Wallbridge Mining (TSX:WM) Advances Dual Gold Strategy in Quebec's Abitibi Belt

Key Concepts

Martinière Project: An earlier-stage gold exploration project focused on resource delineation and further exploration within a gold system.
Fenelon Project: A project being advanced towards development, involving technical studies and resource estimation.
Bug Lake Deformation Corridor: A 2-kilometer long geological feature at Martinière, characterized by fault structures and intrusive units hosting gold mineralization.
Dragonfly Shear Corridor Geometry: The structural interpretation of the Martinière deposit, focusing on distinguishing discrete mineralized lenses from stacked parallel shears.
Crustiform Veins: A style of quartz carbonate veins observed at Martinière, often associated with gold mineralization.
Silica Flooding: A geological process that overprints crustiform veins, significantly enhancing gold grades.
Horsefly Area: A portion of the Martinière resource located near the top of bedrock, with potential for open-pit mining.
Lactadwa Fault: A regional-scale fault north of the Bug Lake gold system, which the Martinière system appears to be a series of fault splays off.
Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS): A stage of project development that follows a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) and provides a more detailed evaluation of economic viability.
Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA): An initial study to assess the economic potential of a mineral project.
Dry Stack Tailings: A method of tailings disposal that involves dewatering and stacking the material, reducing the footprint and environmental impact compared to conventional wet tailings.
Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE): An estimate of the quantity and grade of mineralized material that can be economically extracted.
Indicated Resource: Mineral material for which quantity, grade, continuity, and other geological characteristics have been estimated with a level of confidence sufficient to allow preliminary economic assessment.
Inferred Resource: Mineral material for which quantity and grade have been estimated on the basis of limited geological evidence and sampling.
Qualified Person (QP): An individual who has the relevant education, experience, and knowledge to prepare or supervise the preparation of technical information concerning mineral projects.

Mark Peterson's Role and Background at Wallbridge Mining

Mark Peterson, a Senior Exploration Consultant at Wallbridge for two years, functions at the VP of Exploration level. He joined following the departure of the previous VP to Rio Tinto. Peterson brings over 40 years of experience in exploration, development, and mining operations, having progressed from a field geologist to his current senior role. His background encompasses pre-discovery projects, successful discoveries leading to commercial production, feasibility studies, and serving as VP Exploration for New Gold, where he was involved in reserve replacement, acquisition opportunities, and early-stage project development. Notable projects from his tenure at New Gold include the acquisition of the Blackwater project (now operated by Artemis Gold) and the New Afton copper-gold mine.

Project Brief and Challenges at Fenelon and Martinière

Peterson's primary responsibilities at Wallbridge are to advance the Fenelon project towards development through technical studies and to delineate resources and explore further at the earlier-stage Martinière project. He also oversees a 600 square kilometer land package directly along strike of the Detour Lake gold mine in Ontario, considered fertile ground for new discoveries.

The key challenges at Fenelon and Martinière involve:

Martinière: Refining the 3D structural model to distinguish discrete mineralized lenses from stacked parallel shears, understanding the resource footprint expansion, and determining the optimal drill density and cut-off for resource inclusion.
Fenelon: Influencing mining methods, minimum mining widths, dilution assumptions, and stope sequences based on geotechnical domains, and understanding domainal metallurgy and its impact on processing and blending strategies.

Martinière Project: Geological Interpretation and Resource Delineation

Refining the 3D Structural Model

To better understand the Martinière deposit, the team has returned to first principles, transitioning from a conceptual to an empirical approach. This involves:

Developing a Proper Structural Model: Meticulously mapping fault structures in 3D by reviewing historic core photos, examining new drill core, and even retrieving archived core. This has identified 14 different recognized fault structures along the 2-kilometer Bug Lake deformation corridor.
Mapping Intrusive Units: Identifying and mapping intrusive units in 3D, which are integral to the gold system.
Recognizing Stratigraphic Subunits: Identifying subunits within the stratigraphy that deform differently, with some being more favorable for hosting gold mineralization.
Defining Mineralized Zones: The current step involves defining the actual mineralized zones within the developed 3D architecture.

