First Quarter 2023
April 26, 2023
Dear Shareholders and Followers,
Gold
Gold is certainly off to a strong start in 2023 moving beyond US$2,000/oz in recent weeks, with an outlook that remains largely bullish. Despite this, gold companies continue to trade at significant discounts to the gold price. The growing valuation disconnect between bullion and gold companies is most apparent amongst the junior explorers and developers, which creates an opportunity for re-rating particularly for companies with viable projects.
Fortune Bay has an enviable gold resource base for a junior company and is well-poised, largely owing to the recently completed PEA for Goldfields that demonstrated robust project economics. Gold is currently trading above the project’s PEA upside case which, at US$1,950/oz, produces an after-tax NPV5% of C$459 million and after-tax IRR of 50.5% (for details see the Sensitivity Analysis within the PEA NI 43-101 Technical Report). In addition, Goldfields has numerous other desirable attributes that include exploration upside, a valid development permit, local infrastructure and a foundation of good community relations (exemplified in the Exploration Agreement signed in November 2022). Most recently, the Company has undertaken meetings with the Government of Saskatchewan (Ministry of Environment) and engaged with environmental consultants to map out the best strategy for further advancing project permitting. This process considers how to best utilize the existing development permit, and what additional baseline environmental studies will be required, to ensure permitting remains in-step with future PFS and FS studies.
Fortune Bay’s other gold asset is Ixhuatán, located in southern Mexico, which hosts the Campamento gold deposit and numerous other epithermal gold targets. Recently the Company has undertaken desk-top work to conceptualize and generate copper targets on the property. Ixhuatán boasts top-tier, completely untested, copper potential owing to the large porphyry system beneath the shallow cover rocks (see our Corporate Presentation). The Company has a plan in place to advance the copper and gold exploration potential once community access agreements are in place. Community engagement activities are scheduled to commence in May 2023.
Uranium
Fundamentals for uranium continue to look strong with the price rising to over US$50/lb in April. Approximately 60 new nuclear reactors are currently under construction, predominantly in China, India and Russia. Japan is in the process of restarting 15 nuclear power plants previously shuttered post-Fukushima. Despite planning an increase in 2023, Kazatomprom is anticipating a reduced annual production due to supply chain issues. Russia, a significant producer and enricher of uranium, is being shunned from the global nuclear fuel market due to the war in Ukraine. The mounting pressure on supply is widely anticipated to support these price levels and to continue to drive them higher.
Not surprising, the Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan - the world’s premier district for high-grade uranium - has seen a tremendous uptick in exploration activity with some ~20 new companies active in the region (dominantly Canadian and Australian listed). Fortune Bay’s 100% owned Strike & Murmac projects, located on the northern rim of the Athabasca Basin, have validated potential for high-grades, significant scale, and an extensive set of drill-ready targets, including the follow-up of newly discovered mineralization in 2022. Please take a look at our December 7, 2022, December 13, 2022 and January 23, 2023 News Releases for further details. Drill permits are in-hand for 2023/2024 and the Company has been in discussion with other pure-play uranium companies as we assess the most suitable avenues to advance the projects.
Project Generation
Our project generation initiatives saw renewed activity during the first quarter of 2023 as we continued to seek out and evaluate new projects to create a pipeline of growth opportunities. Our objective is to identify and cost-effectively acquire projects that have potential for major discovery, with a focus on gold assets. The acquisition landscape, particularly in good jurisdictions, is highly competitive however, much like mineral exploration itself, there are always overlooked opportunities and we believe we have placed ourselves in a strong position to identify and acquire high-potential projects through the development of large geoscientific databases in areas of key interest.
With our experienced and highly motivated team, we are excited by the various opportunities ahead of Fortune Bay and remain committed to our vision to create significant value through mineral discovery and development for the benefit of all stakeholders.
Please reach out at any time if you need any more information, and continue to make use of our website functionality to ‘Book an Investor Call’ or ‘Ask a Question’. If you’re not signed up please subscribe on our website and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn to ensure you catch all the Fortune Bay action.
As always, we encourage you to read this newsletter in conjunction with our material news items, provided in our news releases, and our quarterly financial statements and MD&A. This update does contain Forward-Looking Statements so please refer to the Company’s Cautionary Note appended below.
Yours sincerely,
Dale Verran
Chief Executive Officer
Cautionary Note and Technical Disclosure:
Information set forth in this letter ‘From the CEO’s Desk’ contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this letter. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. Words such as “expects”, “aims”, “anticipates”, “targets”, “goals”, “projects”, “intends”, “plans”, “believes”, “seeks”, “estimates”, “continues”, “may”, variations of such words, and similar expressions and references to future periods, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Fortune Bay Corp. (“Fortune Bay” or the “Company”) cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Fortune Bay's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to metal prices, changes in planned work resulting from weather, COVID-19 restrictions, availability of contractors, logistical, technical or other factors, the possibility that results of work will not fulfill expectations and realize the perceived potential of Fortune Bay's mineral properties, uncertainties involved in the interpretation of drilling results and other tests, the possibility that required permits may not be obtained in a timely manner or at all, risk of accidents, equipment breakdowns or other unanticipated difficulties or interruptions, the possibility of cost overruns or unanticipated expenses in work programs, the risk of environmental contamination or damage resulting from the exploration operations, the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations and the lack of availability of necessary capital, which may not be available to Fortune Bay, acceptable to it or at all. Fortune Bay is subject to the specific risks inherent in the mining business as well as general economic and business conditions. Accordingly, actual, and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Fortune Bay undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information. Fortune Bay does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable securities legislation. For more information on Fortune Bay, readers should refer to Fortune Bay's website at www.fortunebaycorp.com.
Readers are cautioned that the PEA is preliminary in nature. It includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized.
Information set forth in this letter ‘From the CEO’s Desk’ is intended to summarize or highlight the Company’s results for the previous quarter based upon previously disclosed results provided in the Company’s news releases. Readers of this letter should refer to the Company’s news releases, available on the Company’s website or SEDAR.com, to obtain important additional technical information and disclosure in accordance with the requirements of National Instrument 43-101. The technical and scientific information provided in this letter has been reviewed and approved by Dale Verran, M.Sc., P.Geo., Chief Executive Officer of the Company, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Verran is an employee of Fortune Bay and is not independent of the Company under NI 43-101.