Can you explain the circumstances surrounding the establishment of the second incarnation of Osisko Mining in 2015?

The first incarnation of Osisko Mining set out looking for low-grade bulk-tonnage gold deposits in Canada, something that had not been done before. We defined a new style of mineralization in Archean aged gold-only porphyries, and ultimately defined over 10 million oz of gold at Canadian Malartic. The mine was eventually sold to Yamana Gold and Agnico Eagle for C$4.3 billion after a hostile takeover attempt by Goldcorp, and is now the 10^th largest producing gold mine in the world.

On the back of this, we formed Osisko Gold Royalties, but decided to keep most of our technical staff after the takeover, as we had spent years putting the team together and did not want to lose them. In summer 2015 we reformed Osisko Mining by taking one of the shell companies we had, with a C$8 million-market cap and about C$10 million cash, and did a succession of deals. We have built the company up and today Osisko Mining holds C$150 million cash in equity positions and a market cap of around C$700 million.

What have been the main milestones achieved by Osisko Mining in the past three years?

In just over three years Osisko has done approximately 800,000 meters of drilling and defined basically from scratch about 3.6 million oz at Windfall. We have made several significant discoveries, such as the Lynx discovery, which is a contiguous part of the Windfall deposit, and the new Triple 8 zone, located at 2 kilometres depth at Windfall.

We have completed approximately 50 deals in this time, acquiring six corporations and numerous properties to consolidate the land around Windfall and adjacent camps. Osisko’s most recent acquisition of Beaufield Resources in August 2018 secured land contiguous to some of the main blocks around Windfall.

Can you provide further details about the Windfall project?

Windfall, which includes the Lynx discovery, is a large intrusive-related gold deposit. It currently sits at 3.1 million oz, based on the first 700,000 meters of drilling. We also have a new discovery, Triple 8, which is not included in that figure. Triple 8 is one of the first indications of just how deep this deposit may go. All principle zones are open, down-plunge to the northeast and, as we continue drilling, we expect the scale of deposit to expand. We have a secondary deposit, Osborne Bell, which has another 510,000 oz, located in close proximity to where we intend to put the mill. A feasibility study is planned to be completed by the end of 2019.

After the feasibility study is complete by the end of 2019 is the plan to move into production the following year?

We will complete infill drilling in Q2/Q3 2019 and then finish the feasibility study. After this we apply for permitting, which we estimate at approximately 12 months in Québec, so this will take us into 2020/early 2021. The construction at the site will take another 12 months, and this will lead to production in late 2021/early 2022.

Osisko Mining intends to create the next intermediate Canadian mining company, and we believe Windfall has the potential to be Osisko’s cornerstone asset. We believe that as we drill out Windfall and advance exploration the project will grow to world-class scale.

Does Osisko intend to sell its others assets to focus on Windfall?

Osisko will very likely sell its additional assets. Once we realized the scale of Windfall we began to focus on this flagship asset. In the meantime we have two deposits for sale with an aggregate of approximately 4 million oz in all resource categories, located near Canadian Malartic. At the Garrison project in Ontario, which is between 2 and 3 million oz and is located 15 km from Kirkland Lake’s Holt mill, we are putting out a new resource in 2019. We are working towards selling both of these deposits before the end of 2019.

What are the principal objectives for Osisko Mining in the next 12 months?

We will have a finished resource on the basis of the infill drilling on the Windfall deposit, and will be proceeding with the feasibility study. Osisko will also perform expansion drilling on the down-plunge extensions of the main zones. We intend to put further deep holes into Triple 8 to try and define its relative scale, and we expect to grow the resource through drilling as we head towards completing feasibility.

Do you have a final message for the readers of Global Business Reports?

Osisko has been very successful in the past, and is probably one of the few companies that can say it has returned over C$4 billion to its shareholders. We believe we are well on the way to being successful again, and Windfall has all the signs of a strong deposit that will become a major source of economic and employment opportunity for the province of Québec.