We’ll dispense with the usual preamble and get right to it (commentary concerning the broader junior exploration arena will follow in the coming days)…
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Note that the following content is in collaboration with Forum Energy Metals (Highballer is compensated by the company for this effort)
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With the SRC lab in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, having worked through a significant backlog of rock, assays are finally beginning to flow for Forum Energy Metals (FMC.V).
First, a brief summary of Forum’s flagship (Aberdeen) project…
The company’s 95k-hectare Aberdeen Project in the Thelon Basin of Nunavut is a vastly under-explored region the company characterizes as the closest geological analog we have to the prolific Athabasca Basin further south. The company believes its commanding land position in the area holds district-scale potential for (multiple) basement-hosted and unconformity-type U3O8 deposits.
If the analog holds truth, the Thelon Basin may be where the Athabasca Basin was a half-century ago, before Cigar Lake and McArthur River lit up the global U3O8 landscape.
With Thelon’s discovery cycle still in its infancy, no unconformity-type discoveries have been made in the region. Not yet… But the geo-sleuths at Forum have several compelling unconformity targets in their crosshairs (give it one more exploration cycle… one more pass with the truth machine?)
What the company has discovered in the region is substantial, high-grade basement-hosted U3O8.
Forum’s dominant land position in the region, which includes ground once held by Cameco Corp, completely surrounds Orano’s Kiggavik Uranium Project, which hosts a significant basement-hosted U3O8 endowment of some 133 million pounds at a grade of 0.54% (0.54% U3O8 is the rough equivalent of 12 g/t in a gold deposit).
While on the subject of Cameco’s involvement in the Basin, the U3O8 colossus poured roughly $50 million into the property between 2005 and 2012. Over the course of multiple exploration cycles and 36,000 meters of drilling, two discoveries were pulled into the fray—Tatiggaq (Main / West) and Qavvik. It was low metal prices during a down-cycle that prompted the mining giant to (recklessly?) drop this Thelon ground.
Zoom Out
If you’re just getting acquainted with Forum and its flagship project, it’s essential to zoom out and incorporate this historical data into your due diligence. As highlighted in Forum press releases dated February 1, 2022, March 22, 2022, September 6, 2022, and November 7 of 2023, Cameco’s drilling efforts tagged the following values at Tatiggaq:
- TUR-021: 3.51% U3O8 over 7.6 meters from 148.1 – 155.7 meters including 13.8% U3O8 over 1.2 meters (153.3 – 154.5 meters);
- TUR-026 – 1.0% U3O8 over 14.9 metres from 177.6 to 192.5 meters including 2.21% U3O8 over 4.6 meters (184.0 – 188.6 meters);
- TUR-040 – 1.14% U3O8 over 9.0 meters from 159.1 – 168.1 meters including 4.09% U3O8 over 0.5 meters (159.6 – 160.1 meters) and 2.81% U3O8 over 2.5 meters (162.5 – 165.0 meters);
- TUR-042 – 2.69% U3O8 over 7.9 meters from 200.2 meters to 208.1 meters including 24.8% U3O8 over 0.4 meters (202.9 meters to 203.3 meters);
- TUR-052B – 0.43% U3O8 over 54.2 meters from 115.4 meters to 169.6 meters;
- TUR-056 – 0.93% U3O8 over 9 meters from 126 meters to 135 meters;
- TUR-058 – 1.17% U3O8 over 6.1 meters from 88.2 meters to 94.3 meters.
At the Qavvik target, Cameco drilling tagged four discreet mineralized intervals grading 0.92% U3O8 over 2.5 meters (253.9m to 256.4m), 1.18% U3O8 over 4.3 meters (259.0 to 263.3m), 0.57% U3O8 over 1.6 meters (273.7m to 275.3m), and 0.62% U3O8 over 2.2 meters (277.5m to 279.7m). 5.69% U3O8 over 0.3 meters was the highest grade interval Cameco encountered during its tenure.
Forum’s Push Along the Exploration Curve
When Forum mobilized a drill rig to the project in 2023 during their maiden exploration effort—a campaign led by Dr. Rebecca Hunter, who incidentally led Cameco’s push along the exploration curve from 2005 to 2012—they were basically probing (existing) discoveries that were ripe for step-out and infill drilling.
