Mr. John Burzynski reports
OSISKO MINING PROVIDES ONTARIO EXPLORATION UPDATE
Osisko Mining Inc. has provided an update on the progress of exploration at its 100-per-cent-owned Garrison gold project located in Garrison township, Ontario.
Osisko has been conducting new exploration and definition drilling at Garrison for 20 months, since early 2016. As of the end of January, 2018, Osisko has completed 85,000 metres of new drilling to complement the pre-existing 108,000 metres drilled at Garrison by previous operators. The company has re-evaluated previous drilling from the Jonpol zone, continued resource delineation at the Garrcon zone and substantially expanded the 903 zone with exploration drilling in the southwest part of the property. Dewatering and geological mapping of the Garrcon bulk sample pits were conducted during 2017. Work is in progress on interpretation of the geological model of the Garrcon and 903 zones, including mineralization controls.
Exploration budget for 2018: $3-million
Osisko's 2018 exploration budget for the Garrison deposit totals approximately $3-million. This includes resource estimation work, additional resource-oriented infill drilling, metallurgical work and exploration drilling on the Garrison property.
Garrison: updated resource estimation planned for July, 2018
Osisko's updated resource estimate for the Garrison project is scheduled to be released in July, 2018.
The Garrison property consists of three mineralized zones with different styles: The Garrcon zone is hosted by Temiskaming sediments in the footwall of the Destor Porcupine fault zone (PDFZ); the Jonpol zone comprises 1.7 kilometres of structurally controlled mineralization along the Munro shear zone hosted by mafic to ultramafic volcanic rocks; and the 903 zone is hosted by syenite dikes intruding ultramafic rocks along the PDFZ. The Jonpol and 903 zones remain open to the southwest and northwest respectively. The Garrcon, Jonpol and 903 zones will all be included in the 2018 updated resource.
Property disposals
Through the course of 2017 Osisko vended the Catharine, DeSantis and Swayze exploration projects to other mining companies.
President and chief executive officer of Osisko John Burzynski commented: "Although our main focus is on the Windfall project in Quebec, Osisko has continued work on the Garrison project, with the goal of updating the resource and improving our understanding of the potential of the Garrcon, Jonpol and 903 zones. Drilling in 2017 was successful at significantly expanding the size of the 903 zone. Our upcoming July resource estimate will include all three zones (Garrcon, Jonpol and 903), and we will continue to evaluate the extensions of known mineralization with exploration drilling in 2018."
Qualified person
The scientific and technical content of this press release has been reviewed, prepared and approved by Gernot Wober, PGeo, vice-president of exploration Canada for Osisko Mining, who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
About the Garrison project
The Garrison project area comprises 214 mineral claims, 25 mining leases and 87 patent claims encompassing approximately 8,000 hectares. Both Garrcon and Jonpol have resource estimates that are described in a technical report prepared in accordance with NI 43-101, which was completed by a previous operator Northern Gold Mining Inc. (entitled "Technical Report on the Golden Bear Project -- Garrison Property: Larder Lake Mining Division, Garrison Township, Ontario, Canada") dated Dec. 30, 2013, with an effective date of Dec. 30, 2013. The Garrison technical report was prepared by ACA Howe International Ltd. for Northern Gold Mining Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Osisko) and is available on Osisko's website and on SEDAR under Northern Gold Mining's issuer profile.
Resource estimates were conducted by ACA Howe International Ltd. according to CIM standards. The Garrcon zone estimates showed 15.1 million tonnes with an average grade of 1.07 grams per tonne Au (521,000 ounces) in measured resources; 14.1 million tonnes averaging 1.16 g/t Au (526,000 oz) in indicated resources; and 1.7 million tonnes averaging 0.72 g/t Au (39,000 oz) in inferred resources. Potential underground resources of 5.1 million tonnes averaging 3.49 g/t Au (577,000 oz) in the inferred category were also outlined. Resources were reported at a cut-off grade of 0.4 g/t Au for open-pit extraction and 1.5 g/t in a bulk underground mining scenario using a gold price of $1,250 (U.S.)/oz.
