Rio Tinto starts exploration at Janice Lake

Janice Lake property. Image from Transition Metals Corp

Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO) has started exploration at Forum's Janice Lake sedimentary copper/silver project in northern Saskatchewan, Canada.

The major is earning up to an 80% interest in the project from Forum Energy Metals, which has optioned the property from Transition Metals.

Crews have begun construction of the 50 person camp on the property at Burbidge Lake.

An eight-person prospecting and mapping team has started systematic traverses on 2km wide spacings on the 52km extent of the property

Copper showings, structural, geophysical, geochemical and boulder train targets developed by the mapping and prospecting program will be drilled using a Rotary Air Blast (RAB) drill rig.

An eight-person prospecting and mapping team has started systematic traverses on 2km wide spacings on the 52km extent of the property.

"We have barely scratched the surface on exploring this sedimentary basin which stretches for over 50 kilometres," Rick Mazur, Forum Energy CEO said in a release.

"Rio Tinto's focus will not only be on finding higher grade and thicker open pit strata-bound horizons, but also high grade structurally controlled mineralization."

Last year's program at the sedimentary copper-silver project, located 55 km southeast of Key Lake, included 21 drill holes totalling 5,209 metres.

Highlights included a hole at Jansem target that cut 5 metres of 1.32% copper and 3.42 g/t silver within a longer 51.8-metre interval grading 0.57% copper and 1.5 g/t silver (starting at 116 metres depth).

Midday Tuesday, Forum Energy's stock was down 11% on the TSXV. The company has a C$9 million market capitalization.