Forum’s modest four hole 2023 drill program was highlighted by an impressive 2.25% U3O8 over 11.1 meter hit at the Tatiggaq Main zone (Forum press release dated Sep. 12). Included within this broader interval were two higher-grade subintervals of 3.32% U3O8 over 3.1 meters and 7.27% U3O8 over 1.5 meters. Subsequent results from this 2023 program yielded 1.01% U3O8 over 6.2 meters, including 4.36% U3O8 over 1.3 meters.
Forum’s 2024 Campaign
The initial focus of this year’s 7,000 meter (30-hole) program at Aberdeen was to infill and expand the two mineralized zones at Tatiggaq (Main and West), tying in with results encountered in 2023, and historically during the Cameco era. The second phase saw the drill rig move to the Qavvik zone and three high-priority regional targets.
Following a lengthy wait that tried the patience of investors, the company recently dropped results from eleven drill holes, seven of which were mineralized, via the following headline: Forum Drilling Extends Uranium Mineralization at the Tatiggaq Deposit, Aberdeen Uranium Project, Nunavut.
Highlights from this November 26 press release:
Tatiggaq Main Zone
- TAT24-012intersected 1.15% U3O8 over 2.4 meters from 169.1 to 171.5 m including:
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- 3.33% U3O8 over 0.3 meters (169.7 – 170.0 meters)
- 2.77% U3O8 over 0.5 meters (170.4 – 170.9 meters)
- TAT24-014intersected 1.31% U3O8 over 7.6 meters from 164.0 to 171.6 meters including:
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- 4.56% U3O8 over 0.2 meters (166.4 – 166.6 meters)
- 4.30% U3O8 over 0.5 meters (169.1 – 169.6 meters)
- 4.81% U3O8 over 0.4 meters (171.2 – 171.6 meters)
- Including a maximum grade of 8.15% U3O8 over 0.2 meters (171.4 – 171.6 meters)
- Entire mineralized interval at TAT24-014 is 0.62% U3O8 over 17.9 meters from 157.9 to 175.8 meters.
Tatiggaq West Zone
- TAT24-011 intersected 35.3 meters grading 0.11% U3O8 from 144.2 to 179.5 meters including 0.68% U3O8 over 1.6 meters (170.9 to 172.5 meters) including:
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- 1.24% U3O8 over 0.4 meters (171.2 – 171.6 meters)
- 1.12% U3O8 over 0.3 meters (172.0 – 172.3 meters)
- Uranium mineralization at the Main zone has been encountered over a thickness of ~35 metres in 2024.
- Drilling at Tatiggaq West intersected thick intervals of continuous uranium mineralization for another 40 meters to the west.
- The total strike extent of uranium mineralization drilled at the Main and West zones has increased from 200 meters to over 310 meters.
- TAT24-005, TAT24-008, TAT24-009 and TAT24-010 intersected proximal alteration types (strong clay, bleaching, sulphide) and elevated counts indicative of uranium mineralization nearby that require follow-up.
- Results are pending for the remaining 8 holes targeting multiple parallel structures within the large Tatiggaq gravity anomaly measuring 1.5 km by 0.7 km, in addition to the 11 holes testing the Qavvik, Ayra, Ned, and Loki regional targets.
Tatiggaq Interpretation and Follow-up Drilling
Cameco drilled 38 holes on the Tatiggaq Main and West zones prior to Forum’s acquisition of the project by staking in 2021. Forum’s 2023 and 2024 drill programs were formulated to infill and extend areas within the inferred mineralization to commence development of a maiden resource. Figure 1 (map below) shows the 2024 drill hole locations and the main east-northeast structures (Thelon and Judge Sissons faults) as well as the numerous, sub-parallel subsidiary east-northeast structures interpreted to control uranium mineralization on Orano’s and Forum’s property.
Figure 2 (next map) is a plan map showing the 2024 drill collars in the vicinity of the Tatiggaq Main and West areas (Forum stepped out up to fifty meters from previous drilling here).
