Shane Williams, CEO of West Red Lake Gold | Rule Symposium 2026: Rick Rule interviews

Rule Investment Media May 28, 2026

Summary

West Red Lake paid $6.5 million for a mine that had already absorbed about C$500 million, plus a 1% NSR royalty.

The Madsen resource carries 1.7 million ounces at roughly 7 grams per tonne, high-grade underground material in Ontario's Red Lake belt.

Commercial production restarted in January 2026, with about 40,000 ounces this year ramping toward a 50,000-60,000 ounce nameplate.

A hub-and-spoke plan consolidates high-grade deposits near the existing mill, targeting 150,000 ounces of annual output.

The guest argues development-stage gold producers have lagged bullion holders, leaving the roughly C$320 million market cap cheap.

The guest says the Madsen mine went back into commercial production in January 2026, about two years after the asset was acquired, with roughly 40,000 ounces expected during 2026 ramp-up and nameplate capacity of 50,000-60,000 ounces a year reached by the end of 2026.
He puts the market capitalization at around C$320 million as of the late-May 2026 interview and argues that is cheap relative to the existing infrastructure, permitting and the Red Lake location.
West Red Lake paid Sprott Resource Lending $6.5 million plus a 1% NSR and shares for Madsen, which the guest values at roughly C$500 million: about C$350 million of prior capital spent building the mine, plus about C$170 million of tax losses, with a permit, built mine, tailings and water infrastructure in place.
Madsen came with 1.7 million ounces of resources averaging about 7 g/t, and the Rowan project acquired separately adds over 400,000 ounces at roughly 8 g/t in the same Red Lake area.
The growth plan is to use the existing Madsen mill, permit and tailings facility as a hub and consolidate nearby high-grade deposits that are individually too small to permit a mill, a path he sizes at about 150,000 ounces a year over roughly five years.

Top takeaway He discloses before the interview that he is a shareholder in West Red Lake, and stresses that conference exhibitors sit in accounts owned by the sponsors, so viewers should weigh the conflict himself.
He tests the valuation claim by asking what the company would have to do to raise the value of his own holdings, framing consolidation of deposits around the existing mill as the value driver.
He proposes a production target of 50,000-60,000 ounces a year by the end of 2026 with nameplate capacity in calendar 2027, and asks the guest to confirm it.
He closes by framing the story as fortuitous asset acquisition during a bad market in what he calls an absolutely fabled stretch of Canadian real estate, with the plan to consolidate high-quality orphan deposits around the mill.