XXIX Metal (TSXV: XXIX; US-OTC: QCCUF) downgraded its Opemiska project resource in northern Quebec and said the deposit covers less ground than previously thought.
The indicated pit-constrained resource is 62.7 million tonnes grading 0.76% copper, 1.71 grams per tonne silver and 0.31 gram gold for contained metal of 1.05 billion lb. copper, 3.45 million oz. silver and 634,000 oz. of gold, XXIX said Tuesday.
Opemiska, one of the highest-grade open-pittable copper projects in Canada, also holds 78.5 million inferred tonnes grading 0.26% copper, 0.61 gram silver and 0.17 gram gold for 457 million lb copper, 1.53 million oz. silver and 419,000 oz. gold.
That compares with a January 2024 measured and indicated resource of 87.3 million tonnes grading 0.78% copper, 0.3 gram per tonne gold and 1.97 grams per tonne silver, for contained metal of 1.5 billion lb. copper, 845,000 oz. gold and 5.5 million oz. silver.
Compact pit
The resource update “was designed to increase contained copper, lower the strip ratio, reduce the open-pit footprint and apply conservative cost assumptions to support a realistic and robust preliminary economic assessment scenario,” XXIX CEO Guy Le Bel said in a statement.
“What was once considered waste is now recognized as lower-grade mineralization, which meaningfully reduces the projected strip ratio, enhances the economic potential of the project and reinforces our commitment to present a socially acceptable project to our stakeholders.”
Shares of XXIX fell 12% to 11¢ apiece on Tuesday afternoon in Toronto. That gave the company a market capitalization of about $28 million.
“Shares are always down on NR [news release],” Le Bel said by email on Tuesday afternoon. “My job is to get the shareholders excited again.”
PEA planned
A preliminary economic assessment is to be released in the near term, XXIX said without being more specific.
The recent inclusion of lower-grade stockwork mineralization has “significantly enhanced the overall resource profile, substantially reducing the anticipated strip ratio and broadened the development pathways for Opemiska,” XXIX said.
Additional stockwork mineralization could further expand the property’s resource base, XXIX said. The company said it would continue to evaluate stockwork mineralization at the property “given its importance and potential impact on any future economics.”
Opemiska’s Cooke zone is a past-producing mine run by Falconbridge, now part of Glencore (LSE: GLEN), that produced 1.97 million tonnes grading 0.66% copper and 5.04 grams gold per tonne from 1976 to 1989. Its crown pillar still intact offers “significant gold upside,” XXIX said. The company is evaluating Cooke’s open-pit potential, which could further boost future project economics.
Horne smelter
Opemiska spans 213 sq. km in Quebec’s Chapais-Chibougamau region about 600 km north of Montreal and is near Glencore’s Horne smelter.
It’s one of two key copper projects in Quebec that XXIX is advancing. The other is Thierry, which hosts two past-producing open pits that subsequently became underground mines.
Canadian Critical Minerals, which owns 10.4% of XXIX, is advancing the Bull River copper-gold-silver project near Cranbrook, B.C. That company plans to restart Bull River, which operated from 1971 to 1974.
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