Fourth Quarter 2023
March 4, 2023
Dear Shareholders and Followers,
This quarterly update comes in a little later than usual due to our accelerated activities generating uranium projects in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan over the past few months. It’s been a busy and exciting time for the Company, acquiring new uranium projects and developing exploration concepts that are attracting attention from uranium companies and investment groups alike.
With seven Athabasca Basin uranium projects (~60,000 ha) in our portfolio, Fortune Bay has emerged as a respected uranium project generator in the Athabasca Basin. The Projects have all been acquired at nominal cost (largely through staking) and provide our shareholders with significant discovery upside. In addition, through option agreements (as recently signed for the Murmac and Strike Projects), cash requirements from shareholders are minimized and income is generated through cash/share payments, operator fees and lease of our infrastructure and equipment. This contributes to a more sustainable business model, while minimizing dilution for shareholders, in these challenging market conditions.
The Woods Uranium Projects – A New Frontier for Uranium Discovery
Between June 2023 and January 2024, timing well with rising uranium prices, Fortune Bay opportunistically and patiently acquired approximately 40,000 hectares along the Grease River Shear Zone (“GRSZ”) on the underexplored northern margin of the Athabasca Basin. The resulting land package, comprising five new projects collectively named “The Woods Uranium Projects”, represents a district-scale opportunity for new uranium discovery.
Unlike other major structural zones in the Athabasca Basin that have yielded large high-grade uranium discoveries, the GRSZ has seen very limited exploration to date. Historical exploration has demonstrated the GRSZ to be prospective for Athabasca Basin-style, basement-hosted uranium mineralization, evidenced by the Fond du Lac uranium deposit and numerous historical uranium occurrences. Notably, the projects also host the highest lake sediment uranium anomalies in Saskatchewan.
We are excited to advance these projects, commencing 2024, and have developed exploration plans and budgets to fast-track the projects to a drilling stage through application of modern airborne electromagnetic surveying, which has not been previously flown, to identify favorable graphitic host-rocks and structures, not targeted during historical exploration. The projects are attracting significant interest from market participants and Fortune Bay is currently assessing the most suitable avenue to advance these projects in the best interests of its stakeholders.
Further details on the Spruce, Pine, Aspen, Birch, and Fir Uranium Projects can be found on our website under News Releases and Project summaries.
Murmac & Strike Uranium Projects – Advancing Toward Drilling in the Coming Months
We are delighted with the progress Aero Energy Limited has made for Murmac and Strike under the recently signed Option Agreement. The Agreement allows Aero Energy to acquire up to a 70% interest in the Murmac and Strike Uranium Projects over a three-and-a-half-year period by funding C$6 million in exploration expenditures, making cash payments totalling C$1.35 million, and issuing C$2.15 million in common shares.
Aero Energy recently announced a C$5 million financing and proceeds from the sale of flow-through units will be used to fund exploration at the Murmac, Strike and Sun Dog (owned by Standard Uranium Ltd.), all located along the northwestern margin of the Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan near Uranium City.
Together with Aero’s award-winning technical advisory team, operational planning and prioritization of drill targets is well underway. Murmac and Strike present a significant opportunity for the discovery of high-grade, basement-hosted uranium and we are looking forward to working with Aero to advance exploration, while retaining upside in future discovery.
Our Gold Assets – Continuing to Underpin Significant Value in the Company
The Goldfields and Ixhuatán Projects remain important assets for the Company, with value to be unlocked through project advancement and/or transactional success. Gold equities, particularly gold juniors, continue to trade at record discounts to the price of bullion. We remain optimistic that equities will re-rate given the outlook for the commodity (currently trading at US$2,115/oz as I write this update), and Fortune Bay is particularly well-positioned given its enviable gold resource base for a junior company and the quality of its assets.
Please reach out at any time if you need any more information, and continue to make use of our website 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.
Fortune Bay remains well-positioned to navigate the current challenging markets with its diversified portfolio of assets, all of which have potential for significant value creation.
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.
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.