Osisko nears mid-point of 700-hole program

Osisko Metals Inc. Aug. 23 reported results from 18 holes completed in the Central Zone of its Pine Point zinc project in Northwest Territories.

Highlights from this batch of results include 6.75 meters of 14.67 percent zinc and 1.94 percent lead in hole M6263-18-PP-014; and 15 meters of 6.34 percent zinc and 1.27 percent lead in M6263-18-PP-013.

"The Central Zone drilling continues to confirm the extensive, near surface mineralization that potentially could be mined by open pit methods," said Osisko Metals President and CEO Jeff Hussey

Located about 42 kilometers (26 miles) east of Hay River, Pine Point is the site of a historical mine operated by Cominco (now Teck Resources) from 1964 to 1988. During that time, Cominco mined zinc-lead ore from a series of 50 surface and underground deposits along a 60-kilometer (37 miles) trend. In all, Cominco discovered roughly 90 such deposits on the property.

The first objective of Osisko Metals' 2018 drill program at Pine Point is to convert 50 million metric tons of unclassified near-surface historical resources containing 4 billion pounds of zinc and 1.5 billion lb of lead to NI 43-101-compliant inferred resources by early 2019.

The second goal is to then upgrade roughly 30 million metric tons of inferred resources to the higher confidence indicated category, which can be used as a base for future economic studies.

To accomplish this, the company plans to drill 700 holes at Pine Point this year.

To keep this aggressive drill program on track, Osisko Metals was issued permits in late July to increase the number of drills turning at Pine Point from three to seven.

"We are very excited with the ramp-up of our aggressive summer drill program," said Hussey. "We are firmly committed to defining and potentially expanding the project's historical resources as we convert them into NI 43-101 mineral resource estimates."

The latest batch of assays comes from 18 holes drilled at M62-63, an 1,100-meter deposit within Central Zone. In total, Central Zone hosts twelve deposits with 789,200 metric tons of historical resource averaging 6.7 percent zinc and 2.5 percent lead, according to a calculation completed by Cominco in 1988. Spanning 7.6 kilometers (4.7 miles), this portion of Pine Point is located 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) west of an electrical sub-station along the main haulage road.

As of Aug. 23, Osisko Metals has completed 323 holes at Pine Point this year.

–SHANE LASLEY