Fathom Nickel Inc (CSE:FNI) said it recently increased its land position at Gochager Lake by 937 hectares under the Area of Interest clause of the option agreement.
The increase came after the company was recently notified by the optionor that it had acquired, through direct staking, this 937-hectare disposition, MC00016594. Fathom paid the third-party costs of staking the new disposition, which count as exploration expenditures towards the fulfillment of the Earn-In Conditions of the option agreement.
The new disposition is located approximately ten kilometers southeast of the site of Fathom's recent Gochager Lake exploration program in an area commonly referred to as Mal Lake. Mal Lake was not a priority target area for the company when it initially executed the option agreement in September 2022.
However; the company, with the assistance of highly regarded consultants, recently completed a compilation exercise of nickel exploration targets in north-central Saskatchewan in which the Mal Lake nickel occurrence received a 'Very High' ranking.
READ: Fathom Nickel completes first quarter 2023 drill program at Gochager Lake Project
"The addition of the New Disposition at Mal Lake adds to our growing interest in this regional play," commented Ian Fraser, CEO & VP Exploration in a statement.
"The Mal Lake nickel occurrence exhibits many features and similarities comparable to what we recognized during our recent exploration program at Gochager Lake," he added.
The Gochager Lake Property is now comprised of a land package totalling 4,865 hectares located in north-central Saskatchewan, approximately 20 kilometres northwest of the village of Missinipe and in close proximity to the company's flagship Albert Lake Project.
The company recently completed an exploration program that consisted of diamond drilling (two holes totalling 725 meters), borehole electro-magnetic (BHEM) probing of the two recent drillholes, as well as three historic drillholes (five holes probed in total). Assay results from the Gochager program are expected to be received by mid-April.
Fathom also noted that exploration at its Albert Lake Property is ongoing with the second drillhole now having been completed. The geological team is currently analysing and assessing drill core and BHEM data prior to deciding on the location(s) for follow-on drilling. The program is expected to be completed within the next week.
Assays for the Albert Lake exploration program will be released when received and analyzed - expected in mid to late May.
Cancellation of stock options
Fathom also announced that, under its stock option plan and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange, it has cancelled 2,250,000 incentive stock options issued to certain directors, officers and consultants of the company on March 25, 2021 and a further 50,000 incentive stock options issued to a consultant on February 6, 2022.
Subsequent to the cancellations, the company will have a total of 5,925,000 options issued under its plan.
Fathom is an exploration company that is targeting magmatic nickel sulphide discoveries to support the rapidly growing global electric vehicle market.
The company now has a portfolio of two high-quality exploration projects located in the prolific Trans Hudson Corridor in Saskatchewan - the Albert Lake Project, a 90,000-plus hectare project that was host to the historic and past-producing Rottenstone deposit; and the Gochager Lake Project, a 4,865-hectare project that is host to a historic, NI43-101 non-compliant open pit resource consisting of 4.3 million tons at 0.295% Nickel and 0.081% Copper.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com