Investor Insight
Actively exploring the highly prospective Aberdeen uranium property in Nunavut’s Thelon Basin, Forum Energy’s highly experienced technical team led by former Cameco geologist Dr. Rebecca Hunter is poised to build on its significant Tatiggaq discovery amid a continuing uranium bull market.
Overview
Forum Energy Metals (TSXV:FMC,OTCQB:FDCFF) is an established uranium explorer searching for high-grade deposits in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin and Nunavut’s Thelon Basin. In 2024, the company is primarily focused on exploring the Aberdeen project in Nunavut, where successful drilling confirmed and expanded high-grade uranium mineralization over significant widths at the Tatiggaq discovery. Nunavut’s underexplored Thelon Basin may be the most prospective region for discovering new, high-grade uranium deposits outside Saskatchewan.
With a strong local and regional presence in Saskatchewan, Forum took advantage of weak metals markets to broaden its commodity exposure by adding a diverse portfolio of energy metals exploration projects in the copper, cobalt and nickel space.
Company Highlights
Saskatchewan (Athabasca Basin) and Nunavut (Thelon Basin) Uranium Projects
Aberdeen Uranium Project (Thelon Basin-Nunavut): Athabasca Basin 2.0? – The Thelon Basin may be the most prospective region in the world for discovering new high- grade uranium deposits outside Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin. Both basins exhibit similar geological characteristics.
Forum’s 2023 Aberdeen Maiden Drill Program Intersects High-grade Uranium
Forum’s 2024 Aberdeen 7,000 Meter Drill Program Underway
Wollaston Uranium: Forum: 100 percent – Located in eastern Athabasca Basin. Limited drilling in 2023 identified elevated uranium and boron values on several geophysical targets on this large property, well located close to the Orano/Denison McClean Lake mill. Forum is reviewing data from its magnetic/electromagnetic survey to plan the next exploration steps.Highrock Uranium: Forum: 80 percent, Sassy Gold 20 percent – On trend with Cameco’s past-producing Key Lake Mine.Fir Island: Forum: 49 percent, Orano Canada: 51 percent (operator) – Located on the northeastern edge of the Athabasca Basin. Forum is awaiting further exploration plans following Orano’s data review from an extensive resistivity survey.Maurice Point: Forum: 100 percentGrease River: Forum: 100 percent (Traction Uranium earn-in option) – Forum and Traction recently completed airborne magnetic, electromagnetic (EM) and radiometric surveys over the entire project area to aid structural mapping and help define drill targets. Analysis of the EM data has outlined prospective targets along several conductive trends in the East claim block north of the Grease River shear zone.Henday: UEC: 60 percent, Forum: 40 percent – Strategically located along the Midwest/Roughrider trend near UEC’s Roughrider uranium depositCostigan: Forum: 100 percent – On trend with Cameco’s past-producing Key Lake mine.Clearwater: Forum: 75 percent, Vanadian: 25 percent – Located in the Patterson Lake Corridor, Western Athabasca Basin
Key Projects
Aberdeen Project (Thelon Basin, Nunavut)
Nunavut Uranium: Forum’s Aberdeen project claims comprise ground formerly held by Cameco with discoveries made at Tatiggaq, Qavvik and Ayra. The claims surround Orano’s Kiggavik uranium deposit.
Previously explored by Cameco between 2005 and 2012, this ground hosts two uranium discoveries made by former Cameco geologist Dr. Rebecca Hunter, who now leads Forum’s team as VP of exploration.
Cameco abandoned the claims due to the decade-long period of low uranium prices during the post-Fukushima period, which were later acquired by Forum. Renamed the Aberdeen project, Forum’s claims surround Orano Canada-Denison-UEC’s 133-million-lb Kiggavik uranium deposit.
Dr. Rebecca Hunter spotting drill hole locations. As Forum’s VP of exploration, Hunter is managing the Aberdeen uranium exploration project.
Cameco completed 36,000 meters of drilling in 135 drill holes. After reviewing Cameco’s data, Forum’s technical team determined the Tatiggaq deposit to be the primary exploration target. Tatiggaq is found within a large gravity anomaly that remains open along strike for 1.5 kilometers and at depth. Previous drilling by Cameco identified results as high as 2.69 percent U3O8 over 7.9 meters, including 24.8 percent U3O8 over 0.4 meters at a depth of approximately 200 meters.
