Western Copper and Gold raising $29 million for Casino project in Yukon

Staff Writer | April 17, 2024 |

The Casino exploration camp in Yukon. Credit Cathie Archbould via Western Copper and Gold

Western Copper and Gold (TSX: WRN; NYSE: WRN) is making a C$40 million ($29m) upsized bought deal offer that will be spent at its Casino copper-gold-molybdenum project 150 km northwest of Carmacks and 300 km northwest of Whitehorse, Yukon.


The company has an arrangement with Eight Capital, on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters, who have collectively agreed to purchase approximately 21.1 million common shares of Western at a price of C$1.90 per share. The underwriters have been granted a 15% overallotment. The offer is expected to close about April 30, 2024.

The Casino property lies within the Whitehorse mining district and consists of 1,136 full and partial quartz claims and 55 placer claims acquired in accordance with the Yukon Quartz Mining Act. In mid 2019, Western Copper acquired the adjacent property to the west referred to as the Canadian Creek property.

Casino has resources suitable for milling and for leaching. The measured and indicated resource suitable for milling is 2.3 million tonnes grading 0.15% copper 0.18 g/t gold, 0.016% molybdenum and 1.4 g/t silver (0.31% copper equivalent). That equates to 7.4 million lb. of contained copper and 12.9 million oz. of gold.

The inferred resource for the mill is 1.3 million tonnes grading 0.10% copper, 0.14 g/t gold, 0.009% molybdenum and 1.1 g/t silver (0.21% copper equivalent).

Material suitable for heap leaching include 2.5 million tonnes in the measured and indicated category grading 0.14% copper, 0.18 g/t gold and 1.5 g/t silver (0.27 g/t gold equivalent), containing 7.6 million lb. of copper, 14.8 million oz. gold and 117.2 g/t silver. The leachable inferred resource is 1.4 million tonnes grading 0.10% copper, 0.14 g/t gold and 1.5 g/t silver.

A feasibility study was prepared in 2021 that considered an open pit a 120,000 t/d concentrator, and a 25,000 t/d heap leach facility.

The project lies within the Traditional Territory of the Selkirk First Nation (SFN). A small portion in the north of the project area also lies within the Traditional Territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in. The Traditional Territory of Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation lies south of the project area.

The project is wholly within the asserted Traditional Territory of the White River First Nation, and upstream of the Kluane First Nation Traditional Territory.