North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Reorganizing under a new joint venture with a London-based private equity group, Osisko Metals Inc. now has the funds to advance the historic Pine Point zinc-lead mine project in Northwest Territories to "shovel-ready" status.

Located just south of the Great Slave Lake, Pine Point is home to a former mine operated by Teck Resources Ltd. that produced roughly 14 billion pounds of zinc and 4 billion lb of lead from around 64 million metric tons of ore during a 24-year span beginning in 1964.

According to the most recent calculation, Pine Point hosts 15.8 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 4.17% zinc and 1.53% lead, plus 47.2 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 4.43% zinc and 1.68% lead.

At the onset of the year, Osisko accepted an investment agreement with Appian Capital Advisory LLP, a London-based private equity group that specializes in acquiring and developing mining assets.

Seeing the enormous potential of what this past-producing mine could be, Appian invested C$100 million (US$72.9 million) to be paid over an estimated four-year period, resulting in a 60% joint venture interest in Pine Point Mining Ltd.

"We are delighted to welcome Appian as a long-term joint-venture partner for the advancement of the Pine Point project," said Osisko Metals CEO Robert Wares. "This milestone agreement is a significant endorsement and daylights the considerable intrinsic value of Pine Point. The transaction allows us to leverage Appian's extensive mine development experience and includes a crucial investment of C$75 million into the project that will advance the development of Pine Point to a 'shovel-ready' status."

The funding is expected to cover all costs including final definition drilling, additional exploration drilling, feasibility, environmental assessment and permitting.

With the formation of the JV, Osisko saw a shuffling in management with former President and COO Jeff Hussey stepping down from the company's board and moving in as new CEO of Pine Point Mining Limited, and former Vice President of Exploration Robin Adair becoming senior technical advisor of the JV.

Ultimately, work toward a modern Pine Point mine is still on.

Following the investment, Osisko got to work and began the exploration season with definition drilling. Designed to achieve an average drill spacing of approximately 30 meters within the current modeled mineral resources reported in a 2022 preliminary economic assessment for Pine Point. This spacing was intended to upgrade inferred resources to the indicated category, and the results spoke for themselves.

"Drill results from Pine Point continue to meet or exceed expectations and we are looking forward to an updated resource estimate before year end," said Wares. "Now that the bulk of the definition program is done, we will focus on exploration drilling of new targets with a significant program slated for the upcoming fall/winter season, details to be provided in due time."

With the definition drilling completed, the next phase was toward exploring for new targets.

Osisko Metals Inc.

As assays began to roll in, a clearer picture of what still resides at Pine Point began to come into view for Osisko. In an exciting turn, results from one of the targeted zones indicated the possibility of new tabular-style mineralization to the east of the established deposit boundaries.

The company said that localized increases in grade and thickness suggested there is exploration potential for new prismatic-style deposits in proximity to its more advanced C1 area. With no real boundaries impeding forward progress, Osisko was full steam ahead in outlining a new resource estimate.

Aside from hashing out the final details, the exploratory drilling did provide potential targets for the company to plan for the start of 2024's exploration program.