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XXIX Metal (TSXV: XXIX) launched its 65,000-metre drilling campaign Wednesday. The initiative consists of three concurrent programs at its Opemiska and Cooke copper projects in Quebec, and at its Thierry copper project in Ontario.
Two rigs have already been drilling at Thierry since July. The company says four additional rigs will be mobilized at Opemiska and Cooke between November and early January.
“This is the most active period in XXIX's history, and it is deliberate,” said Guy Le Bel, XXIX Metal’s CEO. “Every metre in these programs is tied to a deliverable.”
Optimizing Opemiska
XXIX Metal says it will drill about 20,000 metres at Opemiska with the goal of converting its resources for the pre-feasibility study (PFS).
The company’s June 2025 resource update estimated a total of 141.2 million tonnes containing 1.5 billion pounds of copper and 1.05 million ounces of gold, of which 62.7 million tonnes are indicated. The October preliminary economic assessment (PEA) drew on only about half of that resource.
The company says upgrading the category is the more direct route to a larger base for the existing PFS. It plans to do this by targeting the eastern veins’ Bouchard and McNichols zones, which have not been a focus of recent drilling.
Open-pit potential
Drilling at Cooke is aimed at establishing a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) and evaluating its integration into Opemiska’s PFS as a potential second source of mill feed.
The company says its internal studies indicate a potential for open-pit development.
Thierry’s K1 deposit
Since drilling began in July, the program at Thierry has expanded to about 25,000 metres and is expected to continue to March 2027. So far more than 6200 metres and 9 holes have been completed.
Over the past two years the company rebuilt Thierry's 210,000-metre historical drilling database into a validated modern model. The ongoing program is designed to define the K1 deposit in support of a new MRE.
“We are drilling K1 systematically for the first time in four decades and we now have the permits to test what lies on either side of it,” Le Bel added.
XXIX Metal says the new permits allow this largely untested corridor to be drilled for the first time.
“With copper where it is, the infrastructure already in place, and six rigs turning by January, the next twelve months should tell shareholders a great deal about how large these assets can become.”