Osisko says Gaspé assays expand copper deposit

Osisko Metals (TSX: OM; US-OTC: OMZNF) said new drilling at its flagship Gaspé project in eastern Quebec yielded multiple occurrences of copper in the deposit’s core.

Hole 30-1119 cut 46 metres averaging 1.1% copper and 5.08 grams silver per tonne from 421 metres depth, Osisko said Wednesday. This included 7.5 metres of 5.35% copper and 18.2 grams silver from 454 metres downhole. Another hole, 30-1124, cut 203 metres averaging 0.37% copper and 2.81 grams silver from 416 metres depth.

Montreal-based Osisko is working to upgrade the deposit’s current resource to measured and indicated from inferred by the first quarter of 2026, ahead of a decision to potentially reopen the former Noranda mine in Murdochville by the early 2030s. Gaspé is North America largest copper project east of the Mississippi River, according to Osisko. A preliminary economic assessment will probably be released next year.

“Today’s results continue to demonstrate consistency on both the infill and the expansion potential,” National Bank Financial mining analyst Rabi Nizami said in a note. “We expect the next 12 months to be pivotal for the Gaspé project to gain wider recognition towards an eventual M&A takeout, and to potentially be recognized among Canada’s national priority projects.”

Drilling at Gaspé is expected to continue until December, Nizami added. Assay results will be published regularly over the coming months.

Deposit’s centre

Four of the results released Wednesday were drilled near the deposit’s centre, with the other five collared along the eastern, western and southern margins of the pit shell on which a 2024 resource estimate was based.

Other highlights included hole 30-1114, which intersected 142 metres averaging 0.39% copper and 1.5 grams silver from about 809 metres depth. Hole 30-1107, meanwhile, intersected 592 metres grading 0.33% copper and 1.68 grams silver starting at 411 metres.

“The new drilling keeps deepening the deposit and again confirms its southern extension,” Osisko CEO Robert Wares said. “We are excited about the growth of our project, especially within the context of a fundamental rising metal market.”

Resource

Gaspé hosts 824 million indicated tonnes grading 0.27% copper, 0.015% molybdenum and 1.74 grams silver per tonne for contained metal of 2.23 million tonnes of copper, 124,000 tonnes of molybdenum and 46 million oz. of silver, according to an estimate released last November. 

The inferred resource is pegged at 670 million tonnes grading 0.3% copper, 0.02% molybdenum and 1.37 grams silver for contained metal of 1.99 million tonnes of copper, 133,000 tonnes of molybdenum and 29.5 million oz. of silver. 

Mineralization at Gaspé is of porphyry copper/skarn type, Osisko said. It occurs as disseminations and stockworks of chalcopyrite with pyrite or pyrrhotite and minor bornite and molybdenite.

Osisko shares rose 1.9% % to 53¢ Wednesday morning in Toronto, boosting the company’s market value to about $323 million. The stock has traded between 21¢ and 56¢ in the past year.