Expanding Eagle River while moving Kiena toward restart By Kevin Vincent
Emerging mid-tier producer Wesdome Gold Mines has both hands full these days. The company is enjoying successful exploration results on two fronts, their Eagle River Mine near Wawa and the brownfield Kiena project near Val D’Or. If all goes according to plan, the company will know sometime in 2021 whether they will be producing from both locations. In late summer, Wesdome revealed some spectacular drill numbers from Eagle River, including; 49.9 g/t over 4.9m; 314.4 g/t Au over 6.0m core length; and 68.4 g/t Au over 2.3m. “We are pleased with our ongoing exploration efforts at the Eagle River Mine, albeit presently at reduced capacity,” said Mr. Duncan Middle-
miss, President and CEO. That exploration suggests the Falcon Zone goes a kilometre deeper. “Intersecting the down plunge extension of the Falcon Zone with underground drilling really shows the potential of the Falcon Zone extending to the Mine 7 Zone, which is in excess of 1,000 m down plunge. This is significant, as the extension of this zone is proximal to mine infrastructure and has the potential to be included in future mine production and ultimately augment production rates in the medium term.” Middlemiss says the company continues to stringently monitor the health and safety recommendations and measures of the COVID-19 pandemic. The health and safety of the community, employees and contractors are the com-
pany’s first priority. The CEO says Wesdome is committed to supporting all health recommendations and orders as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, there have been no suspected COVID-19 cases at the company’s operations or corporate offices. At Kiena meanwhile, Wesdome is aggressively building a case to reopen the Quebec-based gold mine. Drill results there are just as impressive as the company inches toward a pre-feasibility study and production decision. “We are pleased with the ongoing drilling program that continues to focus on definition drilling of the high grade A Zone, in order to convert inferred resources to indicated resources, in advance of an updated resource estimate later in the year
The Covid-19 pandemic slowed work on the project, as NextBridge suspended work in early April. They took time to develop a plan to keep workers and communities as safe as possible before worked slowly resumed in mid-May. NextBridge aims to have strong community relations, Indigenous relations, and have a Community Investment Program, where applicants in communities along the right of way can apply for financial support for projects, initiatives, or events.NextBridge says the project will provide an estimated $200 million in economic benefits to lo-
cal Indigenous communities. As the project was being developed, six First Nation communities along the corridor formed the Bamkushwada Limited Partnership, an Indigenous economic consortium that owns Supercom Industries Ltd, a general partner corporation pursuing contracting, employment, and training opportunities. On February 20 of this year, Rickford announced a $1.5 million dollar government investment in Supercom over the next three years for training for over 170 Indigenous tradespeople who will work on the East-West Tie project.
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ground-breaking ceremony held on October 2, 2019. The project consists of 11 different segments, or work-fronts. Four employee camps were also built to house construction staff. The work will move along the corridor in phases, very similar to highway and road construction. Right of way and access roads are built, and surveys are conducted to confirm the tower locations. The materials get delivered, foundations and anchors for the towers get installed, and the towers are then set into place with either cranes or helicopters.
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