Welcome to a roundup of some of our financing, exploration, and development stories on Theassay.com over the last week. To keep up to date with all the latest headlines, subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Financing and M&A
Over the last few days Osisko Metals Incorporated (TSXV: OM | OTCQX: OMZNF | FRANKFURT: 0B51) has announced the expansion of its leadership team along with a C$100M bought deal financing as the company accelerates its strategy of creating a leading critical metals company in North America.
John Burzynski will be appointed to the board of directors of the company as executive chairman and will lead the company along with Robert Wares, who will continue as CEO and a director on the board.
Also, Don Njegovan and Blair Zaritsky will be appointed as president and CFO of the company, respectively. Additionally, Luc Lessard, a director of the company since 2019, will step down from the board and Anthony Glavac will step down as CFO. Mr. Lessard will remain as technical advisor to the board.
In addition, Olympio Metals Limited (ASX: OLY) has signed an option to acquire 80% of the highly prospective Dufay Cu-Au Project on the Cadillac-Lake Larder Fault Zone, known as the ‘Cadillac Break’ in Canada. This terrane bounding structure is associated with world class endowments of VMS and orogenic gold and copper mineralization. The project is located 35km west of the Rouyn-Noranda mining centre and copper smelter in southwest Québec.
The Dufay Project contains numerous historical showings of chalcopyrite-rich quartz veining, including the Chevrier working, which was mined briefly in the late 1920s. There has been limited drilling on the Property, with most holes drilled pre-1945 and no drilling for the last 36 years. Numerous high-grade copper rock chips samples across many prospect locations within the tenure, including up to 7.66% at the Papitose Prospect and up to 6.78% at the Chevrier Prospect.
New exploration and development
It was a solid week for Osisko Metals, with more news announced of its updated mineral resource estimate for the Gaspé Copper Project, located near Murdochville in the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec.
The updated MRE includes pit-constrained resources comprising 824Mt grading 0.34% CuEq of indicated category and 670Mt grading 0.38% CuEq of inferred category. This MRE represents a 53% increase in copper-equivalent metal content over the previously reported indicated resource and a 100-fold increase in copper-equivalent metal content in inferred resources.
Robert Wares, CEO, & Chairman, commented, “We are very proud to announce this updated resource estimate for Gaspé Copper. The overall resource has increased dramatically since last spring’s MRE as a result of new geological modelling and extending the modelled Whittle pit boundaries towards Needle Mountain to the south. A minimum 70,000m drill programme is now planned for 2025, with the objective of converting the bulk of the current inferred resource to indicated category. There is also excellent potential for converting currently categorized in-pit waste rock to mineralized material with this drill programme, which would further grow the in-pit resource while reducing the strip ratio.”
Drilling results
Newcore Gold Ltd. (TSXV: NCAU | OTCQX: NCAUF) has announced additional drill results from the 10,000m drill programme underway at the company’s 100% owned Enchi Gold Project in Ghana.
The company has reported that reverse circulation drilling at the Boin Gold Deposit has intersected the highest-grade gold interval encountered to date at Enchi, with hole ‘KBRC301’ intersecting 204gpt Au over 1.0m from 59m, with a contiguous zone of 1.46g/t Au over 2.0m from 60m.
Drilling also continues to encounter wide zones of higher-grade mineralization with hole KBRC307A intersecting 3.36g/t Au over 28.0m from 120m, including a high-grade intercept of 37.58g/t Au over 2.0m from 133m within a broader zone of 7.76g/t Au over 11.0m from 132m.
Drilling is underway at Enchi as part of the resource growth and infill programme designed to convert inferred resources to indicated. All drill holes intersected gold mineralization, continuing to prove out the continuity of gold mineralization and potential for future resource growth across the project, including at Boin.
Other news
Finally for this week, The Metals Company (Nasdaq: TMC), an explorer of lower-impact battery metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules, today provided a corporate update on the expected submission date of the application to the ISA for an exploitation contract, and an expanded company strategy.
Gerard Barron, TMC chairman and CEO, commented, “After many years of conversations with current and prospective shareholders, it remains clear that the key catalyst everyone is waiting for is the delivery of the Mining Code. Following discussions with Member States and the incoming ISA Secretary-General during the UN General Assembly in September, I remain confident that the work on the Mining Code remains on track. These discussions have also informed the decision to submit the NORI application in June 2025, in consultation with Nauru. Investors can be assured that we will not be raising funds for CAPEX related to the Hidden Gem vessel until we see sufficient regulatory progress, whether through delivery of the Mining Code or additional clarity on the ISA’s review of our application based on the draft regulations.”
