Excerpt from Stockwatch Gold-Today John Burzynski's Osisko Mining Inc. (OSK) fell 18 cents to $2.89 on 2.24 million shares on word that it has received a preliminary economic assessment showing "significant positive results" -- when are they otherwise? -- for its Windfall Lake gold project in the Abitibi region of Quebec. The 18-year mine plan calls for average production of 238,000 ounces annually, with a rate of 300,000 ounces per year over the first seven years. The plan is not for the faint of heart, with the 3,100-tonne-per-day milling operation carrying a capital cost of $544-million, but the bottom line is impressive -- this is a dream sheet, remember -- with a discounted net present value of $1.5-billion after taxes.
Mr. Burzynski, CEO, was suitably enthused but he is already thinking ahead to the next study: He says the document is "an important interim update" on the project, one that he believes is not only "highly positive" but "conservative" -- combining two of the most overworked qualifiers in a promoter's lexicon. He is looking to the high-grade infill drill results obtained since last fall to boost the bottom line further, adding that drilling ahead of a feasibility study should add yet more ounces. Mr. Burzynski suggests that Osisko's goal is to have all those preliminaries completed soon, as the company needs to raise a lot of cash to build its mine ahead of projected production in 2024.
The mine plan calls for total gold production of 4.17 million ounces but there are plenty more ounces sitting in the latest resource estimate. Osisko lists six million tonnes measured and indicated at 9.6 grams per tonne and 16.4 million tonnes inferred at eight grams per tonne, a total of just over six million ounces of gold.
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