Examining drill core in the field at the Nunavut camp, August 2023
Forum’s maiden drill program, completed in August 2023, successfully confirmed and expanded high-grade uranium mineralization at the Tatiggaq and West Zones. At Tatiggaq, drilling intersected high-grade near-surface uranium mineralization with TAT23-002 (Main Zone) intersecting 2.25 percent U3O8 over 11.1 meters, while TAT23-003 a 200-meter step-out at the West Zone) intersected 0.40 percent U3O8 over 12.8 meters.
Further drilling in 2024 has continued to intersect uranium mineralization at the Main and West deposits along the Tatiggaq Fault. As of August 2024, 17 holes have been completed, totalling 4,307 meters along the Tatiggaq Fault within the 1.5 km by 0.7 km Tatiggaq anomaly. A total of 685 samples have been shipped to SRC Laboratories in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for analysis. Results are expected by the end of September 2024.
Wollaston Uranium Project
The property is located within 10 kilometers of Cameco’s Rabbit Lake uranium mill and 30 kilometers of Orano/Denison’s McClean Lake uranium mill. Its successful winter 2022 drilling program discovered anomalous uranium in all four holes at the Gizmo target. Forum recently received results of an airborne electromagnetic (EM) and magnetic survey to augment structural interpretations and precisely locate the EM conductors. The following maps show these results and identify new target areas for diamond drilling.
New Gravity Trends and Future Target Areas
Energy Metals Projects
Love Lake Nickel-Copper-PGM Project (Forum 100 percent): Strategically positioned near Forum’s Janice Lake copper project.Still Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project (Forum 100 percent): The 11,411-hectare property surrounds the historic Howard Lake nickel-copper-cobalt deposit located 35 kilometers northwest of La Ronge Saskatchewan. Forum has completed a prospecting and geochemical sampling program, and in Q3 2023, completed electromagnetic and magnetic surveys.Fisher Copper Claims (Forum 100 percent): The Fisher property is located 40 kilometers west of Pelican Narrows, Saskatchewan. The property hosts a stratabound, volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit with a historical estimate of 650,000 tons grading 0.5 percent copper and 3 percent zinc (Not NI 43-101 compliant. Sufficient exploration work has not been completed to verify and classify as a current mineral resource, but the estimate is considered relevant and reliable due to extensive exploration work completed by previous operators). Forum’s geological team has identified further targets and completed a prospecting and sampling program.Quartz Gulch Cobalt, Idaho, USA (Forum 100 percent): On trend with Jervois Mining’s Idaho Cobalt Project, the only permitted cobalt mine in North America.
Forum’s uranium and energy metal projects in northern Saskatchewan
Management & Advisory Team Members
Richard J. Mazur – President, CEO and Director
Richard Mazur is an executive and geoscientist with over 45 years of Canadian and international experience in the exploration and mining industry as a project geologist, financial analyst and senior executive on uranium, gold, diamonds, base metals and industrial minerals projects. Mazur founded Forum in 2004. He is also a director of Big Ridge Gold, Impact Silver and Midnight Sun Mining. Mazur graduated with a BSc in geology from the University of Toronto in 1975 and obtained an MBA from Queen’s University in 1985.
Dr. Rebecca Hunter – Vice-President Exploration
Dr. Rebecca Hunter has over 15 years of experience as a uranium exploration geologist in Saskatchewan and Nunavut. As a project geologist for Cameco from 2005 to 2016, Hunter led the Turaqvik-Aberdeen exploration project, where the high-grade Tatiggaq and Qavvik uranium deposits were discovered nearby to the west of Orano’s (formerly AREVA) Kiggavik uranium project in Nunavut. Hunter completed her PhD at Laurentian University, which focused on the litho-geochemistry, structural geology and uranium mineralization systems of the Tatiggaq- Qavvik uranium trend in the Thelon Basin. She was recently appointed VP of Exploration and will continue her work as the lead member of Forum’s Aberdeen uranium project exploration team in the Thelon Basin, a geologic analogue to the prolific Athabasca Basin.
Allison Rippin Armstrong – Vice-President, Nunavut Affairs
Allison Rippin Armstrong is a biologist and environmental scientist with over 25 years experience specializing in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices across Canada and internationally. Allison’s accomplishments over the years have been recognized on a number of occasions, including being awarded the 2009 Kivalliq Inuit Association Expert Counsel Award and the 2011 Mike Hine Award for her contributions to the mining industry in Nunavut. A long-standing board member of Yukon Women in Mining, past member of the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines, and founding member of the Yukon University Foundation Board, she is also the Board Chair of Tectonic Metals Inc.
