Gochager Lake Property

Gochager Lake Project

The 33,629-hectare Gochager Lake property is located 75 kilometers north-northeast of La Ronge and 22 kilometers west-northwest of Missinipe, Saskatchewan, Canada. Fathom owns 100% of the property and has been actively exploring it since February 2023. The property hosts the historic magmatic nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide Gochager Lake deposit , which was defined by drilling between 1965 and 1968.

Geology

The Gochager Lake property falls within the interpreted border of the Rottenstone and La Ronge Domain of the Proterozoic (1.8 – 2.0 Ga) Trans-Hudson orogenic belt (the THO or Trans Hudson Corridor). The Gochager Lake property area is underlain by a monotonous succession of northeast-trending, heavily foliated biotite gneiss or biotite migmatite. The southern and eastern part of the property show highly foliated lenticular bands of hornblendite and hornblende gneiss, while the centre of the property hosts small, scattered intrusive dioritic and gabbroic bodies that vary in size from 300 m to 1.8 km in length and are aligned with the regional northeasterly trend. The historic Gochager Lake deposit is hosted within a chaotic, complex, intrusive suite composed of norite and variable textured gabbro and ultramafic rocks (pyroxenite). Pyrrhotite is the dominant sulphide mineral within the deposit, and occurs as stringers, blebs, disseminations, and net-texture, as well as in a semi-massive to massive sulphide breccia form. Pentlandite occurs as coarse disseminations within the pyrrhotite, and chalcopyrite is additionally present as stringers and interstitial blebs in low concentrations throughout the deposit. Cobalt, a significant component to the Gochager style of mineralization, is directly associated with pentlandite.

Exploration History

The most significant period of exploration occurred between 1966 and 1972 and resulted in the discovery of two drill indicated mineral reserves, the Gochager Lake and Borys Lake mineral deposits and the discovery of the Mal Lake Ni-occurrence (SMDI#0836).

At the Gochager Lake deposit available historic records suggest the area was subject to > 27,000 meters of drilling in 149 drillholes. Much of this drilling utilizes vertically inclined drillholes. Historic, drillhole I-12; starting at just below surface, intersected 290.4 meters grading 0.58% Ni, 0.11% Cu. At the bottom of this intercept 9.7 meters grading 2.36% Ni, 0.36% Cu and 0.14% Co occurs. Fathom drilling to date illustrates the significant Co credit associated with the Ni-Cu mineralization. Two inclined drillholes drilled in 2018 confirmed the presence of semi-massive to massive, high-grade Ni-Cu-Co sulphide breccias occurring within a broader disseminated halo of magmatic Ni-Cu-Co sulphide mineralization. This is critical as it provided the Company with good evidence that the style of mineralization should provide robust conductivity and that borehole electromagnetic surveys (BHEM) can be utilized at the property to define and locate additional zones of conductive, semi-massive to massive, high-grade Ni-Cu-Co sulphide breccias.

The Mal Lake Ni-occurrence approximately 10km southeast of the Gochager Lake deposit, drilled in 1967 returned drillhole intercepts up to 1.11% Ni, 0.24% Cu / 7.9m. The host rock and Ni:Cu ratio is analogous to the Gochager Lake deposit and review of available historic drill core revealed Co is associated with the Ni-Cu mineralization.

The Borys Lake deposit / zone (SMDI#0848) is defined by 39 drillholes. The zinc (Zn), lead (Pb) mineralization (sphalerite-galena) has been mapped along a strike of 3,800m. Work in 2018-2019 consisting of trenching and drilling confirmed the Zn-Pb mineralization associated with the historic mineral reserve defined in 1972 (1.34 M tons at 1.91% combined Zn-Pb)[1].

Historic Core Racks In Disrepair At Historic Gochager Lake Camp

Fathom Exploration

Fathom Exploration 2023 – 2025

Exploration to date has focused on improving the understanding of the historic deposit, its host stratigraphy, and mineralization styles through drilling. Surface work has successfully identified and expanded the deposit-hosting stratigraphy along strike. The resulting deposit footprint, now traced for more than 8 kilometers, demonstrates the project’s scale potential, including the potential for additional magmatic Ni-Cu-Co sulphide deposits beyond the historic Gochager Lake deposit.

