West Red Lake Gold Mines (TSXV: WRLG | OTCQB: WRLGF) has released assay results from the first five holes of a 12-hole surface drilling program at the historic Starratt-Olsen Mine, located approximately 1.1 kilometres southwest of its producing Madsen Mine in Ontario's Red Lake District. The program, announced September 10, 2026, returned a headline intersection of 1.5 metres at 16.16 g/t gold, reinforcing the company's hub-and-spoke growth strategy centred on the Madsen processing infrastructure. Investors may be watching how additional assay results from the remaining holes support further integration of Starratt-Olsen into the broader Madsen asset base.

Key Points

  • West Red Lake Gold Mines (TSXV: WRLG | OTCQB: WRLGF)
  • First five holes of a 12-hole, 4,100-metre surface diamond drilling program at Starratt-Olsen Mine returned high-grade gold intersections
  • Top result: Hole WRL26-054 — 1.5m at 16.16 g/t gold, including 0.85m at 24.60 g/t gold; Hole WRL26-055 — 4.5m at 5.16 g/t gold, including 1.5m at 10.94 g/t gold
  • Investors may watch for remaining seven hole assays and updates on the Fork and Rowan satellite projects

Starratt-Olsen Drilling Returns High-Grade Gold Intersections

The summer 2026 drill program at Starratt-Olsen marks the first focused modern drill-testing of the main historic mining areas since production ceased in the 1950s. Hole WRL26-054 intersected 1.5 metres at 16.16 g/t gold from 121.15 metres depth, including a higher-grade sub-interval of 0.85 metres at 24.60 g/t gold. Hole WRL26-055 returned 4.5 metres at 5.16 g/t gold, with an internal 1.5-metre interval grading 10.94 g/t gold. The program targeted up-and-down-plunge extensions to previously mined panels and tested for new sub-parallel lenses within the Starratt system.

Historic Starratt-Olsen Production and Geological Context

Starratt-Olsen is the second-largest historical gold producer on the Madsen property, having produced approximately 164,000 ounces of gold between 1948 and 1956 at an average grade of 6.17 g/t gold, according to Ontario government geological records cited in the release. A 2016-era drill hole previously returned 2 metres at 27.3 g/t gold and 3 metres at 104.1 g/t gold with visible gold occurrences. The exploration team has noted that a Madsen 16 Level exploration drive, advanced in the late 1930s, reaches within 200 metres of the main down-plunge extension of the Starratt system at 800 metres depth.

Madsen Operations and Rowan Satellite Resource Growth

WRLG's Q2 2026 results reported gold production of 8,576 ounces, a 51% increase over Q1, while gold sales rose 34% to 8,260 ounces. At the Rowan satellite project, an updated June 2026 mineral resource estimate increased Indicated gold ounces by 70% to 335,058 ounces at 13.04 g/t gold, and Inferred ounces by 52% to 179,029 ounces at 15.31 g/t gold. The company disclosed a discovery cost of approximately C$17.60 per ounce, based on C$3.5 million in exploration expenditure and 6,300 metres of drilling. Rowan is being evaluated alongside Madsen in a proposed combined Pre-Feasibility Study.