West Cache Ramp Turns as Galleon Gold Targets 8.13 g/t Au Zone

On 19 September 2026, a jumbo drill was photographed with its steel at the box cut face of the West Cache Gold Project, roughly 13 km west of Timmins, Ontario. That image marked the point where a permit file and a financing spreadsheet became a working construction site.

For a junior developer, this is the hardest gap in the business to close. The distance between a promising drill hit and a machine actually cutting rock underground is where most projects stall for years, or forever, waiting on permits, capital, or a contractor that never signs.

Galleon Gold has now cleared that gap. What follows below sets out what the underground programme is targeting, what the grade and tonnage numbers behind it look like, and which visible catalysts anyone tracking the Galleon Gold West Cache project should be watching next.

Ramp now turning: what is actually underway at West Cache as of 21 September

The sequence matters here, because each step had to be finished before the next could begin. The box cut, the surface excavation that creates the portal entrance, is complete. Portal ground support has been installed. As of the company’s 21 September 2026 announcement, ramp excavation is actively underway.

The 19 September photograph is the physical proof point: a jumbo drill positioned at the box cut face, marking the moment underground access work genuinely began rather than the moment it was merely scheduled.

Doing the work is Aki-Dumas Limited Partnership, awarded full ramp and infrastructure development in July 2026. That award followed an initial Limited Notice to Proceed covering engineering and long-lead procurement, a staged approach that let procurement start before the full contract was locked.

The key milestones, in order:

• 7 and 30 July 2026: Underground development contract awarded to Aki-Dumas Limited Partnership, beginning with a Limited Notice to Proceed for engineering and long-lead items.
• 19 September 2026: Jumbo drill photographed at the box cut face, confirming the underground access phase had started.
• 21 September 2026: Company announcement confirming ramp excavation is underway.

The full underground footprint runs to roughly 2,525 metres: about 1,275 metres of lateral ramp access plus around 1,250 metres of supporting infrastructure, including muck bays, substations, drill and safety bays, and ventilation.

On operating priorities David Russell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Galleon Gold, has stated that safety, environmental responsibility, and operational standards remain the foremost priorities on site as underground work advances.

Here is why this specific transition carries weight. Moving from surface construction to active underground excavation is the operational point of no return. It signals that permitting, capital, contractor, and engineering are all resolved. For you as an observer, the project’s risk profile has shifted: the question is no longer whether underground work begins, but how the ramp performs against the engineering plan.

What the 86,500-tonne programme is designed to prove

The bulk sample is not a small production run dressed up as a test. It is a structured technical argument, built to answer specific questions in sequence.

At the centre is Zone #9, chosen as the extraction area because it carries its own resource estimate and the highest grades on the property. Excavation is progressing with the first of four planned bulk sample stopes as the immediate target, and those four stopes map onto the wider mine design sequence rather than sitting apart from it.

The extraction method is single-panel transverse longhole stoping across two production levels. In plain terms, that is a standard underground technique for pulling ore from defined panels, and running it here tests whether grade holds up in real rock the way drill-core assays predicted.

Single-panel transverse longhole stoping across two production levels places specific demands on ground conditions, and stope stability becomes a material variable when the target grade is concentrated in a narrow high-grade zone where dilution from wall failure directly erodes the economics.

The headline target: 86,500 tonnes at approximately 8.13 g/t Au, for an estimated 22,600 ounces of gold before recoveries. Drill results have established that grade continuity holds through the zones earmarked for extraction.

Resource figures carry an effective date of 3 September 2021 under National Instrument 43-101, the Canadian standard governing mineral project disclosure.

Resource figures carry an effective date of 3 September 2021 under National Instrument 43-101, the Canadian standard governing mineral project disclosure, which sets the requirements for resource classification categories and mandates independent Qualified Person sign-off before estimates can be publicly reported.

Note the gap in that top row. The bulk sample targets a grade more than twice the Zone #9 indicated average of 4.16 g/t Au. That single fact makes grade reconciliation, whether the extracted material actually assays near 8.13 g/t Au, the most closely watched technical outcome of the entire programme.

The 2,525 metres of development breaks down as follows:

• Approximately 1,275 metres of lateral ramp access.
• Approximately 1,250 metres of supporting infrastructure: muck bays, substations, drill and safety bays, and ventilation.

Management has projected gross revenue in the C$50-C$100 million range, contingent on metal prices and metallurgical recoveries. For you, the revenue figure is context, not the point. The engineering and metallurgical data this programme generates will carry more weight in any future mine development decision than the trial cash flow itself.

Why Timmins and the Destor-Porcupine Fault Zone still matter for a project like this

Address matters in gold exploration, and West Cache has one of the better ones. The project sits within the Destor-Porcupine Fault Zone, a crustal-scale deformation zone in the Abitibi greenstone belt that has produced gold at a scale few corridors on earth can match.

The property spans roughly 11,600 hectares within the Porcupine Sedimentary Basin, with mineralisation extending over 5 km of strike-length and open in all directions and at depth.

