Fathom Nickel Now Focused on Known High-Grade Chutes at Gochager
Fathom Nickel's CEO on the maiden resource at Gochager Lake, a "somewhat disappointing" but still-anomalous phase-2 drill program, a rethought geological model (nickel in the surrounding metasediments too), and why the next dollars should go into proving up high-grade shoots inside the known deposit.
One-line take: Management, not an outside analyst — read it as the company's own case. Fathom published a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) on the historic Gochager Lake nickel-copper-cobalt deposit in Saskatchewan, built only from the 2018, 2023 and 2024 holes plus historic data, mainly to prove continuity. The 2026 phase-2 holes were, in Fraser's own word, "somewhat disappointing," but still strongly anomalous: 150 m west, 150 m northeast and at depth, the same semi-massive-to-massive sulfide veins and breccias inside disseminated mineralization, so the system is "open in all directions." The mineralized gabbro host now runs >800 m of strike vs the original 250 m, and hole 25 found nickel in the surrounding metasediments, which reopens old airborne conductors once written off as barren (a Thompson Nickel Belt analog). The near-term plan is to channel-sample stripped outcrops over the historic deposit to fix the orientation of north-northeast high-grade shoots, then drill those and the undrilled 100 m × 300 m gap between hole 29 and the resource. He concedes the retail market wants flashy intercepts while the company has been chasing scale, and says in hindsight he would now target the higher-grade areas inside the deposit.
1. Stocks & names mentioned
A company-CEO interview: the FNI stance below is management describing its own project (constructive by construction), not an independent recommendation.
| Ticker | Name | Research | View | What he said | At |
|---|
| FNI | Fathom Nickel (CSE: FNI; OTC: FNICF) | SA · STK | Positive | Management view (CEO): the maiden MRE shows continuity at the historic Gochager Lake deposit, and phase-2 holes, though "somewhat disappointing," hit the same sulfide veins and breccias 150 m west, 150 m northeast and at depth, so the system is "still very much open in all directions." The host gabbro now runs >800 m of strike; nickel in the metasediments reopens old conductors. Next: channel-sample stripped outcrops to orient the high-grade shoots, then drill them. | 03:19 |
2. Talking points
00:00 Two releases: maiden MRE, then phase-2 assays
- The June phase-2 diamond drill results followed the maiden mineral resource estimate. The QP visited the project in June, and the company held the MRE release until all assays were in and understood.
- 01:19 "The assays are quite clearly telling us that there is room for expansion on this historic Gochager Lake deposit."
01:41 What went into the MRE (and what didn't)
- Modern holes in the MRE: two drilled in 2018 plus Fathom's 2023 and 2024 holes. The 2026 phase 1 and phase 2 drilling is not in the estimate.
02:08 2026 lesson: nickel in the metasediments, not just the intrusive
- Phase 1's main takeaway was remobilized nickel-copper-cobalt mineralization in the surrounding metasediments and in metasediment rafts inside the mafic-ultramafic intrusives. "It's sort of changed our thinking" on the geological model.
- 02:59 Phase 2: very anomalous nickel 150 m west, 150 m northeast and to depth, so the system is "still very much open in all directions."
03:34 "Somewhat disappointing," but the right styles
- Phase-2 grades disappointed, but the holes consistently showed semi-massive to massive sulfide veins and breccias within disseminated mineralization, the same make-up as the deposit.
- 04:20 Once the vein orientations are known, following them along strike "will add grade along with tons."
05:06 Strike length: 250 m → 800+ m
- Mineralized variable-textured gabbro now intersected over ~800 m of strike vs the original deposit's ~250 m. He's "convinced" it continues under a small lake beyond.
- 05:46 Metasediment-hosted mineralization ~600 m along strike needs mapping and detailed geophysics before more drilling.
- 06:17 Hole 29: >1% nickel in sulfide veins and breccias in gabbro 150 m southwest, and again 100–150 m northeast and at depth.
06:57 Borehole EM: the strongest conductors sit beyond the holes
- Every hole gets a borehole electromagnetic (EM) survey. Some of the strongest responses develop off-hole beyond the ends of the holes, on both the south and north sides of the deposit.
- 07:42 These were assumed to be barren sulphidic metasediments. Hole 25's metasediment-hosted mineralization forces a rethink of the long linear conductors from the 2008 airborne survey.
