Osino Resources Corp. announces the re-commencement of its 20,000m drill program and provides an update regarding the impact of COVID-19 related restrictions.
The work program will re-commence on May 5, 2020, with diamond drilling and the IP survey at Twin Hills Central getting underway shortly after. Due to COVID-19, Osino’s fieldwork was paused in late March, but some critical technical studies have continued during the lockdown which was aimed at refining the geological controls and planned drill program at Twin Hills.
Heye Daun, Osino’s Co-Founder and CEO commented: “We are very pleased that the lockdown restrictions in Namibia have been partially lifted, enabling Osino to re-commence our planned, intensive drill program. During the remainder of the year, our primary objectives are to grow and better define the Twin Hills gold discovery and to accelerate our exploration activities in general. We utilized the downtime productively, by progressing some important technical work, including a structural geology review, hyperspectral core scanning and some other ancillary studies and we are therefore very excited to be re-commencing with drilling again within the next week or two.”
To date, Namibia has recorded 16 confirmed cases with 8 recoveries. There has been no death as a result of COVID-19 thus far. Since April 5, 2020, no new cases have been recorded.
On April 30, 2020, Namibia’s Cabinet announced a four-stage strategy for Namibia to exit its coronavirus lockdown. The lockdown was initially announced on March 17, 2020, when President Hage Geingob declared a state of emergency which culminated in a 21-day lockdown beginning March 27, 2020, which was later extended to early May.
Stage 2 (of the 4 Stage lockdown exit strategy) will commence on May 5, 2020, and entails allowing all economic activities where effective social distancing and hygiene measures can be enforced. Certain restrictions on public gatherings and various sectors incl. hospitality and international travel remain in place and are expected to be lifted gradually as Namibia progresses towards completely lifting the lockdown over the coming weeks.
Osino plans to recommence with field operations and drilling in the days following May 5, with a measured increase in activities over the next few weeks.
Osino plans to implement stringent procedures to monitor and prevent the spread of COVID-19 on the resumption of field operations. These procedures are guided by the Namibian Ministries of Health, Trade and Industry and Mines and Energy.
While the Company has been delayed by approximately one month of fieldwork, the expectation is that the proposed work program press released in February will be achieved during 2020 as planned. Further updates will be provided in the coming months.
The technical information of this news release has been reviewed and approved by David Underwood, a Chartered Professional Geologist (SACNASP), and a Qualified Person for National Instrument 43-101.