Fathom Nickel Update: Advancing Nickel and Gold in Northern Saskatchewan
Fathom (FNI.CN) has cash in the bank. CEO Ian Fraser joins me again to discuss their plans to advance their multiple nickel and gold projects.
tl;dr:
With a financing closed, Fathom Nickel is in gear and in motion again in northern Saskatchewan. CEO Ian Fraser joined me for a live webinar recently to discuss their exploration plans for 2025, how their Gochager Lake project is on the cusp of exciting potential new discoveries, and how they continue to quietly advance their land adjacent to Ramp Metal’s surprising and impressive new gold and VMS-type discoveries.
Part 1: The Interview
Time Stamps
1:30 Intro from Ian
04:30 Announced Gochager land acquisitions and above ground work
13:00 Logic Behind Acquiring More Land
20:00 VTEM Survey News
32:00 How long from now would you be drill ready in the south for gold?
38:00 What Ramp results will make you drill for gold.
46:00 Financing and Costing Questions
51:00 Is there a loss of trust from investors? When’s the next financing? Rollbacks?
1:06:00 Recap of Expected News Flow?
Part 2: The Companion Article
It might take a while sometimes to get to your destination, but the important part is you get there. Such is the case with Fathom Nickel’s recent financing. Fathom initially announced their last financing - a flow-through/hard dollar hybrid - in late 2024, but didn’t get it finally and properly closed till May.
The tax-advantaged FT shares closed easily enough, as they always do. It is the hard dollars, though, that took some time, as there was obviously a hesitant appetite for nickel exploration under such challenging macro nickel conditions.
But, in the end, close it did, thanks in large part to Crescat’s April commitment to put in $500,000, bringing Fathom’s now-oversubscribed financing to some $1.5 million.
While the final number won’t allow them to drill, it does give them cash to meaningfully continue to advance their projects above ground, increasing their data and confidence to maximise their chances at drill bit success when the time does come.
And have you seen nickel? Followed any nickel juniors? Some are plain old gone, some have changed names and directions, and very few have managed to raise funds with the intent to keep advancing their projects. The fact Fathom raised cash not just to keep the lights on, but enough to actually advance their projects is telling.
So now, cashed up and able to execute on all the data and planning they’ve been busy with over the past few months, CEO Ian Fraser joined me last week to catch investors and the market up on Fathom and its news.
Originally a live webinar, the recording is available above. Make sure to use the time stamps to navigate to topics of interest to you, or simply read the summary below.
Part 3: The Written Summary
1:30 Intro from Ian
Continuing to pursue nickel while gold continues to develop locally. Local mines seeing work done, M&A activity, etc.
Fathom went a little quiet, but they’re got some money and working to get moving again.
Not ignoring gold potential In their properties, Saskatchewan in general. But still believe in their nickel potential.
04:30 Announced Gochager land acquisitions and above ground work
First foremost, the fires in the region have delayed the summer work program.
Zero desire to be a burden to the region as it recovers and comes back.
Evacuation notice for La Ronge lifted last Thursday.
Fathom are very large landholders in the area.
Direct neighbours to Ramp
Fathom and their consultants took the 2008 VTEM survey and looked at lithostructure to identify a large shear zone corridor.
Geochemical work confirms this work and the boundaries of the corridor.
Nearby Borys Lake has VMS potential for further growth.
Nearby La Ronge greenstone belt is getting a lot of new attention on old areas.
Fathom’s land rides the boundary of the Rottenstone Greenstone belt and the La Ronge gold belt.
13:00 Logic Behind Acquiring More Land
Saskatchewan is cheap – staking and keeping in good claim is cheap.
For example, ,and around the historic Rottenstone Mine is in good standing for the next 10 years.
The system is designed that expenses can be shared by contiguous land and banked for later years.
No real risk of losing land.
20:00 VTEM Survey News
Ramp’s discoveries occur within a few km of border with Fathom.
Surface expression have all the signals of VMS-type setting.
Lots of structural complexity in the area.
Grab samples came back positive last year.
Just not enough data to drill yet. Hence the survey.