2023 Exploration:
  • Diamond drilling, 9 drillholes, 2,893 meters
  • Borehole electromagnetic (BHEM) surveys all drillholes drilled plus available historic drillholes.
  • Surface transient time domain electromagnetic (TDEM) surveys (8.9 ln-km).
  • Soil geochemistry (239 B-horizon samples), prospecting (14 grab, 7 portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) chip samples), geological mapping.
2024 Exploration:
  • Diamond drilling, 7 drillholes, 2,656 meters
  • BHEM and TDEM surveys (19.2 ln-km), Drone MAG survey (367.2 ln-km) centred over deposit area
  • Soil geochemistry (2,061 B-horizon samples), prospecting (50 grab samples, 582 pXRF chip samples), geological mapping
  • All-season 20–25-person, camp construction
2025 Exploration:
  • Soil geochemistry (3,448 B-horizon samples), prospecting (71 grab samples, 648 pXRF chip samples), geological mapping
  • Commenced winter trail access to the project
Project Exploration History
  • The most significant period of exploration occurred between 1965 and 1970 and resulted in the discovery of the Gochager Lake Ni-Cu-Co deposit and the discovery of the Mal Lake Ni-occurrence.
  • Historic drillhole I-12 drilled in 1967 at the Gochager Lake deposit intersected 290.4m grading 0.58% Ni, 0.11% Cu. The final 9.7 meters of this intercept had a weighted average of 2.36% Ni, 0.36% Cu and 0.14% Co.
  • The Mal Lake Ni-occurrence approximately 10 kilometers southeast of the Gochager Lake deposit, also drilled in 1967, returned drillhole intercepts up to 1.11% Ni, 0.24% Cu / 7.9 meters. The host rock and Ni:Cu ratio are analogous to the Gochager Lake deposit.
  • Review of historic Mal Lake drill core revealed Co is associated with the Ni-Cu mineralization.
  • The Borys Lake deposit initially discovered in 1956 is a VMS-style like setting (zinc-lead-silver) that has been mapped along strike for 3,800 meters. The current historic Borys Lake mineral reserve [1] was defined by drilling 1972.
  • In 2008 an airborne VTEM™ survey centred over the Gochager Lake deposit was flown and in 2013 a VTEM™ survey centred over the Borys Lake deposit was flown. In total approximately 325 km2 of airborne VTEM™ coverage.

[1] – The Gochager Lake property is host to the historic Borys Lake Zn-Pb deposit (SMDI#0848). There is no source or available Technical Reports to verify the historic resource estimate for the Borys Lake deposit; hence, Fathom will treat the historic estimate as an Exploration Target. Available records in the SMDI and Saskatchewan Mineral Assessment Database (SMAD) suggest an Exploration Target of 1-1.5 million tons grading 1.5%-2.0% combined Zn-Pb. The ranges of tons and grades are conceptual as there is insufficient historic data to verify the historical resource estimate(s) for the Borys Lake deposit. Fathom has confirmed the existence of drill core and exploration trenches within the Borys Lake deposit area and sampling of the trenches has confirmed the presence of Zn-Pb mineralization of comparable grade available in the public record, thus confirming that a deposit of Zn-Pb metal accumulation does exist at the historic Borys Lake deposit. Furthermore, no drilling has been done by the Company to define a current mineral resource, and it is uncertain if further drilling will result in the Exploration Target being delineated as a mineral resource. The disclosed potential quantity and grade is reported in the Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index (SMDI #0848). As stated above, the historic estimate is not well documented and there are no available Technical Reports to support the historic resource estimate.

Project Deposit Area Geology
  • The Gochager Lake project falls within the interpreted border of the Rottenstone and La Ronge Domain of the Proterozoic (1.8 – 2.0 Ga) Trans Hudson Orogenic (THO) belt.
  • The THO in neighbouring Manitoba and northern Quebec host Proterozoic, World Class nickel camps (Thompson, Lynn Lake, Raglan, Nunavik).
  • The property area is underlain by a monotonous succession of northeast-trending, heavily foliated biotite gneiss or biotite migmatite that contain scattered intrusive dioritic and gabbroic bodies that vary in size from 300 meters to 1.8 kilometers in length and are aligned with the regional northeasterly trend.
  • The historic Gochager Lake deposit is hosted within a chaotic, complex, steeply oriented intrusive suite composed of norite, variable-textured gabbro, gabbro and ultramafic rocks (pyroxenite) all contained within variable metasediments (paragneiss).
  • Pyrrhotite is the dominant sulphide mineral within the deposit, and occurs as massive stringers and veins, blebs, disseminations, and net-texture mineralization, as well as in a semi-massive to massive sulphide breccia form.
  • Pentlandite occurs as coarse disseminations within the pyrrhotite, and chalcopyrite is additionally present as stringers and interstitial blebs in low concentrations throughout the deposit.
  • Cobalt, a significant component to the Gochager style of mineralization, is directly associated with pentlandite.

Disseminated – blebby sulphide nodules mineralization Gochager Lake deposit

Semi-massive breccia sulphide pyrrhotite-pentlandite-chalcopyrite mineralization Gochager Lake deposit

Fathom Gochager Lake project 2023-2024 drillhole plan map

Gochager Lake Project nickel in-soil map