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B.C. court approves sale of Red Lake mine

By Ryan Forbes Jun 1, 2023 | 7:35 AM
Photo courtesy of Pure Gold Mining Inc.

The sale of the former Pure Gold mine in Red Lake has been approved by the Supreme Court of British Columbia, ahead of production restarting in the future.

Pure Gold has been under Creditor Protection from BC’s Supreme Court since October to avoid going into bankruptcy, after announcing they would be stopping all operations at the mine in October 2022 due to a roughly $11 million shortfall.

But in April 2023, West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. announced a $6 million agreement with Sprott Resource Lending Corp. to acquire the entirety of Pure Gold Mining’s issued and outstanding shares.

Now, West Red Lake Gold Mines says the transaction is expected to close on June 28, 2023.

The PureGold deposit is a 1.65 million-ounce resource with 1.3 million metres of drilling in a 7.5-kilometre-long corridor. It’s located next door to the Red Lake Mine Complex, which has produced over 30 million ounces of gold in its lifetime.

The Madsen mine property will also come with a mill, double ramp access, significant underground mine development, a 2,75-metre shaft, management infrastructure, a water treatment facility, an all-season access road and the required permits to restart production.

West Red Lake currently owns the Rowan Project, made up of the former Rowan, Mount Jamie and Red Summit gold mines. They say they will continue to explore that area in 2023.

Elsewhere in the Red Lake area, Kinross Gold is continuing testing on its 60,000-acre Dixie mine project south of the community and an economic assessment is expected by 2024.