Wesdome Gold Mines Targets Mill Expansion, District-Scale Growth at Eagle River, Kiena

Key Points

• Wesdome is pursuing capital-efficient production growth at its Eagle River and Kiena mines by increasing mill utilization; the facilities currently operate at roughly 70% and 40% of capacity, respectively.
• The company plans to spend C$55 million on exploration in 2026, drilling about 270 kilometers to test potentially broader, deeper and more continuous mineralized systems. Its conceptual exploration target of up to 6.3 million ounces is not yet a resource estimate.
• Wesdome is evaluating district-scale expansion opportunities, including the Mishi-Magnacon corridor at Eagle River and the Kiena Deep, East and North areas. Management says future investments will be judged primarily by their ability to increase value per share, not production alone.

Wesdome Gold Mines TSE: WDO outlined an organic growth strategy centered on expanding production and extending mine life at its Eagle River and Kiena operations through exploration, higher mill utilization and potential development of broader mining districts.

During the presentation, the company said both assets are located in established Canadian gold regions and have existing processing and surface infrastructure that could support growth with relatively limited additional capital. Eagle River has operated continuously since 1995 and has produced more than 2 million ounces of gold, while Kiena has also produced roughly 2 million ounces.

Wesdome said its strategy begins with filling its existing mills. Eagle River is currently operating at about 70% of milling capacity, while Kiena is operating at roughly 40% of capacity. The company said greater throughput could provide a capital-efficient route to higher production while leveraging the fixed-cost base of its high-grade, low-tonnage underground mines.

Exploration program targets larger systems

The company said it plans to spend C$55 million on exploration in 2026, representing approximately 270 kilometers of drilling. The program is in its second year of a planned three-to-five-year effort to test the scale and continuity of mineralized targets at both properties.

Wesdome previously published conceptual exploration targets of up to 6.3 million ounces in June. The company emphasized that the target was intended to illustrate potential scale rather than constitute a resource estimate, and said future drilling will be used to establish continuity, geometry and grade before potential discoveries can be converted into resources and mine plans.

Management said historical views of Eagle River and Kiena focused on separate high-grade zones, while newer geological models suggest the mineralized systems could be broader, deeper and more continuous across their respective land packages.

“The question at Wesdome” has shifted from determining how far an orebody extends to assessing “how big is the system that we own,” the presenter said.

Eagle River opportunities extend beyond current mine

At Eagle River, Wesdome said it controls approximately 400 square kilometers of land, including the Eagle River underground mine, the historic Mishi open pit, the Magnacon underground mine and several exploration targets. The company said drilling has continued to identify high-grade mineralization across the current mine plan and has indicated potential for parallel structures and higher ounce density in upper portions of the mine.

One recent drill intercept, cited by the company as approximately 618 ounces over 0.5 meters, was located outside the established high-grade corridor between the 800 and 300 zones. Wesdome said the result supports further work to understand mineralization in areas that have received limited drilling.

At Mishi-Magnacon, the company reported adding about 500,000 ounces of inferred material in its June resource update. It said subsequent drilling has extended mineralization nearly one kilometer beyond the historic Mishi pit and confirmed that the system continues at depth.

Wesdome also identified a structural boundary extending about 10 kilometers across the Mishi-Magnacon corridor. It is drilling the area to assess surface opportunities and broader mineral potential, including at Cameron Lake, Abbey Lake, Dorset and Feather River. The company said it expects to provide a conceptual development framework for the broader Eagle River district over the next 12 to 16 months.

Kiena growth plan includes Deep, East and North areas

At Kiena, Wesdome said it sees the potential for a district-scale operating platform built around Kiena Deep, Kiena East and Kiena North. Kiena Deep is the current mining area and forms the near-term foundation of the company’s strategy.

The company said it has developed new underground drilling platforms over the past two years, enabling exploration of areas that were previously difficult to test. It highlighted the Norbenite Footwall zone, where high-grade mineralization extends about 150 vertical meters beyond the current resource and remains open in multiple directions.

Wesdome said Kiena East could represent the next growth horizon for the mine. The area includes several mineralized zones and is already connected to mill infrastructure through Level 300, though the company is not currently mining it. Drilling is intended to determine whether historically separate zones can be connected into a larger continuous mineralized system. The company said historical drilling reached roughly 300 meters, while more recent work has extended testing to 600 meters and below.

The longer-term Kiena North program includes drilling near the historic Siscoe mine, which produced approximately 900,000 ounces at about 9 grams per tonne between the 1920s and 1940s, according to the presentation. Wesdome said it began drilling Siscoe during the summer and is evaluating a low-magnetic trend along the northern corridor.

Focus remains on per-share value

Wesdome said it evaluates growth based on value per share rather than production growth alone. Since 2016, the company said production per thousand shares has tripled, operating cash flow per share increased from about C$0.16 to about C$3, and mineral reserves per thousand shares rose from about 3.5 ounces to about 9.2 ounces.

The company said it sees more than C$1 billion in three-year cash flow outlook and believes exploration success could help close what it described as a gap between its current market value and the underlying intrinsic value of its assets. Management said future organic or inorganic investments will be assessed through the lens of whether they create value per share.

About Wesdome Gold Mines (TSE:WDO)

Wesdome is a Canadian-focused gold producer with two high-grade underground assets, Eagle River in Northern Ontario and Kiena in Val-d'Or, Québec. The Company's primary goal is to responsibly leverage its operating platform and high-quality brownfield and greenfield exploration pipeline to build a value-driven mid-tier gold producer.

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