The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Mining Explorers 2024 - January 15, 2025
Located just south of the Great Slave Lake, Pine Point is home to a former mine operated by Teck Resources that produced roughly 14 billion lb of zinc over a 24-year span beginning in 1964.
Mineral resource areas, proposed mill site, existing infrastructure, and haulage roads at Pine Point.
Building on years of groundwork, Osisko Metals Inc. made strategic progress at Pine Point in 2024 –advancing the project toward feasibility through a resource upgrade, finalizing design plans, and forging potential partnerships, all while positioning this historic zinc-lead district for future development.
As part of its ongoing effort to revitalize Pine Point, an iconic zinc-lead district located on the southern shore of Great Slave Lake in Northwest Territories, Osisko Metals led into the year with its final batch of assays from drilling in 2023, setting the stage for a significant resource update and positioning itself toward feasibility studies.
Definition drilling in 2023 achieved an average drill spacing of approximately 30 meters within the 2022 preliminary economic assessment model. This spacing was intended to upgrade inferred resources to the indicated category. Highlights from its final batch included:
• 11 meters averaging 12.48% zinc and 2.23% lead from surface in hole K51-23-PP-004.
• 4.95 meters averaging 11.36% zinc and 1.07% lead in K51-23-PP-020.
• 5.5 meters averaging 12.8% zinc and 1.38% lead in X59-23-PP-014.
• Six meters averaging 16.47% zinc and 1.42% lead in X60-23-PP-003.
"Drill results over the last five years at Pine Point have met or exceeded expectations, and now that the definition drilling program is essentially completed, we will have an updated mineral resource estimate this quarter," said Osisko Metals CEO Robert Wares. "This MRE (mineral resource estimate) will comprise mostly indicated resources and will be updated to take into account higher estimated mining and energy costs."
And upgrade its resource it did. Come late June, utilizing drilling over the last two years, a significant portion of its resource was upgraded to the higher confidence category in preparation for elevating this zinc project to feasibility.
According to this new calculation, Pine Point hosts 49.5 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 4.22% (4.6 billion pounds) zinc and 1.49% (1.6 billion lb) lead; plus 8.3 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 4.18% (700 million lb) zinc and 1.69% (300 million lb) lead.
This marked a 214% increase in indicated resource over to the previous resource calculation completed in 2022, with most of the increase is the result of elevating inferred resource to the higher confidence indicated category.
Mineral resource areas, proposed mill site, existing infrastructure, and haulage roads at Pine Point.
"We are very happy to have met a critical milestone with this MRE (mineral resource estimate) that successfully converted the majority of the mineral resources to the indicated category," said Wares. "With our partner Appian Capital Advisory LLP, we can now rapidly advance Pine Point to the feasibility stage following finalization of trade-off studies."
Early 2023, Appian agreed to invest as much as C$100 million (US$74 million) to earn up to a 60% joint venture interest in Pine Point Ltd., which is advancing the zinc project toward development and operations.
Similarly, early in 2024, Osisko announced the sale of an additional 5% interest in Pine Point to Appian Capital. This transaction, valued at approximately C$8.3 million ($6.2 million), was designed to maintain Osisko's share price while providing funds to advance its Gaspé Copper project in Quebec.
"The sale of the additional five percent interest in Pine Point to Appian will allow the company to advance the Gaspé Copper project without resorting to an additional equity financing, which in the current market would be excessively dilutive," said Wares. This increased Appian's interest in Pine Point Mining Limited to 65%, further cementing their joint commitment to rapidly advancing the project toward development.
While the majority of its exploration activities appeared to focus on advancing Gaspé, one significant development unfolded later in the year.
In November, Pine Point Mining Limited (PPML) and the Town of Hay River signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to advance the Pine Point zinc-lead project and foster regional growth. The agreement outlined a collaborative framework for sustainable development and local economic opportunities in the Northwest Territories.
To support this initiative, PPML hosted a series of town hall meetings that provided updates on mining operations, environmental studies, and other aspects of the project while offering a platform for community feedback.
Hay River Mayor Kandis Jameson acknowledged the potential benefits for local businesses and residents, citing the MOU as an important step toward maximizing the economic impact of Pine Point's revitalization.
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