Sergio Cattalani, Vice-President, Exploration, Osisko Mining Corporation will give a presentation on
Discovery and Development of the Canadian Malartic Bulk-Tonnage Gold Deposit, Southern Abitibi, Quebec, Canada
Download the TGDG presentation here
Download the NewGen conference paper here
ABSTRACT
Osisko Mining Corporation’s Canadian Malartic project, located in the Southern Abitibi region of Quebec, Canada, began with the October 2004 acquisition, from the McWatters Mines bankruptcy trustee, of the initial claim block covering the old Canadian Malartic mine site, an underground operation that produced about one million ounces of gold from 1935 to 1965. The acquisition was made on the basis of data mining and geological modeling of the sector. The objective was to discover and delineate a bulk tonnage, low-grade open pit-minable gold deposit based on an unusual geological model for the Abitibi region, i.e. that of an Archean porphyry gold deposit. Furthermore, even if the exploration and resource definition phase were to succeed, the subsequent construction and operation of an open-pit mine adjacent to the town of Malartic represented an equally significant challenge, requiring the resettlement of the entire southern part of the town. Osisko Exploration Ltd. was just a junior mining company at the time, with only three full-time employees and a market capitalization of under $5 million. The project was thus greeted with much skepticism by the Abitibi mining community.
Drilling on the property began in March 2005 and soon demonstrated the potential for a large, low grade mineralized system. Just six years later, after over 800,000 metres of drilling, the filing of a positive feasibility study in November 2008, government approval of the project in August 2009, successful relocation of part of the town of Malartic and successful financing and construction of the CAN $1 billion project, the Canadian Malartic open pit gold mine began commercial production in May 2011, propelling the Company to a market capitalization of over $4.5 billion. Total reserves (at US$1000 gold) now stand at 10.7 million ounces gold (343.7 Mt @ 0.97 g/t Au) making this a world-class gold deposit. With an ore processing capacity of 55,000 to 60,000 tonnes per day for an annual production of 500,000 to 750,000 ounces of gold per year, this will be one of Canada’s largest gold mines, employing about 520 people full-time.
Sergio Cattalani
A graduate of McGill University, Montreal (B.Sc. 84, M.Sc. 87), Sergio has over 25 years experience in the mining and resource industry, as well as several years in applied research. From 1987-91, Sergio worked for the Mineral Exploration Research Institute where he oversaw a multi-year project aimed at characterizing and quantifying alteration associated with numerous VMS deposits in the Noranda camp. He then joined Cominco Limited from 1991-95 carrying out exploration throughout Quebec, with contributions in Arizona, and then Inco Limited where we became part of their technical services group contributing to base and precious metal exploration projects world-wide, including Canada, USA, Indonesia, and Turkey. In 2001 he began working exclusively on magmatic Ni-Cu projects in North-America, Australia and China, and in 2006 worked primarily in Brazil at Vale’s Carajas mining district. He then joined Hecla in Vancouver for a brief period from 2007-08 before he moved to his current position of VP Exploration for Osisko, North-America. Later this year, Sergio will relocate again, this time to Denver where he will assume the role of VP Exploration USA for Osisko leading the development of a new project portfolio in the US.
