West Red Lake Gold Targets the Next Past-Producer: Surface Drilling Commences at Starratt-Olsen

• West Red Lake Gold Mines has commenced a fully funded 4,000-metre surface diamond drill program at the historic Starratt-Olsen Mine, located approximately 1.1 kilometres southwest of the Madsen Mine in Northwestern Ontario.
• Starratt-Olsen historically produced approximately 164,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 6.17 grams per tonne between 1948 and 1956, but currently has no resource estimate.
• The drill program is targeting up-plunge and down-plunge extensions of previously mined panels, testing both unmined portions of known mineralisation and potential new sub-parallel lenses.
• Starratt-Olsen lies on the same southwestern structural corridor as the Fork satellite deposit, which is advancing toward inclusion in the Madsen production profile in the first half of 2027.
• The drilling campaign forms part of West Red Lake Gold Mines' broader strategy of applying modern drilling to historic mining areas, an approach that previously increased the Rowan deposit's indicated gold resource by 70% to approximately 334,000 ounces grading 13 grams per tonne.

What Has Happened

West Red Lake Gold Mines (TSXV: WRLG | OTCQX: WRLGF) has started drilling at the historic Starratt-Olsen Mine - a former producer that yielded approximately 164,000 ounces of gold at 6.17 grams per tonne between 1948 and 1956 - as the company seeks to extend resources along the same structural corridor hosting the developing Fork deposit and the producing Madsen Mine. The fully funded 4,000-metre surface diamond drill program is located approximately 1.1 kilometres southwest of the Madsen Mine in the Red Lake Mining District of Northwestern Ontario. No current resource estimate exists for Starratt-Olsen; the program is designed to determine whether historical mine workings extend into unmined territory and whether sub-parallel lenses are present. The program is expected to be completed in mid-August 2026, with results released progressively as assays are returned.

Targeting Unmined Extensions

The 4,000-metre program uses an oriented hydrogen quaternary-diameter core and targets up-plunge and down-plunge extensions of previously mined panels at Starratt-Olsen, investigating both unmined portions of known mineralisation and new sub-parallel lenses. This marks the first focused drill test of the main historical mining footprint since operations ceased in the 1950s. Whether drilling confirms continuity of mineralisation beyond the historical mine workings will determine whether the site supports future resource development.

The company identifies Starratt-Olsen on the Madsen property's southwestern trend, adjacent to the Wedge resource, which carries 56,100 ounces indicated and 78,700 ounces inferred at an average of 5.6 to 5.7 grams per tonne gold.

Advancing the Southwestern Structural Corridor

Starratt-Olsen sits on the same southwestern structural corridor as the Fork satellite deposit, where underground development is currently advancing ahead of its targeted inclusion in the Madsen production profile in the first half of 2027. The Fork satellite deposit, located approximately 250 metres from existing Madsen infrastructure, carries a current resource of 20,900 ounces indicated and 49,500 ounces inferred at an average of 5.2 grams per tonne, per the June 2026 Corporate Presentation.

Vice President of Exploration of West Red Lake Gold Mines, Will Robinson, outlined the rationale:

"Following a highly successful drilling season at Rowan and Fork, we are maintaining our momentum by moving the surface drill to the past-producing Starratt-Olsen Mine. Given that underground development is now underway at Fork and the deposit is advancing toward inclusion in the Madsen production profile in 2027, it is logical to continue defining new resources along this main southwestern structural corridor. Starratt represents our next major stepping stone along this prospective trend as we systematically unlock the full value and exploration scale across the Madsen property."

A District Strategy Anchored in Historic Producers

Starratt-Olsen is one of several past-producing sites on West Red Lake Gold Mines' 47-square-kilometre land package where the company is applying modern drilling to resolve legacy data gaps left by historic operations. The Rowan property, which encompasses three past-producing mines across a 31-square-kilometre package located 80 road kilometres from the Madsen Mill, illustrates the approach: the Rowan deposit's indicated gold resource increased by 70% to approximately 334,000 ounces grading 13 grams per tonne following a 6,300-metre drill program at a discovery cost of approximately C$17.60 per ounce.

Robinson described the pattern across the company's historic datasets: 

"We're also seeing a lot of similarities with the data set at Mount Jamie, where it's a lot of historic data informing the resource, and there are a lot of gaps in the analytic data set. It's a very similar story to what we saw at veins 6 and 13 at Rowan, and what we've seen with some infill drilling is a significant boost in confidence, but also in the resource amount."

The updated Rowan and Mount Jamie resources will be incorporated into a joint Madsen-Rowan pre-feasibility study (PFS) targeted for the third quarter of 2026. The Starratt-Olsen drill program is expected to be completed in mid-August 2026, with results released progressively as assays are returned.

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