The mining through three areas confirmed the average mining width of 5.3m, 53% wider than predicted.

Vancouver-based Pure Gold said it had mucked 7,096 tonnes of ore, which at a 4 grams per tonne cut-off grade yielded 46% more tonnes than planned at an 8% higher grade of 10.2g/t.

Mining of the two planned stopes resulted in reconciliation with the resource model within 1% and yielded 14% more ounces that forecast owing to higher grades of 10.9g/t.

Underground drilling defined a third stope which the company mined, resulting in 440oz of bonus production at a grade of 8.7g/t.

"Our test mining programme has been a resounding success, checking each of the boxes we laid out when we initiated the programme earlier this year. From the first round blasted in the ramp to the completion of the program in November, our team has demonstrated it can visually identify, and easily follow gold mineralization underground providing a strong validation of our geologic model," said CEO Daren Labrenz.

Pure Gold continues to drill underground and has found potential extensions to the known gold zones. The highlights include Hole PGB-0131 that cut 20.1g/t gold over 6m, including 38.6g/t over 2m; hole PGB-0134 which returned 47.6g/t over 6m; hole PGB-0140 which intersected 30.3g/t over 2m and 133g/t gold over 1m; and hole PGB-015 which encountered 15.2g/t over 2.9m.

The equity gained as much as 11% in Toronto on Wednesday to C61c, before closing at 60c, which gives the company a value of $153.8 million.