Thunder Zone Assays Confirm High Priority Regional Target Within District Scale Growth Strategy
Press Release
Drilling Extends Thunder Zone 100m Along Strike, Remains Open for Expansion
2026 Program to Accelerate Targets and Unlock Growth Across the McIlvenna Bay District
Vancouver, BC (March 24, 2026) – Foran Mining Corporation (TSX: FOM) (OTCQX: FMCXF) (“Foran” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce initial exploration results from the 2026 winter regional exploration drill program at the Thunder Zone, which is part of the Company’s 100%-owned McIlvenna Bay Project located in east-central Saskatchewan. The Thunder Zone is located approximately five kilometres to the southeast, along trend from the McIlvenna Bay Deposit and Tesla Zone and within trucking distance of the McIlvenna Bay mill. Historical drilling in 2013 first identified the Thunder Zone with a 3.7m intercept of copper-rich massive to semi-massive sulphides and subsequently defined a mineralized zone over a 200m strike length with additional intercepts in 2015, confirming the prospectivity of this corridor. Recent drilling at BA-26-84 has extended mineralization by an additional 100 metres along strike to the northwest.
Building on the success at the Tesla Zone, the Company is applying its systematic geophysical targeting approach to unlock the full potential of regional targets such as Thunder Zone along this prospective magnetic trend, where it is advancing this high priority target. Ongoing drilling continues to enhance targeting precision and strengthen confidence in the broader system. These results suggest a repeatable exploration strategy and represent a step toward unlocking the growth potential of the McIlvenna Bay district.
Key Highlights:
- BA-26-84 returned two lenses of semi-massive to massive sulphide mineralization, as highlighted by:
- 9.6m grading 0.08% Cu, 4.50% Zn, 41.6 g/t Ag and 0.25 g/t Au (1.76% CuEq), including 4.7m grading 0.10% Cu, 6.05% Zn, 23.8 g/t Ag and 0.31 g/t Au (2.19% CuEq)
- Strike extended by 100m to the northwest, defining approximately 300m of strike length, with mineralization remaining open along strike and at depth
- Surface electromagnetic (“EM”) surveys completed at Thunder Zone to refine follow-up targeting
- Up to 3,000m of winter drilling across regional targets is underway to accelerate growth and unlock district scale potential
Erin Carswell, Foran’s Vice President, Exploration, commented: “Recent drilling at Thunder Zone is an exciting step forward in demonstrating the broader growth potential of the McIlvenna Bay district. Making such a coherent intersection and extending mineralization by 100 metres along strike reinforces our confidence in our regional targeting approach and highlights the opportunity to define additional near mine sources of feed within existing infrastructure corridors. As we continue to advance these high priority targets, we see potential to support future phased expansions, while building a scalable pipeline of exploration opportunities to unlock the full potential of this district.”
The 2026 winter regional exploration program is expected to consist of up to 3,000m of drilling across several target areas, along with a small program of surface and borehole EM surveying in the Thunder Zone area to better define the target for follow up. The Thunder Zone is located approximately 5km southeast of McIlvenna Bay, along a clearly defined magnetic trend that hosts both the McIlvenna Bay Deposit and Tesla Zone (Figure 1). Assay composites from the drilling are provided in Table 1 below.
Figure 1 – Total Field Magnetic Map for the McIlvenna Bay Property showing the prospective trends and the Location of the Thunder Zone.
The Thunder Zone sits at the northern end of the historic Balsam target area where the Company completed follow up drilling in 2013 to verify and expand on historic results. At the end of the 2013 winter drill program, the Company tested an EM conductor located at the northern end of the Balsam grid which had been identified from a ground geophysical survey completed that year. That test hole resulted in the discovery of the Thunder Zone, which returned a 3.7m intercept of massive and semi-massive sulphides grading 4.08% Cu, 0.71% Zn, 27.0 g/t Ag and 0.43 g/t Au. This result was followed up in 2015 with five drill holes that tracked the new zone over approximately 200m of strike length. The last hole of the 2015 program (BA-15-83), which represented the northern most hole drilled into the zone at the time, returned two higher grade intervals: 3.5m grading 2.04% Cu, 3.47% Zn, 11.6 g/t Ag and 0.37 g/t Au followed by 8.4m grading 0.62% Cu, 3.41% Zn, 27.2 g/t Ag and 0.36 g/t Au from a 15m thick sulphide interval (see the Company’s March 25, 2015 news release for additional details).