This process results in a "rock in the box" empirically based 3D model, which has improved drilling targeting and is expected to be even more effective in the future. Despite efforts, the Martinière gold system has significant gaps and remains open to further expansion.

Resource Footprint Expansion and Drill Density

The strategy for Martinière this year has been to pivot from close-spaced step-out holes to exploring the broader area, aiming to answer the commercial question of whether a two or more million ounce prize exists. This involves:

Aggressive Drilling Approach: Implementing a guideline of no drill holes closer than 150 meters, a calculated risk to cover more ground and expand the footprint.
Identifying Gaps: Recognizing that some gaps in the 150-meter network still need to be filled.
Depth Considerations: While drilling deeper is always possible, 800 meters is considered a fair enough depth, potentially a little deeper if data supports it.
Resource Estimation Collaboration: Teaming up with an independent resource estimator (who is the QP on current MREs) to conduct a "back of the envelope" mineral inventory approach to assess progress towards the 2 million ounce target.
Future Drilling Program: Planning a two-phase program for next year, with a review after the first phase to determine if a pivot to closer-spaced infill drilling is warranted. The goal is to reach a publishable and disclosable answer sooner rather than later.

Potential Hybrid Mining Model and Grade Distribution

The presence of both super high-grade intervals (e.g., 29-30 g/t over 2 meters, 115 g/t sub-intervals) and lower grade envelopes (1-5 g/t) at Martinière suggests a potential hybrid mining model.

Geological Observation: The gold distribution at Martinière is similar to Fenelon, characterized by discrete shear zones hosting higher-grade structures.
Mining Method Considerations: While not fixated on a specific mining method, the team anticipates that mineable reserves will involve portions of mineralized shear structures containing discrete high-grade veins. This means that even when mining a larger bulk volume, the higher-grade structures will contribute significantly.
Open Pit Potential: A good portion of the Martinière resource is close to the surface, suggesting an open-pit component. However, the immediate focus is on fleshing out the gold system to support the next commercial decision.

Vectors for Prioritizing Future Targets

The primary vectors for prioritizing future targets and plunge extensions at Martinière include:

Understanding Structures: Knowing the location of fault structures and the sheared envelopes around them.
Mineralization Styles: Identifying two main styles of mineralization:
- Crustiform Veins: Quartz carbonate veins.
- Silica Flooding: Overprinting of crustiform veins by silica flooding, which is a strong indicator of high grades.
- The presence of sulfides is noted, but silica flooding and crustiform veins are considered the main drivers of grade.
Vein Morphology: The jury is still out on whether vein morphology changes with depth and how it might affect mining style or grade distribution.

Horsefly Area as a Potential Satellite Domain

The Horsefly area, situated closer to the regional Lactadwa Fault, is emerging as a potential secondary satellite domain.

Resource Inclusion: A small portion of the Horsefly area is currently captured in the resource, near the top of bedrock.
Recent Drilling: This year's step-out drilling around Horsefly yielded good results, drawing the team back.
Lactadwa Fault Influence: The Martinière system appears to be fault splays off the Lactadwa Fault. Drilling across and within this fault zone has yielded promising results, including 3 meters at around 7 g/t in a hole located half a kilometer away from Horsefly.
New Target: Mineralization within the Lactois shear zone (a broad zone of multiple shears) closer to Horsefly represents a new target that warrants further follow-up.
Abundance of Targets: The company has more prospective targets than it can fully pursue, which is considered a positive problem.

Fenelon Project: Advancing Towards PFS and Feasibility

Geotechnical Domains and Mining Parameters

The Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for Fenelon envisioned an iterative design tied to rock mechanics and productivity.

Updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE): In 2024, an additional 25,000-30,000 meters of drilling on Fenelon, not captured in the early 2023 MRE, was incorporated.
Simplified Deposit Model: The deposit model was simplified from over a hundred discrete domains to 16 specific ones. This was based on the available drill data and resolution, and it resulted in a more user-friendly model for engineers to develop stope shapes around.
Chunkier Volumes: The simplified model creates chunkier volumes, particularly in the core of the deposit (drilled to 40-meter spacing), where continuity of grade within mineralized shear volumes can be modeled with higher confidence.
Influence on Mining: These mineralized shear volumes are the targets for underground development shapes.

