Forum gets cozy with Agnico-Eagle

VANCOUVER — A recent financing by Forum Uranium (FDC-V, FDCFF-O) has Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM-T, AEM-N) stepping up to take roughly 9% of the junior explorer’s shares.

Agnico-Eagle recently bought just over 6.1 million units of Forum, which holds projects in the Athabasca and Thelon basins, at 49 apiece for $3 million. The units are comprised of a share plus half a warrant with full warrants exercisable at 66 for two years.

In addition to the dollar deal, Forum has also optioned a pair of projects from Agnico-Eagle that sit within its Thelon basin project area in Nunavut. It is earning 51% interest in the Judge Sissons and Schultz Lake properties by spending $3 million in exploration over four years and can acquire another 14% (to 65% interest) by completing a bankable feasibility study within five years of investing in the joint venture.

The properties contain historical showings of up to 0.22% U3O8 reported in assessment files.

On its large North Thelon jointApr14-20 venture land package (Kiggavik North and South), Forum is a 50% partner with Superior Diamonds (SUP-V, SUPYF-O). Forum also has a 60% uranium rights option on a property held by Tanqueray Resources (TQY-V, TQURF-O),which retains gold rights.

Forum’s North Thelon JVs are adjacent to and partially surround Areva’s (ARVCF-O) advanced Kiggavik- Sissons project, which the French energy giant has moved to the feasibility stage. Resources amenable to open-pit mining in three main deposits (Kiggavik, Andrew Lake and End Grid) total roughly 148 million lbs. (57,000 tonnes) of contained U3O8. The material averages about 0.25% U3O8. The mineralization also contains significant by-product gold and platinum.

Areva anticipates about four years of environmental assessment work followed by several years of construction for mining operations at Kiggavik, located about 80 km west of Baker Lake.

Significant mineralization at Kiggavik was initially discovered through exploration by German companies Metallgesellschaft and Urangesellschaft in the uranium boom of the mid-1970s. Although a feasibility study was undertaken in 1989, a referendum by residents of Baker Lake that overwhelmingly opposed uranium mining derailed development. Areva predecessor company Cogema acquired the project in 1993, although it largely sat under care and maintenance until a uranium policy reversing a previous ban on development on Inuit-owned lands in Nunavut was approved in the fall.

Part ofAreva’s development plans would also see a uranium processing mill built at Kiggavik that could potentially accept ore feed from additional deposits in the area.

Besides its Thelon basin projects, Forum is also exploring uranium properties in the Athabasca.

Shares of the uranium junior have recently traded in the 46-range, giving it a market capitalization of about $32 million. The company has 69 million shares outstanding, and its stock has a 52-week trading range of 32-90.