Let’s start by looking at your Gaspé Copper Project, Quebec. Can you give a brief overview of the project and how you came to the acquisition in 2023?
The Gaspé Copper Project is a brownfield site located in middle of the Gaspé Peninsula, adjacent to the town of Murdochville, Québec. All the infrastructure — highways, rail, and access to a deep-sea port — are in place. Hydroelectric power is available on site, and there is also 70MW of green wind power generation surrounding the mine site.
During its heyday, the Gaspé Copper Mine was one of Canada’s pre-eminent producing mines. It produced from than 141Mt of ore at 0.9% copper from underground galleries and open pit between 1955 and 1999, when it closed due to low copper prices.
Copper, however, is due for a resurgence as it is critical to a green, decarbonized future.
A few years ago, the Québec government established the development of critical minerals projects as a priority and approached Osisko Metals about redeveloping the Gaspé Copper Project and bringing it back into production, due to its superior location and resource potential. We initially approached Glencore Canada in 2021 and completed the acquisition of the property in 2023.
Myself and the Osisko team have already discovered and developed another producing mine in Québec, and I had a personal history with Gaspé Copper, having worked there as a consulting geologist in the 1990s.
The 2025 drill programme is underway at Gaspé Copper. What is the aim of the programme and what do you hope to achieve thereafter?
The 110Km 2025 drill programme has four goals:
- Convert existing inferred resources into the indicated or measured categories
- Test potential expansion of current resources at depth and to the south toward Needle Mountain
- Further characterize higher grade skarn zones
- Validate new geological models
An additional 10,000m will be drilled outside the main mining concession testing regional exploration targets.
There has been over C$150M in reclamation work to date at the past-producing Gaspé Copper Project. Can you tell us more about how Osisko aims to again be a producer of copper and molybdenum?
Osisko Metals has a seven-year path to production. It aims to complete all environmental and socio-economic studies by the end of 2028, and host public hearings in 2029, making a final investment decision by the end of that year. 2030-2031 would be focused on project financing and construction, with a potential start of production in 2032.
The current concept would an open pit mine. There is an offtake agreement with Glencore. Initial metallurgical test work suggests:
- 92-94% copper recoveries with concentrate grades of 24-28% copper
- 65-70% molybdenum recoveries with concentrate grades of 59-60% molybdenum
- 70% silver recoveries
The payable silver credit will be added to the copper concentrate.
At the beginning of this year, you announced the participation of the Québec Government in the project. Can you talk a little about the initiative and the role of government here?
The Government of Québec selected the Gaspé Copper project as its pilot project for a new programme that establishes a committee that seeks to maximize the economic benefits of the project for the Gaspé region. The committee will be overseen by the Québec Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests, and will focus on optimizing socio-economic benefits in the Gaspé Peninsula by ensuring strong collaboration with the business community throughout the project development process.
Given Québec’s reputation as a Tier One mining jurisdiction, what advantage does this provide for Osisko Metals?
The government’s ongoing support of the company and this project is a strategic advantage. A good example of that is the initiative referenced above. There is also a clear, achievable permitting timeline, and an appetite for putting responsibly managed, critical minerals projects like Gaspé Copper into production.
Looking ahead, what milestones should investors look out for? Particularly at Gaspé Copper?
The key milestone throughout 2025 will be ongoing drill results from the extensive drill programme. Additional milestones over the next three years will be environmental and socio-economic impact studies, as well as an updated mineral resource estimate, a preliminary economic assessment in 2026, and feasibility study in 2027.