- 09:06 Analog: in the Thompson Nickel Belt, nickel-bearing metasediments sit in direct contact with barren sulphidic metasediments.
10:35 Two host rocks and the junior's dilemma
- A "two-host-rock approach": sulphide build-up in the gabbro and now in the metasediments.
- 11:05 "I could tomorrow go back to the historic deposit and drill a hole into something that's going to be very well mineralized". But "we're not going to be the guys potentially getting this out of the ground," so the project has to be big to attract a buyer, while still delivering positive results for retail.
12:11 8 km geochemical corridor; Wolf Lake anomaly
- An 8 km geochemically favorable corridor. With Dr. Peter Lightfoot, they have a method to screen soil geochemistry for a mafic-ultramafic source versus a mafic-sedimentary one.
- 12:51 The Wolf Lake anomaly, 2.5 km southwest of the deposit, now reads as a potential mafic-ultramafic source rock.
14:12 What the MRE was for
- Caracle Creek authored it. The first question was whether drill density even supported a resource. The purpose was to demonstrate continuity of the 2% Ni over 4–8 m and 1.5% Ni intercepts.
- 15:54 Nickel-tenor screen: disseminated sulfides 600 m along strike with 2–3% nickel tenor match the deposit, which suggests another resource "comparable to the Gochager Lake deposit" with more drilling. Mineralized gabbros are mapped 3.5 km along strike.
17:29 Stripping outcrops over the historic deposit
- Crews went in Monday. Equipment brought in on the winter trail after the 2025 forest fire is blading burnt ground and overburden off outcrops. One outcrop contains historic hole I12 (290 m of 0.5% Ni, 1967).
- 18:23 Goal: expose the north-northeast-trending high-grade veins and breccias and channel-saw perpendicular samples, "essentially considered horizontal drill holes" that could add tons and grade to the MRE right up to surface.
20:04 Quick win: the gap between hole 29 and the resource
- 1989–90 holes were excluded from the MRE only because the assay certificates are lost (NI 43-101). Hole 89-3 runs through the block model and stays mineralized for another 50–60 m.
- 21:17 Holes 89-1 and 89-2, between hole 29 and the maiden pit, are mineralized. Borehole EM shows off-hole conductivity on both sides. "There's 100 meters by easily 300 meters in depth that doesn't have any drilling that I think is mineralized."
23:02 Hindsight: pepper the high-grade first
- Asked whether to prove up the known area first: "The short answer to that is yes." With another $3–4M program he would target and expand the higher-grade areas inside the deposit.
- 23:56 If stripping confirms a north-northeast secondary structure, he would swing the drill azimuth more easterly and fence down-dip along the shoots.
- 24:30 The bigger question: the evidence says the sulfides were remobilized, so where is the larger massive-sulfide accumulation? Test the strong north and south conductors.
3. In plain English
FNI — Fathom Nickel Positive
Fathom Nickel is a small exploration company. It does not mine anything; it drills holes to find and measure a nickel-copper-cobalt deposit in northern Saskatchewan (Gochager Lake), with the aim of selling it to, or partnering with, a bigger miner. This interview is with its own CEO, so it is the company's pitch, not an independent opinion.
Its first official "mineral resource estimate" (an audited count of the metal in the ground) is mainly proof that the rich zones connect from hole to hole. This summer's new holes were, in the CEO's word, "somewhat disappointing" on grade, but they kept hitting the same kind of nickel-bearing rock further out and deeper, so the deposit is not yet boxed in. The company also found nickel in a second kind of rock around the deposit. That matters because a lot of electrically conductive ground nearby, earlier dismissed as worthless, might now hold nickel.
The practical plan is to strip soil off the rock above the known deposit, saw sample channels across the richest veins to learn which way they run, then drill along them. The CEO admits the market rewards eye-catching high-grade hits more than a bigger but lower-grade footprint, and that proving up the rich core first is probably the better next step. As with any early-stage explorer, the shares can move sharply on each set of drill results and the company will likely need to raise money to keep drilling.
Editorial summary of the public YouTube interview on Mining Network, published 18 September 2026 (video linked above). The speaker is Fathom Nickel's president and CEO. For personal study — not investment advice.