Will cost about $240,000
Data has a quick turn around.
Forest fire delays should hopefully be over soon.
Easy to fly, just a few days.
Reasonably would be not long after completed – 10 days - to release news.
32:00 How long from now would you be drill ready in the south for gold?
Will be in a position to do winter drilling down there if they want to.
It currently would only be helicopter supported, working to solve that.
Helicopters are now more expensive than drilling.
Getting permitting done for the area now so it won’t be an obstacle
Choosing the current area of focus down there was one part logistics, one part practical.
Chose the area of best structural setting they could reasonably access with plane on frozen lake.
38:00 What Ramp results will make you drill for gold.
It’s not a transition – even with gold success, nickel will still be advanced.
Ian has lots of gold experience – gold mines in production he discovered
Capable of advancing both with the current team.
Prepared to push it forward rapidly if neighbouring results demand it.
Some conversation in the past for sharing logistics, but nothing recent or advanced.
Still early, though. Content to watch and let it unfold.
Too early to say anything definitive about what it would look like - spin out, name change, etc. Lots of options.
Discussed often.
Obviously would help establish new money interest.
46:00 Financing and Costing Questions
Money is in, but obviously was a challenge.
Raising flow-through funds is easy, hard dollars are the challenge.
Delays kept it open, but Crescat stepped up and took down a third of it, which caused others to partake.
Ultimately, they got to their $1.5 million.
Working hard to find ways to reduce costs.
Ian has managed to put together permitting and permissions to clear and re-use historical trails to get into Gochager with various landholders.
Critically reduces Helicopter/plane support
But also took time to piece together – ultimately wouldn’t have had it in time for previous drill season anyway.
And without that campaign, moving the rig for the single hole they were intending to put into Mal Lake didn’t make sense.
This summer will now be spent in part marking and cutting the trail in.
51:00 Is there a loss of trust from investors? When’s the next financing? Rollbacks?
Things were obviously choppy. They didn’t want to discuss anything till projects and financing were more concrete.
But Ian is always available for a phone call for investors. His number is in every news release. Same with Doug.
They pride themselves on being a lean and hardworking and honest team.
Investors have asked about marketing:
They have lots of offers constantly for marketing, but they keep finding that no one tells their story like they do.
Marketing is expensive. Some efforts have succeeded, some have failed.
We have enough cash to pay for everything we’ve announced – trails, Gochager ground work, VTEM surveys.
Not a lot of wiggle room, though.
Their next drill campaign depends on what they see at Gochager, what happens with Ramp, and how much money they can obviously raise.
In a perfect world, they’d do a small program at Gochager this fall, find success, and use it to finance a larger program in the winter.
If Ramp comes back positive, they’d do the VTEM ASAP.
As for a rollback, the only time they would ever do a consolidation is if there was a significant event which was important enough to manage it.
Investor Questions
What is Friesen Lake – nickel? Ramp-sympathetic VMS play?
Yes, absolutely both based on current data.
They will be going to take a look at the historic core from Friesen Lake this summer.
Any info on JVs?
Fathom does have a confidentiality agreement in place.
Obviously gold news could change that in a hurry.
Nickel projects – they take continued calls and interest. Glencore, Wyloo, other Australian firms, but attitude is wait and see.
With a little drill bit luck, those conversations would accelerate in a hurry.
66:00 Recap of Expected News Flow?
Further Gochager Geochem work. Soil samples, chip sampling.
Hopefully able to finance off those results for a small campaign in the fall that would then spark the larger winter campaign.
VTEM would happen in response to Ramp news.
Ian and Doug are making a conscious effort to buy in the market.
They feel the pain of the low share price.
Working to get up and out of penny flipping territory.
Conclusion
Forward progress here again. Fathom still has work to do to get the drill bit turning once more, but they’re progressing despite a challenging market. Now with some cash (itself a bullish sign in such a market) to meaningfully advance their projects, there’s definite life here.
And it remains an enticing story. Top notch geological work, consistent institutional interest, real potential for a true, high-grade, nickel discovery, and the wild card of a potential gold play.
I’m watching closely.
-Matthew from JRI