Domainal Metallurgy and Processing

The variability in network metallurgy, particularly the gravity recovery number of 65-66% and total recovery of 96%, is a key consideration.

Bench-Scale Testing: Next year will involve more technical work, including bench-scale metallurgical tests.
Coarse Visible Gold: Fenelon is distinctive for its coarse visible gold, which is common throughout all rock types and ore domains. This explains the initial gravity recovery of 30% of the gold in the first gravity step, as suggested by existing bench-scale work.
Run-of-Mine Composites: The plan for next year is to collect run-of-mine type bulk composite samples for testing, representing an average of what would typically come from underground.
Uncaptured Resource: Approximately one million ounces of resource are not captured in the current PEA mine plan, representing a long tail for future exploration and development.

Phasing of Pit Life and Underground Infrastructure

The PEA plan envisions leveraging existing underground infrastructure.

Deferred Open Pit: The open pit is deferred in the PEA plan. The historic open pit is currently flooded and would require dewatering.
Underground Portal: The underground portal is located at the historic open pit.
Leveraging Infrastructure: The PEA plan focuses on dewatering and utilizing the existing underground infrastructure.
PFS Optimization: The upcoming PFS will explore whether an early-stage selective open pit could improve the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and optimize the project economics.

Tailings and Process Trade-offs

The PEA concept plan included dry stack tailings, despite adding to capital costs.

Industry Trend: Dry stacking is the direction the industry is moving due to its simplicity.
Regional Geology: The region is covered by glacial overburden, much of which is saturated and flat. Conventional wet tailings storage would require engineered structures on three sides and a larger, long-term footprint.
Dry Stack Advantages: Dry stack tailings offer a smaller footprint and are easier to manage, although they involve higher upfront or sustaining capital.

Mine Planning and External Consultants

Mine planning, including underground ramp geometry and sequencing of high-grade narrow zones, is managed by external consultants.

Geologist's Limitations: Peterson, as a geologist, acknowledges his limitations in this specialized area.
Consulting Teams:
- Mayhew Consulting: Led by Mike Mayhew, an experienced underground mine developer and engineer.
- Synctique Consultants: A Montreal-based team of consultants, including a mining engineer.
PEA Engineers: A different group of exploration engineers with a long history with the project were responsible for the PEA mine plan and remain the Qualified Persons for the PEA technical report.
Roadmap to PFS: Mayhew and Synctique are currently mapping out a roadmap to a PFS.

Infill Strategy and Tonnage Uplift

The highest tonnage uplift per dollar of drill meter for Fenelon to move towards PFS/feasibility grade confidence is expected from:

Infill Drilling Program: A significant program of 50,000 to 75,000 meters is planned, utilizing multiple drills and likely fast-tracked.
Targeting Inferred Resources: This program will focus on drilling off the inferred portion of the current concept mine plan.
Conversion Rate: While infill drilling typically has a conversion rate of over 60%, some ounces may be lost from the inferred category. However, this is a de-risking exercise that will also provide more resource to work with.

Partner Involvement

Wallbridge has two major partners with participation rights. While they are available and supportive, the company has not yet found itself in a position where it has needed to tap into their expertise.

Outlook and Excitement for 2026

Mark Peterson expresses excitement for several key developments:

Martinière Gold System: Continuing to flesh out the Martinière gold system with a focus on larger gold systems.
Regional Targets: Further work on regional targets, specifically on the Cas property (west of Martinière), where Wallbridge has an option to earn a 50% interest by the end of next year.
Grassroots Targets: Emerging early-stage grassroots targets in the Grasset claim block (east of Fenelon) and around the Fenelon deposit itself.
Fenelon Geological Model Update: Rebuilding and updating the Fenelon geological model using the same methodology applied to Martinière, which will inform an optimized infill program.
Bench-Scale Met Testing: Conducting additional bench-scale metallurgical testing using larger diameter core drilling as early as possible in the new year.

Peterson acknowledges that execution and funding are critical, and the key to success is to "keep our eye on the balls and they're all they all stay in the air."