By Jonathan T. Orr and James West
MidasLetter.com
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Sometimes company slogans are simply statements of fact. Forum Uranium Corp (FDC: TSX.V) calls themselves 'Proven Mine Finders' and they have found many. Now in inexorable fashion it looks as though that already impressive record will be confidently added to in the future with the recent announcement of drilling at their 100% owned Henday project in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan with Hathor Exploration Limited.
Investors who are knowledgeable in the geology of the area, familiar with the deep experience of the Forum/Hathor project team and keenly aware of the white hot uranium market, will want to add themselves to Forum's ore score sheet sooner rather than later.
Sometimes when reading articles about some new hotshot mining prospect or world class resource discovery one can be overwhelmed by stats and graphs. It's easy to get people excited. It's often those articles that end up being revealed to be the Potemkin villages of the resource world: all paint and banner and no stone or foundation. Such is not the case with Forum.
It's tempting to simply say this: they have the indisputable capability to find profitable mines and with the clear potential of the Henday project and the strong confidence expressed in them by Hathor you can be sure they will be developing a long-term project with substance.
Lifelong Mine Finders
President Richard Mazur spoke to Midas of the critical triumvirate that forms the companies fighting force for mine finding: strategic land positions, strong joint venture partners, and all projects fit a low cost-open pit model. This model is partnered with the invaluable field experience of its exploration team and the careful cultivation of strategic partnerships all of which allows for Forum found properties to become producing success stories.
In addition to the Henday project the company has a portfolio that includes the Key Lake Road project on the eastern margin of the Athabasca basin as well as its North Thelon Project, located in the Thelon Sandstone Basin, approximately 50km west of Baker Lake, Nunavut, and adjacent to Areva's 134 million pound Kiggavik deposit, currently in feasibility.
Mazur spoke with excitement about the Henday project enthusing " this is a well positioned project with huge potential for a brand new discovery" but stressed that ultimately to bring it on board " It does come down to the experience of our team".
Let's look at that experience. With a combined 68 years mining experience Vice President of Exploration, Ken Wheatley and Chief Geologist Dr. Boen Tan have 9 uranium deposit discoveries of 332 million pounds worth over $13 billion. Proven mine finders indeed.
New Drill Program at Henday
Mazur spoke of the Henday project having huge possibilities as the discovery by Fission Energy Corp. has recently proven. He told Midas that "The Fission discovery is beside and just to the west of Hathor's Roughrider zone and we think this certainly reinforces the potential of this part of the Athabasca Basin". Mazur described the project's next step as simply to locate similar deposits on this strategically located property. Speaking of Forum's 2010 drilling program Mazur said, " After the discovery of Forum's Mallen Lake zone during its 2008 drill program, further work funded by Hathor has identified compelling drill targets for follow-up drilling along this favorable trend."
Mazur was extremely pleased to have Hathor on board saying the well respected junior uranium company is a group that, as he put it "when they make a commitment it's total".
Strategic Partnerships
Forum's Option Agreement with Hathor Exploration Limited for the Henday project allows Hathor to earn up to a 60% interest in stages by spending $3.5 million in exploration over three years and making a payment of 150,000 shares. Under terms of the agreement, Hathor has shown its confidence in Forum's exploration team, who will remain operator until Hathor earns its 60% interest. The Forum/Hathor joint venture is currently in the middle of a $1.65 million, 18 hole drill program.
The 7,204-hectare Henday project is located 10 kilometers northeast of Hathor's Midwest Northeast property, and Forum's current drill program is immediately north of an area where Areva intersected 5.9% U3O8.
High Grade Uranium Deposits In The Athabasca Basin
The Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan is widely known as one of the largest uranium-producing regions in the world and supplies over 25% of all the uranium produced from mines annually.
The "unconformity" deposit-types, located in the Athabasca Basin, are the most prolific deposit type in the world with grades of up to 20% or 400 pounds of uranium per ton. At today's price that is equal to US$ 16,000 per ton of rock. Extremely valuable.
Forum's uranium exploration properties have been selected based on their proximity to known uranium deposits and with an exploration model based on near-surface uranium mineralization.
Nuclear Renaissance and The Surging Demand For Uranium
Even with properties of such alluring promise as the Henday project it can all come to naught if the timing to market is not right. Well another part of experience is knowing when to strike and Forum is exquisitely poised to take advantage of an upcoming explosion in demand for uranium. The soaring global appetite for uranium heralds the beginning of what has been called the "nuclear renaissance." This appetite comes not just from private companies but also from governments worldwide who are now redirecting money toward diversifying their power supply by building new nuclear reactors.
According to most estimates uranium supply is set to grow only 5 percent per year till 2015 and then to decline. The demand will be enormous and the supply insufficient.
Follow Proven Success
It's clear that Uranium is one of the key commodities of the future and one which will be powering much of the world into a cleaner and greener future. The question then is not whether to invest in Uranium mining but which company to invest in.
Well the answer isn't complicated: go with the proven mine finders.
Follow the company's progress at: https://www.forumuranium.com