Canada Unearthed: The quest for a uranium ‘supergiant’

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• Only 3 unconformity basins globally proven to host economic uranium: Athabasca, McArthur and the lesser-known Thelon
• C$30m capped Forum Energy Metals up ~110% since August on drilling success at Thelon Basin project
• “Grades are exceptional and are only rivalled by the highest-grade basement-hosted deposits in the Athabasca Basin”: Forum

Our Canada Unearthed column wraps the news driving mining and exploration stocks listed in Canada, mostly on the TSX and TSX.V.

For a long time the Athabasca region of Canada has been one of the world’s best places to mine uranium.

Where most economic uranium deposits — like those found in southern Africa — grade in the parts per million, the unconformity-style deposits in the Athabasca grade as high as 17-20% U3O8.

Standouts include Cameco’s (TSX:CCO) 110.7Mlb at 16.25% U3O8 Cigar Lake deposit or Nexgen Energy’s (TSX:NXE, ASX:NXG) Rook 1 development, which Terra Capital’s Jeremy Bond calls “a geological freak”.

The emerging uranium boom means this part of Canada is now teeming with explorers looking for the next big find.

What if there was an Athabasca lookalike few companies and investors had ever heard of?

‘First mover’ exploration companies have several advantages when it comes to setting up shop in an emerging mineral province. Most importantly, unlike the latecomers, they have their pick of the most prospective looking ground.

300km northeast of the Athabasca is the Thelon Basin in the sparsely populated territory of Nunavut.

It is one of only three unconformity basins globally that have proven economic, the other two being Athabasca, and McArthur in Australia.

Yet only handful of adventurous developers and explorers have braved Thelon’s sub-arctic climate, where weather reports come with a frostbite warning.

One is Orano – the French major formerly known as AREVA – which is the majority owner of the ~130Mlb Kiggavik deposit, one of the largest undeveloped uranium assets in the world.

Surrounding it is the far more speculative Forum Energy Metals (TSXV:FMC), which caught the eye of Lowell Resources Fund chief investment officer John Forwood at a recent conference in the UK.

Forum’s Nunavut project covers 95,500 hectares of ground in the largely untested basin, with Forwood noting the significance of the nearby Orano deposit.

“They’ve got a deposit which is 130Mlb at half a per cent uranium, which is pretty good,” he said.

“By Athabasca standards that’s not high grade but by any other standard that’s a great deposit.”

Hunting for a uranium supergiant

In early 2022 FMC acquired former Cameco uranium deposits on trend from Kiggavik to hunt – in its own words – “for a supergiant”.

From 2008 to 2012, Cameco punched in 135 holes for over 36,000m to the west of Kiggavik and discovered two uranium deposits – Tatiggaq and Qavvik.

The claims, abandoned due to the long period of low uranium prices from secondary supply entering the market post-Fukushima, are now owned 100% by Forum.

“There is no better place in the world to explore for high grade unconformity style uranium deposits outside the Athabasca than the Thelon in Nunavut,” Rick Mazur, president & CEO said at the time.

“We have been keeping an eye on this uranium district since Forum actively explored in the region from 2006 to 2012. Cameco’s work has given Forum a headstart on building a significant resource on our 100% owned property.”

A short five-hole, ~1000m July 2023 drilling program at the Tatiggaq deposit immediately hit paydirt with results like 2.25% U3O8 over 11.1m (from 148.5-159.6m depth).

Results from subsequent drill holes and a review of historical intercepts defined vertical, high-grade lenses of uranium 18m-24m thick over a length of 250m.

Community concerns regarding uranium exploration and development haven’t appeared to dampen investor interest in this story, with FMC raising C$10.4 million to fund a 2024 drilling blitz across Tatiggaq and numerous other targets.

“The historical drilling within Forum’s Tatiggaq deposit area demonstrates the high-grade mineralisation potential,” says FMC VP exploration Dr Rebecca Hunter, who discovered Tatiggaq and Qavvik as head of Cameco’s Turqavik-Aberdeen exploration project in 2005.

“These grades are exceptional and are only rivalled by the highest-grade basement-hosted deposits in the Athabasca Basin,” she says.

“The mineralised trend is open for over 1km to the northeast and the width and depth extent has not been fully delineated.

“A second drill has been delivered to Baker Lake for the 2024 drill campaign.”

TSX and TSX.V Winners & Losers

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