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A 'banner year' at Pine Point for Osisko Metals

Osisko Metals Inc. is lauding its exploration work last year at Pine Point.

"2019 was another banner year for Osisko Metals with the release of the updated 52-million-tonne mineral resource estimate for Pine Point, confirming Pine Point as the most exciting zinc project in North America," stated Jeff Hussey, the company's president and CEO, in a Jan. 17 news release.

Jeff Hussey, the president and CEO of Osisko Metals Incorporated, has given an upbeat assessment of work at the zinc/lead exploration project at Pine Point.
NNSL file photo

Robert Wares, the executive chairman with Osisko Metals, predicted a positive 2020.

"Continuing on the 2019 milestones, particularly the updated mineral resource estimate, the forthcoming year will be an exciting one for the company, focusing on camp-wide exploration at Pine Point," stated Wares. "Drill rigs are now testing multiple near-surface targets identified in the 2019 airborne gravity survey.

“Discoveries are made at the drill bit and with an aggressive exploration plan, 2020 will be an exciting year for Osisko Metals and its shareholders."

In November, the company released the near-surface inferred mineral resource estimate of 52.4-million tonnes grading 4.64-per-cent zinc and 1.83-per-cent lead that contains 5.3 billion pounds of zinc and 2.1 billion pounds of lead.

That is a 36-per-cent increase over the 2018 mineral resource estimate at a similar grade.

Pine Point, the site of a zinc/lead mining operation that closed in the 1980s, is located about 60 kilometres east of Hay River.

The 2019 mineral resource estimate will be used to prepare a preliminary economic assessment that is expected to be released in the second quarter of 2020.

The results of the airborne gravity survey were processed and integrated into the project database. Over 60 targets were identified across the core portion of the project.

Those near-surface targets, which have never been drilled and were selected due to their geophysical similarities to known deposits at Pine Point, will be drill-tested in 2020.

In September, Osisko Metals signed collaboration agreements with Deninu Ku'e First Nation of Fort Resolution and the Northwest Territory Metis Nation “to promote a co-operative and mutually respectful relationship” governing the proposed exploration and development activities in the Pine Point area.