As VP Nunavut Affairs, Allison’s focus will be on community, regulatory and government relations in Nunavut Territory.
Dan O’Brien – Chief Financial Officer
Dan O’Brien is a member of the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia and has over 15 years experience working with public companies in the resource industry. O’Brien is the chief financial officer for a number of publicly listed exploration companies trading on the TSX and TSXV exchanges and was previously a senior manager at a leading Canadian accounting firm where he specialized in the audit of public companies in the mining and resource sector.
Richard Aksawnee – Manager of Nunavut Affairs
Richard Aksawnee was born and raised in Baker Lake. Inspired by his late father, David, who also served as mayor, to pursue leadership roles, Aksawnee served as mayor from 2019 to 2023 and has chaired the Hunter and Trappers’ Organization for 20 years. His commitment to community service is further demonstrated by his active involvement in search and rescue operations and youth sporting activities.
Peter Wollenberg – Technical Advisor
Peter Wollenberg has 45 years of experience in the uranium exploration and mining business. He has worked in Europe, Canada, Africa and Australia as an exploration geologist and VP of exploration for Urangesellschaft on the Kiggavik Project, where he was instrumental in the discovery of the End and Andrew Lake deposits. Later he joined Cogema/Areva where he worked in several leading roles in Canada, Africa and Australia. He is currently the director of exploration and resource development for Global Atomic in Niger.
Anthony Balme – Director
Anthony Balme is the managing director of Carter Capital and Lymington Underwriting, two private UK investment funds, where he is an active participant in several global base and precious metals resource ventures in North America, Sweden and the DRC.
Paul Dennison – Director
Paul Dennison worked for 27 years in the front end of three leading investment banks: Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch & Deutsche Bank. His focus was capital markets origination, underwriting, sales and trading in all regions outside the Americas. Thereafter, Dennison managed his own asset management company for 12 years, which was licensed in Singapore, Switzerland and the United States. He is currently based in Zurich and Singapore with his own firm, specializing as an introducing broker, sourcing international investment capital for clients.
Janet Meiklejohn – Director
Janet Meiklejohn is the principal of Emerald Capital, a consulting company providing CFO, strategic, valuation, corporate governance and marketing services to high-growth companies. She was formerly VP of institutional equity sales focused on the mining sector with several Canadian investment banks including Desjardins Securities, National Bank, Salman Partners and Macquarie Capital from 1997 to 2015. Meiklejohn grew up in Saskatchewan and has a close personal interest in the development of the uranium industry in the province.
Larry Okada – Director
Larry Okada is a member of both the Canadian Chartered Professional Accountants and the Washington State Certified Public Accountants Association with over 45 years of experience in providing financial management services to publicly traded companies, with emphasis on junior mineral exploration companies. He holds a B.A. in economics and was in public practice with his own firm of Staley, Okada and Partners and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Okada also serves as chairman of Forum’s Audit Committee.
Michael A. Steeves – Director
Michael A. Steeves has been involved in the mining industry for over 50 years. He has previously held executive positions with Zazu Metals, Glamis Gold, Coeur D’Alene Mines,
Homestake Mining and Pegasus Gold. Steeves also worked for several years as a mining analyst. He holds a Master of Science degree in earth sciences from the University of Manitoba and is also a chartered financial analyst.
Brian Christie – Director
Brian Christie’s professional career spans over 45 years as a geologist, securities analyst, and investor relations executive. During his tenure as vice-president investor relations at Agnico Eagle Mines from 2012 to 2022, Agnico Eagle was consistently recognized as having one of the top investor relations programs in Canada. Christie is currently retained by Agnico Eagle as a senior advisor, investor relations. Prior to joining Agnico Eagle, he worked for over 17 years as a precious and base metals analyst with Desjardins Securities, National Bank Financial, Canaccord Capital, and HSBC Securities, in addition to 13 years as a geologist with several mining companies including Homestake, Billiton, Falconbridge Copper, and Newmont. Christie holds a BSc. in geology (University of Toronto) and an MSc. in geology (Queen’s University). He is also a member of the Canadian Investor Relations Institute (CIRI) and the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI).
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