Cross section maps of the Tatiggaq Main and West zones can be found further down the page in this Nov. 26 press release.
When you reel off all the drill hole values received to date, both historical and current, the grades at Tatiggak are only rivaled by the highest-grade basement-hosted deposits in the Athabasca Basin. Also, note the (shallow) depth of the above intervals.
This Nov. 26 press release goes on to state…
Drilling in 2023 and now 2024 has resulted in a greater understanding of the style and geometry of the Tatiggaq mineralization:
- U mineralization is hosted in steep, discreet lenses that can vary in grade and thickness along strike and width for a length of 310 meters (West and Main).
- Individual lenses vary in thickness from <1 meter to 12 meters and groups of lenses span widths ranging from ~30 to 50 meters.
- Mineralization depth ranges between 80 and 200 meters.
- Tatiggaq Main has 3 to 5 thicker, high-grade lenses (up to 12 meters thick and grades > 1%, locally > 20%).
- Tatiggaq West has 5 to 12 narrower, lower grade lenses (up to 35 meters thick in total, grades ~0.1%, locally >1%).
- Due to the discreet structurally hosted nature of the mineralization at Tatiggaq and the northwest trending network of cross faults, future drilling at close step-outs will be required.
Regarding the structural complexity of the mineralization Forum is chasing along Thelon’s subsurface stratum, Dr. Hunter likens it to a vein-type gold system; one that pinches and swells along strike. She even used the term ‘nuggety’—a phrase most of us armchair geologists are familiar with—to characterize some of the higher-grade sub-intervals she’s encountered.
CEO Rick Mazur’s take on the mineralization they’ve encountered at Aberdeen: “From our visit to Kiggavik this summer, Tatiggaq mineralization is very similar to Orano’s 59 million pound Andrew Lake deposit, exhibiting high grade intervals, low grade intervals and barren intervals that together feed an economic head grade to the mill. Forum’s exploration model is to explore the Tatiggaq deposit for a bulk mineable, open pit deposit of similar grades or higher than the nearby Kiggavik deposits.”
Due to this structural complexity—the steep stacked nature of these high-grade lenses and the influence of an intricate network of cross faults—a disciplined, methodical approach to the hunt is critical. The quarry is easy to miss with a first-pass drill campaign, hence the above comment, “Future drilling at close step-outs will be required.”
The final quote from this late November press release belongs to Dr. Hunter: “Drilling at Tatiggaq Main has intersected another parallel lense of high-grade uranium extending the width to 35 metres and could be thicker. I am pleased that Tatiggaq West shows lateral continuity and thickness to the west and remains open along strike and at depth. The complex, structurally-controlled nature of these zones will be evaluated with further infill drilling and drilling along strike of the Tatiggaq Fault in 2025. We look forward to receiving the results from 8 holes along parallel structures in the Tatiggaq anomaly, as well as 11 holes drilled at Qavvik, Ned, Loki and Ayra.”
Newsflow Going Forward
On deck are more assays from parallel structures along the Tatiggaq anomaly (there’s a potential new zone to the north), a pair of holes at Qavvik (where there are striking similarities to Orano’s Kiggavik deposit 5 kilometers to the east), and a number of holes designed to test high priority regional targets for their unconformity potential—Ned, Loki and Ayra. Dr. Hunter sees good alteration along these regional targets, which could ultimately lead to a significant unconformity-type discovery.
We should see three or four additional Thelon-related press releases in the coming weeks/months to complete this cycle.
Beyond the Thelon Basin, we should hear news concerning the Northwest Athabasca Project—a JV with NexGen (26.3%), Cameco (18.7%) and Orano (11.7%)—concerning a potential 2,000 meter drill program this winter (Forum currently holds a 43.3% interest in the project).
To summarize events… Forum’s flagship Aberdeen project, which represents a commanding land position in the vastly under-explored Thelon Basin, holds district-scale potential for the discovery of multiple basement-hosted and unconformity-type U3O8 deposits. We’re in the very early innings of that discovery cycle. Details pending.
END
—Greg Nolan
Full disclosure: Forum is a Highballer client, which makes the author, me (Greg Nolan) extremely biased. The author also owns Forum stock.
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