At the Jonpol zone, resources were estimated as 870,000 tonnes averaging 5.34 g/t Au (150,000 oz) in the indicated category; and 1.07 million tonnes averaging 5.56 g/t Au (192,000 oz) in inferred resources. Resources were reported at a cut-off grade of 3.0 g/t Au and assume an underground extraction scenario using a gold price of $1,250 (U.S.)/oz.
Readers are cautioned that inferred resources have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and as to whether they can be mined economically. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of the inferred resources will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
Garrcon zone
The Garrcon zone has a shallow plunge eastward along the footwall of the Destor-Porcupine fault zone with the bulk of the resource in the western, more densely drilled area. The zone is exposed at surface and has potential for open-pit bulk mining at an estimated overall stripping ratio of 1.8:1. There is potential for additional underground resources below the pit and along the easterly plunge of the zone, which is open for further exploration down dip and along strike.
The Garrcon shaft was sunk in 1935 and 1936 by the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. of Canada and the Shaft and South zones were tested for high-grade gold mineralization. Cominco drove approximately 1,430 metres of drifts and crosscuts, mining underground veins. Diamond drilling by Cominco and Lac Minerals Ltd. in the mid- to late 1980s identified broad sections of low-grade mineralization. In 2006 to 2007, ValGold Resources Ltd. conducted additional drilling confirming these zones. From 2009 to 2013 Northern Gold Mining Inc. conducted 97,000 metres of diamond drilling which delineated the current resource.
In 2014, Northern Gold Mining Inc. was granted a trial mining permit allowing the extraction of up to 150,000 tonnes. Northern Gold Mining Inc. mined 73,534 dry tonnes which were processed at the nearby Holt mill facility recovering 3,516 oz at an average head grade of 1.55 g/t and recovery of 95.9 per cent.
Jonpol zone
Jonpol is situated in the Munro fault zone, a west-striking splay off the north side of the Destor-Porcupine fault. Hosted in a shear zone tens of metres wide in altered mafic volcanic rocks, the deposit consists of four high-grade gold mineralized zones (JP, JD, RP and East) over a strike length of 1.7 kilometres. Gold mineralization is hosted in quartz carbonate veins, in mafic and ultramafic host rocks, and is associated with intense albite and/or sericite alteration and pyrite mineralization.
In 1997, a 49,087-tonne bulk sample was extracted from the central part of the JP zone by Hillsborough Resources Ltd. with an average grade of 6.7 g/t which produced 9,476 ounces Au. From 1985 to 2013, over 130,000 metres of drilling were completed on the property by previous operators. Development work on the JP zone included the sinking of a 184-metre shaft as well as development of a ramp to the 150-metre level with mining on six sublevels. The Jonpol infrastructure underwent reclamation in the late 1990s and was closed out in 2001, but the existing ramp and shaft are preserved.
903 zone
This third mineralized zone present at Garrison was not included in the resource estimate reported by the previous operator in 2013. Mineralization at the 903 was discovered in 1945 by Wright-Hargreaves Mines Ltd. In 1988 Lac Minerals acquired the claims covering the current 903 zone and completed 17 drill holes totalling 4,823 metres. The property was optioned in 1990 to Jonpol and T&H Resources and subsequently returned to Lac Minerals in 1991. Northern Gold acquired the claims from a subsidiary of Barrick Gold in 2013, conducting surface exploration and six drill holes.
About Osisko Mining Inc.
Osisko is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of precious metal resource properties in Canada. Osisko holds a 100-per-cent interest in the high-grade Windfall Lake gold deposit located between Val d'Or and Chibougamau in Quebec; a 100-per-cent undivided interest in a large area of claims in the surrounding Urban Barry area and nearby Quevillon area (over 3,300 square kilometres); a 100-per-cent interest in the Marban project located in the heart of Quebec's prolific Abitibi gold mining district; and properties in the Larder Lake mining division in Northeast Ontario, including the Jonpol and Garrcon deposits on the Garrison property, the Buffonta past-producing mine, and the Gold Pike mine property. The corporation also holds interests and options in a number of additional properties in Northern Quebec and Ontario. Osisko continues to be well financed with approximately $190-million in cash and investments as of the end of fourth quarter 2017.
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