Osisko Metals drills wide copper intercepts at historic mine in Quebec

Drilling towards the northwest under the past-producing pit at the Gaspe copper project in Quebec returned 1,011 metres grading 0.46% copper, 3.19 grams silver per tonne and 0.02% molybdenum from 225 metres downhole, Osisko Metals (TSXV: OSK) reports.

The drillhole (30-1005) included a higher-grade interval of 312 metres of 0.76% copper, 4.79 grams silver and 0.04% molybdenum starting from 734 metres.

Osisko is earning a 100% stake in the Gaspe copper mine from Glencore (LSE: GLEN) Canada and describes the complex, 825 km east of Montreal, as “among the largest copper development assets in Eastern North America.”

The company says all the support infrastructure is in place for a “potential re-opening” of the mine. Gaspe Copper, formerly a subsidiary of Noranda Inc., mined the porphyry copper/skarn complex and produced copper concentrate from 1955 until the mine was closed in 1999. The Needle open pit and Mount Copper open pit produced a total of 150 million tonnes grading an average of 0.87% copper with minor molybdenum, gold and silver credits, over 45 years of continuous operations.

Last year, as part of its strategy to evaluate the prospects for economic copper deposits remaining within the past-producing complex, Osisko completed its first resource estimate on the Mount Copper deposit using data from historic drilling completed between the 1960s and 2019.

The company outlined 456 million inferred tonnes grading 0.31% copper for 3.1 billion lb. contained copper metal. The resource used a lower cut-off grade of 0.16% sulphide copper and a base case price of US$3.80 per lb. copper.

The company noted that the Whittle pit-constrained resource completed in April is limited only to the sulphide copper mineralization that surrounds the Mount Copper pit. All oxide mineralization, it said, is being treated currently as zero value waste.

In its latest batch of drill results,12 of the 18 holes reported were collared on the periphery of the Mount Copper pit and used controlled directional drilling techniques, Osisko said in its Jan. 24 press release.

Other highlights included drillhole 30-984A, which cut 235.5 metres grading 0.43% copper, 2.98 grams silver and 0.04% molybdenum from 530 metres downhole, extended mineralization by 180 metres beyond the lower limit of the modelled mineralized shell.

Drill hole 30-1012, collared outside the mineralized shell on the pit’s northern margin, returned 238 metres of 0.51% copper, 3.43 grams silver, and 0.02% molybdenum. Drill hole 30-1012A, collared on the southwestern margin of the pit within the mineralized shell, intersected 138.7 metres grading 0.43% copper, 1.22 grams silver from 47.4 metres downhole, including 366 metres of 0.25% copper, 1.82 grams silver and 0.03% molybdenum from 348 metres downhole. The hole extended mineralization by 200 metres beyond the lower limit of the modelled mineralized shell.

“We are very happy with this latest slate of drill results at Gaspe Copper, which are not only confirming grades at the Mount Copper deposit but also expanding the modelled limits of mineralization,” Robert Wares, the company’s chairman and CEO, stated in the news release.

In late morning trading, Osisko’s shares were up 2.3% (8¢) to $3.56 per share. Over the last year the company has traded in a range of $2.36 and $5.02 per share. It has about 348 million common shares outstanding giving it a market cap of roughly $1.2 billion.