New life for Atikokan: Osisko Mining advances gold project toward mine.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: FIVE JUNIOR MINING COMPANIES TO WATCH

Escalating gold prices have kept the drill rigs turning for Osisko Mining Corporation at their Hammond Reef Gold Project near Atikokan.

There are 17 of them, in fact, making it one of the largest drilling projects in Canada.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

There's no question the Montreal-based miner is putting its sizeable stamp on the project since acquiring the precious metal property from Brett Resources last spring.

Located 23 kilometres northeast of Atikokan, it now operates under the banner of Osisko Hammond Reef Gold Ltd. Hopes are high that the former iron ore mining town of 3,400 can return to its open pit roots.

On a land mass of 30,000 hectares, Osisko has drilled 100,000 metres since the beginning of last year. The company is proving up an inferred gold resource of 6.7 million ounces with a large 350,000-to 375,000-metre drill program to better outline what gold resource they have and to post some bankable numbers in the measured and indicated categories by mid-year.

In January, Osisko was in the process of finalizing their 2011 exploration budget, expected to be in the vicinity of $60 million.

"That's what we keep reminding ourselves: we're not making money yet, but we're spending it," jokes Anne Charland, Hammond Reef's project manager.

With the deposit open along strike and at depth, exploration will be a combination of infill and step-out drilling to the south to find new targets and expand the resource. As a new gold camp, there's not much historical exploration data to go by and they're still figuring out the geological structure.

Almost all of the gold - about 97 per cent -lies within 300 metres of the surface. It's why Osisko's project planners are leaning toward bulk...