WESDOME ANNOUNCES COVID-19 IMPACT AND RESPONSES
March 23 2020 - 12:00PM
Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX: WDO) (“Wesdome” or the “Company”)
would like to inform all stakeholders of its response to the
current COVID-19 Pandemic. To date no employees, contractors,
or consultants directly involved with Wesdome, whether at corporate
or at sites, have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Mr. Duncan Middlemiss, President and CEO stated, “These are
unprecedented times and information and government actions are
constantly changing. I would like to thank all employees,
contractors, and stakeholders for their efforts to date in the
control of this outbreak. Our vigilance will go a long way to
keeping everyone safe. The Company is currently operating
Eagle River with normal underground production and reduced
exploration, open pit, and construction activities in order to
lessen the number of people on site. We are fully invested in
our social distancing protocol and by reducing people accessing the
sites, we feel is a prudent approach in lessening the risk. The
Company is adequately capitalized to withstand an extended period
of disruption and will be actively managing this fluid
situation.”
Currently the Eagle River underground operations are running on
a reduced workforce with non-production activities being scaled
back. The considerable exploration effort has been reduced at
Eagle River by 40% due to the Company’s desire to keep the common
areas of the camp less occupied to facilitate social distancing.
Additionally, the mining of the Mishi Open Pit has been
suspended for similar reasons.
Production activities in the first quarter of 2020 thus far have
not been impacted by the COVID-19 health and safety protocols
established in mid-March. However, future conditions may
warrant reduced or suspended production activities which would
impact on our abilities to maintain our future timelines and
objectives. We are continuing to closely monitor the situation, and
will provide updates as they become available.
Wesdome has adopted measures since March 12th of monitoring body
temperatures and requesting a health survey of all personnel
wishing to enter the Eagle River Complex or the Kiena Mine.
Furthermore, rigorous deep cleaning and disinfecting has been
employed at all sites including the corporate office. A
social distancing protocol is in place and schedules have been
staggered to reduce the number of people in the Company’s common
areas. The health and safety of our employees, contractors,
vendors, and consultants is the Company’s top priority. To
aid in the Company’s actions, a COVID-19 Taskforce has been created
to monitor developments and set about action plans which will
reduce the risk to all people directly involved with Wesdome. The
safety of our employees and contractors remains our first
priority.
Wesdome is on schedule to finalize the Preliminary Economic
Assessment (“PEA”) for the Kiena Mine in the second quarter in
2020. Wesdome has $35.7 million in cash and cash equivalent
at the beginning of 2020 and the operations at Eagle River are
generating positive net cash flows to finance the exploration
activities at Kiena on an ongoing basis.
ABOUT WESDOMEWesdome Gold Mines
has had over 30 years of continuous gold mining operations in
Canada. The Company is 100% Canadian focused with a pipeline
of projects in various stages of development. The Eagle River
Complex in Wawa, Ontario is currently producing gold from two
mines, the Eagle River Underground Mine and the Mishi Open pit,
from a central mill. Wesdome is actively exploring its
brownfields asset, the Kiena Complex in Val d’Or, Quebec. The
Kiena Complex is a fully permitted former mine with a 930 metre
shaft and 2,000 tonne per day mill. The Company has further
upside at its Moss Lake gold deposit, located 100 kilometres west
of Thunder Bay, Ontario, which is being explored and evaluated to
be developed in the appropriate gold price environment. The
Company has approximately 138.2 million shares issued and
outstanding and trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the
symbol “WDO.”
For further information, please
contact:
Duncan Middlemiss President and CEO 416-360-3743 ext. 2029
duncan.middlemiss@wesdome.com |
or |
Lindsay Carpenter Dunlop VP Investor Relations 416-360-3743
ext. 2025 lindsay.dunlop@wesdome.com |
|
|
|
220 Bay Street, Suite 1200Toronto, ON, M5J 2W4Toll Free:
1-866-4-WDO-TSXPhone: 416-360-3743, Fax: 416-360-7620Website:
www.wesdome.com |
|
|
This news release contains “forward-looking information” which
may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the
future financial or operating performance of the Company and its
projects. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be
identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “is
expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”,
“intends”, “anticipates”, or “believes” or variations (including
negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that
certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might”
or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors which may cause the actual results, performance or
achievements of the Company to be materially different from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by
the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements
contained herein are made as of the date of this press release and
the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or results or otherwise. There can be no assurance that
forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual
results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. The Company undertakes no
obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances,
management’s estimates or opinions should change, except as
required by securities legislation. Accordingly, the reader is
cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements. The Company has included in this news release certain
non-IFRS performance measures, including, but not limited to, mine
operating profit, mining and processing costs and cash costs. Cash
costs per ounce reflect actual mine operating costs incurred during
the fiscal period divided by the number of ounces produced.
These measures are not defined under IFRS and therefore should not
be considered in isolation or as an alternative to or more
meaningful than, net income (loss) or cash flow from operating
activities as determined in accordance with IFRS as an indicator of
our financial performance or liquidity. The Company believes that,
in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with
IFRS, certain investors use this information to evaluate the
Company's performance and ability to generate cash flow.
PDF
available: http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/13ed37a1-67b4-4445-b322-4eb68d791b31
Wesdome Gold Mines (TSX:WDO)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Wesdome Gold Mines (TSX:WDO)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024