Osisko Metals has updated the mineral resource estimate for its 100% owned Pine Point project near the town of Hay River in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The estimate now totals 52.4 million metric tons (mt) grading 4.64% zinc and 1.83% lead (6.47% zinc equivalent), containing approximately 5.3 billion pounds (lb) of zinc and 2.1 billion lb of lead in-situ.
Compared to Osisko’s December 2018 mineral resource estimate, the tonnage of the new estimate increased by 36%, with a minor 0.11% drop in the zinc equivalent grade. The tonnage increase is attributable to the company’s 2018-2019 drilling campaign, historical resources on newly acquired claims, and the inclusion of newly modeled underground resources.
Osisko Metals President and CEO Jeff Hussey said, “Following our maiden mineral resource in December 2018, we are very pleased to again demonstrate significant asset growth at Pine Point. Global zinc and lead projects with all supportive infrastructure and more than 50 million mt in near-surface resources are extremely rare, and we are delighted that Pine Point now enters this select group.
“There is a depleted pipeline of quality zinc development projects globally, and we believe Pine Point will place Osisko Metals at the forefront of junior base-metal exploration and development companies.
“Having achieved our objective of increasing the resource base to the 50-million-mt threshold, we now believe that the project could develop into a mine large enough to enter the top 10 global zinc mines on an annual zinc-in-concentrate basis. We would also emphasize that exploration at Pine Point has been minimal in the last 30 years. We believe there is more to come for the project.”
Osisko plans to continue its Pine Point exploration campaign into the first half of 2020 and will be testing high-potential target areas, with a focus on high-grade “prismatic” type deposits. Compilation work is ongoing and is being combined with an airborne gravity gradiometry survey completed in August 2019 and Lidar topographic surveys flown in 2018.
The Pine Point project continues to benefit from supportive infrastructure that includes paved roads, rail access in Hay River and hydro electrical power. The site also benefits from 100 km of pre-existing haul roads from earlier mining operations, providing access to all major deposit areas.
(osiskometals.com)
