Osisko intersects 6 meters 20.78% zinc, lead

Osisko Metals Inc. Nov. 24 reported the latest results from the current in-fill drill program at its Pine Point project in Northwest Territories, Canada, including an intersect that cut six meters grading 20.06% zinc, and 0.72% lead.

Located just south of the Great Slave Lake, Pine Point is home to a former mine operated by Cominco (now Teck Resources) that produced roughly 14 billion pounds of zinc and 4 billion lb of lead from around 64 million metric tons of ore during a roughly 24-year span beginning in 1964.

Osisko, which picked up the project in 2018, had a preliminary economic assessment completed in 2020 that outlined a mine at the historic Pine Point that could yield an average of 327 million lb of zinc and 143 million lb of lead annually over an initial 10-year mine life.

According to a calculation updated for the PEA, Pine Point hosts 12.9 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 4.56% zinc and 1.73% lead, plus 37.6 million metric tons of inferred resource grading 4.89% zinc and 1.91% lead.

The latest round of results is from drilling at the L65 Tabular deposit in the Central Zone, which forms a part of the C1 Cluster area that has recently demonstrated improved hydrogeological modeling and substantial reduced dewatering requirements.

The L65 mineralization is shallow and flat-lying, intersected between 60 and 87 meters vertical depth.

Results were consistent with respect to the current resource block model and provided partial infill spacing required for the L65 deposit to meet the indicated mineral resource category as defined in the 2020 PEA. The holes also further confirmed historical data.

Following along the in-fill program, Osisko has been conducting hydrogeological testing to determine the viability of lowered dewatering costs, with positive results being shown after extensive testing in recent months.

In light of this, the company will begin to remodel the Central Zone area with the revised cost estimates and price forecasts with the objective to convert the underground mineral resources to open pit mining methods similar to surrounding proposed open pits in the C1 Cluster.

"The excellent infill drilling results announced today add to the significant impact of our updated dewatering assumptions," said Osisko Metals CEO and Chairman Robert Wares. "The cluster mining strategy will potentially result in a simplified mine plan in the C1 Cluster. We will be able to leverage these improvements to other clusters and possibly expand the tonnage mined and mine life at Pine Point."

Drilling to date has been conducted where summer access was available. Osisko is now preparing for a 20,000-meter winter drill program at Pine Point.