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50 www.resourceworld.com J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 1 9 Rio Tinto partners with Forum at Janice Lake Copper Project Forum Energy Metals Corp. [FMC-TSXV; FDCCF-OTC; F3E-FSE] signed an option agree- ment with Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Inc. on its Janice Lake sedimentary copper project in Saskatchewan. Rio Tinto will spend $3 million on exploration over the next 18 months and can acquire a 51% interest over four years by spending $10 million, paying $490,000 cash, and servicing the remaining $200,000 in underlying cash payments to Transition Metals [XTM-TSXV]. Rio Tinto can earn a further 29% (total 80% interest) by spending another $20 million over three years (total $30 million) and paying a further $150,000 (total $640,000) to Forum. Forum's President and CEO, Rick Mazur, said, "We believe there may be multiple layers of near surface economic grades of copper mineralization. Rio Tinto shares this view, so we doubled the size of the property by staking the full 52 km of prospective stratigraphy. With plenty of targets to be tested, both companies are looking forward to summer drilling." A helicopter-borne high resolution magnetom- eter survey and about 7,000 metres of drilling in 25-30 holes are planned for summer which follows Forum's initial four-hole drill program in September 2018. Best results were from Hole FEM-01 which intersected 18.5 m grad- ing 0.94% Cu and 6.7 g/t Ag including 5.2 m grading 2.22% Cu and 16.5 g/t Ag. Mazur concluded, "Forum maintains a quality portfolio of uranium assets in the Athabasca Basin. In a little over a year since Forum initiated its diversification strategy into energy metals, we acquired a quality copper project that has translated into a $30 million deal with a major. The company is currently working on identifying its next venture." n FIEIF-OTC] achieved its first gold pour on November 30, 018, when 1,243 ounces were poured at the 100%-optioned Laiva Gold Mine in Finland. The project was financed to production via a US $20.6 million gold forward sale agreement. The mill has 250 tonne-per-hour capacity and will eventually process up to 2 million tonnes per year. Nordic expects to produce 60,000 ounces of gold in 2019, ramp - ing up to 70,000 ounces on 2020. Nordic Gold recently terminated its contract with its contract miner and the mine is temporarily on care and maintenance. A new contractor is now being sought and new financing discussions are underway. Since the first gold pour, the mine has produced 6,920 ounces of gold and the company has received $8.8 million from gold sales. On March 5, a total of 14.5 kg of gold were poured. Norra Metals Corp. [NORA-TSXV], formerly OK2 Minerals, has submit - ted four recently completed NI 43-101 technical reports on its newly acquired Scandinavian properties to the Venture Exchange. The four Scandinavian projects include Bastuträsk in Sweden, and the three Norwegian properties; Bleikvassli, Meråker and Sagvoll. The Bleikvassli Mine was the last producing copper-zinc-silver-gold mine in Norway as well as two other copper-zinc-silver properties that had small production dating to around the turn of the century but have seen little to no modern work on the projects since then. The Bastuträsk property in Sweden is a drill-ready project that has seen approximately 80 previous drill holes testing a copper-zinc-silver-gold massive sulphide body. For 2019, the company plans work programs on all four projects and has applied for exploration permits. At Bleikvassli, 3D modelling has been completed and Norra is looking at options to explore the 25 km of underground workings. At Meråker, data compilation is underway while awaiting exploration permits; drilling is planned for 2020. The Sagvoll Project, near Meråker, has similar exploration plans. At Bastuträsk, 3D modelling is planned while awaiting a drill permit. There is an old historical high-grade zinc-copper resource. Strategic Resources Inc. [STI-TSXV; SCCFF-OTC] has signed an earn-in option and joint venture agreement to acquire the Silasselka vanadium project in northern Finland from Aurion Resources Ltd. [AU-TSXV; AIRRF-OTC]. The road-accessible prospect has four historical drill-defined vanadium-rich magne - tite zones. Some 7,400 metres of drilling in over 72 holes has been completed. Strategic is planning a drilling program that will lead to a maiden NI 43-101 resource estimate. Aurion recently completed 12,000 metres of drilling at the Aamurusko and Notches prospects on its Risti Project in northern Finland. New near-surface gold intercepts extend Aamurusko mineralized shoot to 100 metres along strike. Assays included 23.40 g/t gold over 0.50 metres and 24.80 g/t gold over 0.50 metres, both at Aamurusko. Aurion also holds the Ahvenjarvi and Kutuvuoma gold projects in northern Finland near the Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. [AEM-TSX, NYSE] underground Kittila Mine that produced 188,979 oz. of gold in 2018. n www.resourceworld.com