West Red Lake Gold Further De-Risks Fork Satellite Deposit with Successful Infill Drilling

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. GNW

Article content

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — 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.

Article content

Article content

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.”

Article content

Article content

Article content

FORK DRILLING HIGHLIGHTS:

Article content

Article content

Article content

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.

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

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.

Article content

TABLE 1. Significant intercepts (>1 g/t Au) from 2025-2026 drilling at Fork Deposit.

Article content

Article content

*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.

Article content

TABLE 2: Drill collar summary for 2025-2026 Fork Surface Drilling.

Article content

Article content

Article content

FORK SURFACE DRLLING PROGRAM OVERVIEW:

Article content

Article content

Article content

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).

Article content

FORK DRILLING HIGHLIGHTS (HISTORIC):

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

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.

Article content

TABLE 3. Significant intercepts (>1 g/t Au) from historic drilling at Fork Target.

Article content

Article content

Article content

*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.

Article content

TABLE 4: Drill collar summary for Historic holes reported in this News Release.

Article content

Article content

Article content

DISCUSSION:

Article content

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.

Article content

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.

Article content

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.

Article content

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.

Article content

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.

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

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.

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

FIGURE 5. Deposit-scale plan map of Fork deposit area showing traces and intercepts for holes highlighted in this News Release.

Article content

Article content

FIGURE 6: Fork drill section showing assay highlights for Holes WRL-25-033 through -035.

Article content

Article content

FIGURE 7: Fork drill section showing assay highlights for Holes WRL-25-036 through -038 and -048.

Article content

Article content

FIGURE 8: Fork drill section showing assay highlights for Holes WRL-25-039 and -040.

Article content

Article content

FIGURE 9: Fork drill section showing assay highlights for Holes WRL-25-041 and -042.

Article content

Article content

FIGURE 10: Fork drill section showing assay highlights for Holes WRL-25-043 through -045.

Article content

Article content

FIGURE 11: Fork drill section showing assay highlights for Holes WRL-25-047.

Article content

Article content

Article content

FIGURE 12: Fork drill section showing assay highlights for Holes WRL-25-049 and -050.

Article content

QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL

Article content

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.

Article content

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.

Article content

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.

Article content

Article content

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”.

Article content

MARKETING AGREEMENT

Article content

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. 

Article content

Article content

The marketing agreement with EPAM is subject to approval from the TSX Venture Exchange.

Article content

ABOUT WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES

Article content

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.

Article content

Article content

ON BEHALF OF WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES LTD.

Article content

“Shane Williams”

Article content

Shane Williams
President & Chief Executive Officer

Article content

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Article content

Shane Williams

Article content

CEO

Article content

Tel: (604) 609-6132

Article content

Article content

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.

Article content

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT AND FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Article content

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.

Article content

Article content

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.

Article content

Article content

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.

Article content

For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company’s continuous disclosure filings that are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content

Article content