Name of the Project
Kiena gold project.

Location
Val d’Or, Quebec, Canada.

Project Owner/s
Wesdome Gold.

Project Description
A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) has indicated that the proposed project has technical and financial merit using the base case assumptions. The project has measured and indicated resources of 679 000 t grading 18.55 g/t gold.

The project includes the milling and tailings facilities of the Kiena mine, nine shafts – including the 930 m Kiena shaft – related underground workings from past producers and exploration projects, as well as various surface facilities. The project is fully permitted.

The project aims to use the longhole mining method to produce between 450 t/d and 850 t/d. Standard development methods will be used for development.

The overall strategy is to maximise throughput from the high-grade Kiena Deep A Zone and to augment the production with the South, VC, S50 and B Zones. Ore will be hauled by trucks to the shaft ore passes already established in the mine. Waste rock from development and about 38% of the tailings produced at the process plant will be returned to underground workings for backfilling purposes.

Average yearly gold production has been estimated at 85 931 oz/y.

The PEA estimates a mine life of eight years.

The current cyanidation and carbon-in-pulp mill circuit is well-positioned to maximise the gold recovery of the five zones, with a recovery averaging 97%. The installation of a free gold recovery circuit will be the subject of an optimisation study included in the prefeasibility study (PFS).

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Based on a base case, the pretax net present value, at a 5% discount rate, is estimated at $620.4-million, with an internal rate of return of 126%. Payback is estimated at 1.6 years.

Capital Expenditure
The total preproduction capital cost of the project is estimated at C$34.8-million. The preproduction capital expenditure includes refurbishments in the mine and the process plant, mine development, mining equipment, engineering, and field programmes.

Planned Start/End Date
Ore sill production is planned for the first half of 2021 and will be stockpiled during this period.

The production plan is based on a mill startup in the second half of 2021.

Latest Developments
Wesdome has identified additional field work, metallurgical testwork, trade-off studies and analysis required to support more advanced mining studies.

The qualified persons consider the PEA results sufficiently reliable and recommend that the gold project be advanced to next stage of development through the initiation of a PFS.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Wesdome Gold, tel +1 416360 3743 or email info@wesdome.com