The fault zone earns its reputation on structure. Its defining geological features:

The fault zone earns its reputation on structure, and the specific geological signature at West Cache, steeply dipping fault-fill quartz-carbonate veins, green carbonate alteration, and syenite porphyry associations, reflects the same structural controls on gold deposits that have concentrated high-grade mineralisation across the Abitibi greenstone belt.

• Steeply to moderately dipping fault-fill quartz-carbonate veins.
• Green carbonate alteration.
• Tectonised mafic and ultramafic rocks.
• Spatial associations with syenite porphyry intrusions.

Those characteristics are the ones associated with large, high-grade systems, not just bulk-tonnage low-grade deposits, which is precisely the thesis the bulk sample is now testing.

A corridor with a track record More than 70 million ounces of gold have been mined along the Destor-Porcupine Fault Zone, with the broader Timmins-Porcupine camp exceeding 75 million ounces in total historical production, including giant deposits such as Hollinger-McIntyre and Dome.

The nearest live comparison is close by. Pan American Silver operates its Timmins West mine roughly 7 km southwest, feeding the Bell Creek plant that runs at a design capacity of 5,600 tonnes per day, with 2025 gold production from the Timmins mines of 103,600 ounces.

That operating mine does not de-risk West Cache directly. What it does confirm is that the regional geology supports underground gold extraction at commercial scale, the foundational assumption behind the entire programme. Recent West Cache drilling, including an intercept of 6.8 g/t Au over 19.45 m, keeps the exploration case moving in parallel. The corridor has demonstrably hosted tier-one systems; the bulk sample tests whether Zone #9 is one of them.

What comes next and where the execution risks sit

With the ramp turning, attention moves to the next set of decision points. Galleon Gold has flagged two in its 21 September announcement as subjects of forthcoming updates: the commencement of stope extraction, and processing arrangements for the extracted material.

The likely sequence:

1. Ramp advances to reach the first stope zone.
2. First stope extraction begins.
3. Processing arrangements are disclosed.
4. Grade reconciliation results are reported.

The catalyst that matters most Grade reconciliation from the first stope extraction is the primary forward catalyst for this project. That single result will either validate or fundamentally challenge the high-grade thesis underpinning the current valuation.

Grade reconciliation is the central technical risk, and it cuts both ways. In coarse-gold, high-nugget systems, a single large extraction lot can diverge from the modelled grade in either direction, because the gold is unevenly distributed and one panel may not represent the wider orebody. A significant downward deviation from 8.13 g/t Au would undermine the high-grade case. An upside surprise would strengthen it.

The grade reconciliation outcome at West Cache will partly depend on how well longhole stope dilution control is managed during extraction, since wall dilution in coarse-gold systems can suppress recovered grades relative to resource model predictions even when the underlying mineralisation is intact.

Capital security versus reconciliation risk

Here is where the risk picture gets clearer. Galleon Gold raised approximately C$91.5 million during 2025, which management states fully funds the bulk sample programme and related feasibility-level work.

Set that against the sector backdrop. Sector data compiled in 2026 indicates fewer than 15% of listed junior developers hold enough working capital for twelve months of operations, a shortfall that typically forces dilutive raises at awkward moments. On that measure, Galleon Gold’s stated funding position marks it as an outlier on capital security.

The practical takeaway for you: the primary risk at West Cache is technical, not financial. That is an unusual place for a junior at this stage to sit. Execution still depends on contractor performance from Aki-Dumas Limited Partnership and on ground conditions underground, but the financing cliff that sinks most peers is, on the company’s account, already behind this one.

All technical disclosures have been reviewed by David Young, PE, as independent Qualified Person under NI 43-101. That oversight is a disclosure safeguard, not a guarantee of outcome.

For reference, Galleon Gold trades on the TSX Venture Exchange (GGO), OTCQX (GGOXF), and Frankfurt (3H90), closing at C$1.08 on the TSX-V on 18 September 2026, for a market capitalisation in the C$145-C$155 million range.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Investors should conduct their own research and consult with financial professionals before making investment decisions. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Financial projections are subject to market conditions and various risk factors, and forward-looking statements are speculative and subject to change based on market developments and company performance.

Whether Zone #9 delivers at scale: the verdict that will define West Cache’s next chapter

Three threads run through this story. The operational milestone is real: the ramp is turning and the box cut is behind them. The technical stakes are high: a target of 8.13 g/t Au, more than double the Zone #9 indicated average. And the address carries weight: a corridor that has produced over 75 million ounces.

None of that answers the question the programme was built to settle. Underground work beginning is not an endpoint; it opens the evidentiary period.

Four data outputs will define the next chapter: grade reconciliation against the modelled figure, metallurgical recovery, ground condition performance, and the trial cash flow the sample generates. Each feeds directly into any future mine development decision.

The next reads for the market are concrete. Watch for the stope extraction start, the processing arrangements disclosure, and above all the first reconciliation results. Those events, not today’s milestone, will tell you whether Zone #9 delivers at scale.

For readers wanting a systematic framework for evaluating projects at this stage, our dedicated guide to mining exploration due diligence covers the technical, geological, and capital assessment criteria that distinguish well-structured development programmes from those carrying hidden execution risk.

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