Lake, with an expansive property position covering 31 km2 including three past producing gold mines – Rowan, Mount Jamie, and Red Summit.
ON BEHALF OF WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES LTD.
“Shane Williams”
Shane Williams
President & Chief Executive Officer
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Shane Williams
CEO
Tel: (604) 609-6132
Email: investors@wrlgold.com or visit the Company’s website at https://www.westredlakegold.com
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT AND FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information generally can be identified by words such as “anticipate”, “expect”, “estimate”, “forecast”, “planned”, and similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Forward-looking information is based on current expectations of management; however, it is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information in this news release and include without limitation, statements relating to the potential production of mining operations at the Madsen Mine; the anticipated drilling to occur at Madsen for the remainder of 2026; any untapped growth potential in the Madsen deposit or Rowan deposit; the provision and outcome of the services provided by EPAM, the receipt of approval from the TSX Venture Exchange; and the Company’s future objectives and plans. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.
Forward-looking information involves numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking information. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, market volatility; the state of the financial markets for the Company’s securities; fluctuations in commodity prices; and changes in the Company’s business plans. Forward-looking information is based on a number of key expectations and assumptions, including without limitation, that the Company will continue with its stated business objectives and its ability to raise additional capital to proceed. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Additional information about risks and uncertainties is contained in the Company’s management’s discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2024, and the Company’s annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2024, copies of which are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.
The forward-looking information contained herein is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Forward-looking information reflects management’s current beliefs and is based on information currently available to the Company. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this news release and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by applicable law.
For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company’s continuous disclosure filings that are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8967e0e2-d94d-4a65-aab0-c7b5339beefd
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/77c1fd9f-b567-4aad-bf93-0ec270230ede
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https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f989c648-4279-4bc8-a915-bcc74669adf3
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8dda6f62-9ccc-4b4f-acee-db5a6b8a3961
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https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7d178a8c-4bef-433b-82ed-cde55ad6bf6b
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https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/39870dc7-4d29-460b-b521-83c44a3c6a33
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b7c5af39-b7fc-49e5-bfa7-5a36cfb84e31
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/afe0fbe5-034e-480a-9bdb-88fdce872382
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b6dd3211-f147-47db-a158-f06a2f866d6c
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2547811f-c88c-45cd-bb63-0709cd4cda75
Featured Image @ Freepik
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