Red Pine builds up Wawa project in Ontario

The land package containing Red Pine Exploration’s (TSXV: RPX) Wawa gold project in Ontario hosts numerous historic mines that in their heyday produced more than 120,000 oz. gold.

The largest gold deposit Red Pine has found so far on the property — 2 km southeast of the town of Wawa — is called Surluga, and the company has updated a 2015 resource estimate, and marked an increase in grade, quality and continuity of the gold zones.

The new resource supports a shift from an open-development plan to a high-grade underground model, the company says.

At a 2.7 gram gold per tonne cut-off grade, the new resource stands at 1.2 million tonnes grading 5.31 grams gold per tonne for 205,000 oz. gold in the indicated category, and another 2.36 million tonnes grading 5.22 grams gold for 396,000 oz. inferred.

Looking at drill core at the Wawa gold project in Ontario. Credit: Red Pine Exploration.

The company plans to combine the resource at Surluga with one it completed in November 2018 on its Minto Mine South Zone, 2,500 metres away. Both deposits are open at depth, and over 95% of the contained ounces in both deposits are between surface and a vertical depth of 350 metres.

Red Pine discovered the Minto Mine South project area in the extension of the historic Minto mine in April 2017.

It completed 26,275 metres of diamond drilling between April 2017 and July 2018.

After assays arrived in late 2018, Red Pine unveiled a resource for Minto Mine South of 105,000 tonnes grading 7.5 grams gold for 25,000 oz. gold in the indicated category, and another 354,000 tonnes of 6.6 grams gold for 75,000 oz. gold in the inferred.

Drill core from Red Pine Exploration’s Wawa project. Credit: Red Pine Exploration.

The resource used a 3.5 gram gold cut-off grade, and 100% of the indicated resource is situated at a depth of less than 180 metres, while 92% of the inferred resource lies at less than a 235-metre depth.

The company also said at the time that the resource estimate covered 15–20% of the footprint at Minto Mine South.

Red Pine estimates that the combined Minto Mine South and Surluga deposits contain 1.31 million indicated tonnes grading 5.47 grams gold for 230,000 oz. gold, and another 2.72 million inferred tonnes averaging 5.39 grams gold for 471,000 oz. gold.

The two resource estimates were supported by 53,000 metres of new diamond drilling in Minto Mine South and Surluga between November 2016 and January 2019.

The resource estimate for Surluga also includes results from the sampling of 42,000 metres of historic drill core that were never assayed.

At press time, Red Pine traded at 3.5¢ in a 52-week range of 3.5¢ to 8¢. The junior explorer has 369 million common shares outstanding for a $12.9-million market capitalization.