11 January 2021
Osisko Metals Incorporated is pleased to announce its 2021 exploration and development plans for Pine Point with a focus towards continuing to de-risk the project and bringing further improvements to the 2020 Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”).
•Drilling will begin on January 14th. Osisko Metals is planning a 3,000 meters winter campaign focused on infill and extension drilling in the Western Zone with the objective of converting the bulk of three high-priority prismatic deposits to the Indicated Resource category.
•Hydrogeological studies and tests planned across the property to further refine the dewatering model used in the 2020 PEA. Osisko Metals believes that improvements to the hydrogeological model could lead to substantial water management cost reductions over life of mine, including initial CAPEX, in future economic studies.
•Updated PEA and MRE in early 2022. With the potential for operational improvements and the incorporation of extension and infill drilling completed in 2020 and 2021, Osisko Metals will update the Pine Point PEA to better reflect sustained positive zinc and lead commodity prices.
•Submit EA Initiation Package to advance permitting in accordance with the project development timeline. The Environmental Assessment (“EA”) Initiation Package, including the project Description as per the PEA, is expected to be submitted in February 2021. On receipt of a positive decision on the EA, expected in Q3 2023, the project permitting phase will then commence and is expected to be completed by Q3 2024.
Robert Wares, Chairman and CEO, commented: “2020 was an important year for Osisko Metals and Pine Point with the release of the 2020 PEA, cementing Pine Point as a Tier 1 zinc development project. Pine Point combines excellent open pit metal grades with available infrastructure and projected low operating costs, pointing to the potential for a “Top 10” global zinc producer. Building on this success, we will focus on delivering increased value to Pine Point through our planned 2021 drill campaign and hydrogeological studies.”