Dakota Gold infill drilling bodes well for Q1 Richmond Hill resource update
The 17,000-metre drill campaign in South Dakota's Homestake District aims to expand on an initial resource reported in April.
If Osisko Mining’s (TSX: OSK) two Lynx bulk sample programs to date are anything to go by, the market should expect substantial resource reconciliation upside once mining gets started in just over two years, says company president Mathieu Savard.
Savard told the Precious Metals Summit currently underway in Beaver Creek, Colorado, that the company is on track to release the results of the third bulk sample taken from the Lynx 600 (Triple Lynx) zone at the Windfall gold project, in James Bay, Québec, in early October.
The previous bulk sample results returned higher grades than those indicated by drilling. The returned grades for the two previous bulk samples were 26% and 89% higher than anticipated, respectively.
He noted the company had continuously taken a conservative approach to develop the resource statements for Windfall Lake. “The bulk samples have demonstrated it in the past, and we expect it to be demonstrated again,” Savard said.
“If we’re right about the grade potentially being higher once in production, it’s easy to do informal calculations about how each free gram of gold recovered translates to additional free cash flow.”
Savard said Windfall Lake had already attained world-class status despite its discovery only 10 years ago. Despite still being an exploration asset, Windfall already ranks among the top-five producing assets globally and, once in production, will be in the top three.
It is the most recent of only 18 significant discoveries of this magnitude in the past century. “It’s a ‘company-maker’ deposit,” said Savard.
Before releasing a feasibility study on the project before year-end, Osisko recently released an updated resource outlining a total of 7.4 million ounces. The updated resource is based on nearly 1.9 million metres of drilling.
