Drilling taps deeper Pine Point zinc

Osisko Metals Inc. May 1 reported assay results for an additional 100 holes drilled into X-65, a resource area within the North Zone of the Pine Point zinc project about 42 kilometers (26 miles) east of Hay River, Northwest Territories.

Cominco Ltd. (now Teck Resources) mined zinc-lead ore from a series of 50 surface and underground deposits along a 60-kilometer (37 miles) corridor at Pine Point from 1964 to 1988. Osisko has identified four zones along this corridor – East Mill, Central and West zones are along one trend that runs the length of the corridor, and North zone is a roughly 20-kilometer (12.5 miles) trend that runs parallel to the Central zone.

According to a calculation completed in November, North zone hosts 13.1 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 4.26 percent zinc and 1.87 percent lead.

This resource is found within areas that have been modelled for future mining, including the X-65 resource area.

Located along an access road within the North zone, X-65 is the site of a Cominco underground mine that produced 149,700 metric tons of ore averaging 12.9 percent zinc and 7 percent lead.

Highlights from the 100 holes Osisko reported from the X-65 area include 32.24 meters of 18.25 percent zinc and 1.31 percent lead in hole X65-19-PP-025 and 14.48 meters of 9.62 percent zinc and 1.15 percent lead in X65-19-PP-062.

Out of the 100 holes, 90 cut significant near-surface zinc mineralization between 17 and 73 meters below the surface.

A significant mineralized intersection was also cut in hole X65-19-PP-010, which cut one meter of 2.2 percent zinc and 0.21 percent lead at a dept of 93 meters. What makes this intercept important is it confirms the potential of a lower horizon of mineralization that could be extensive. The deeper stratigraphy encountered in X65-19-PP-010 hosts the historical X-15 deposit, which produced 17.5 million metric tons of ore averaging 8.2 percent combined zinc and lead, located more than 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) to the northeast.

"The exploration potential at Pine Point is enormous and the deeper intercept in X65-19-PP-10 reaffirms this potential," said Osisko Metals President and CEO Jeff Hussey. "Cominco Ltd. largely focused their drilling on the upper third of the stratigraphic units which host mineralization at Pine Point. Some of the larger deposits, such as X-15 and N-204, are found in these lower units which remain poorly tested along the 65 kilometers of strike length. We are encouraged by this drilling and strongly believe that new discoveries can be made at Pine Point."

The four zones at Pine Point host a total of 38.4 metric tons averaging 4.58 percent zinc and 1.85 percent lead was calculated in November based on historical drilling and 317 holes completed by Osisko. The company has completed another 714 holes at Pine Point that are not included in this resource estimate, including the latest batch of 100 holes drilled at X-65.

–SHANE LASLEY