BA-26-84 was the first hole completed during the 2026 winter program. As shown in Figure 2 below, the hole was drilled as an approximate 100m step-out along strike / down plunge to the north from the previous intersections for BA-15-83 as described above. The drill hole was successful in intersecting two intervals of massive to semi-massive sulphide mineralization that have extended the northern limit of the Thunder Zone approximately another 100m, where it remains open for further expansion both along strike and up and down dip. The mineralized intersections in BA-26-84 were located along the same stratigraphic horizon as previous intersections of the zone, however, the mineralization occurred at a shallower depth in the drill hole than anticipated. This may indicate that minor faulting in the area has affected the stratigraphy in the northern part of the Thunder Zone. Closer spaced drilling will be required to confirm this geometry, along with additional drilling both up and down dip from existing holes to confirm the extent of the mineralization as we continue to grow the mineralized footprint.
Figure 2 – Plan Map of the Thunder Zone Drilling Showing the Location of Drill Hole BA-26-84 Relative to the Historic Drilling at the Zone.
BA-26-84 Details
Drill hole BA-26-84 intersected two lenses of semi-massive to massive sulphide mineralization hosted in moderately to strongly sericite (+/- chlorite) altered felsic rocks which are locally silicified. The sulphide zones dominantly consist of fine to medium grained pyrite with lesser pyrrhotite, with fine-grained, red-brown sphalerite making up the groundmass in the well-mineralized intervals. The upper lens consisted of 2.5m of sulphides grading 0.06% Cu, 3.84% Zn, 7.2 g/t Ag and 0.08 g/t Au, followed approximately 18m downhole by a second lens for more intense mineralization grading 0.08% Cu, 4.50% Zn, 41.6 g/t Ag and 0.25 g/t Au over 9.6m, including a 4.7m interval grading 0.10% Cu, 6.05% Zn, 23.8 g/t Ag and 0.31 g/t Au. Several photographs of the sulphide mineralization textures from the lower lens are provided in Figure 3.
Figure 3 – Photographs of drill core from BA-26-84 showing some examples of the sulphide mineralization textures
Pyrite-pyrrhotite-sphalerite mineralization with strong chlorite alteration
Massive sulphide: pyrite-pyrrhotite with strong sphalerite-rich groundmass
Pyrite-pyrrhotite-sphalerite mineralization with strong chlorite alteration
Table 1 – 2026 Regional Program Assay Results
| Hole | Zone | From_m | To_m | Interval_m | Cu % | Zn % | Ag g/t | Au g/t | CuEq % |
| BA-26-84 | – | 365.3 | 367.8 | 2.5 | 0.06 | 3.84 | 7.2 | 0.08 | 1.28 |
| BA-26-84 | – | 386.0 | 395.6 | 9.6 | 0.08 | 4.50 | 41.6 | 0.25 | 1.76 |
| Including | – | 387.1 | 391.7 | 4.7 | 0.10 | 6.05 | 23.8 | 0.31 | 2.19 |
Note 1: Composite widths are presented as core lengths. Additional drilling will be required to confirm the geometry of the mineralized zones, but generally true widths are thought to be 80-85% of core length. Copper Equivalent values calculated using metal prices of $4.00/lb Cu, $1.50/lb Zn, $20.00/ounce Ag and $1,800/ounce Au and LOM metallurgical recovery rates derived from test work on blended ores for the McIlvenna Bay Deposit completed as part of our April 2022 Feasibility Study: 91.1% Cu, 79.8% Zn, 88.6% Au and 62.3% Ag. To date no metallurgical test work has been completed on the Thunder Zone mineralization.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
Drilling was completed using NQ size diamond drill core and core was logged by employees of the Company. During the logging process, mineralized intersections were marked for sampling and given unique sample numbers. Sampled intervals were sawn in half using a diamond blade saw. One half of the sawn core was placed in a plastic bag with the sample tag and sealed, while the second half was returned to the core box for storage on site. Sample assays are performed by the Saskatchewan Research Council (“SRC”) Geoanalytical Laboratory in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. SRC is a Canadian accredited laboratory (ISO/IEC 17025:2017) and independent of Foran. Analysis for Ag, Cu, Pb and Zn is performed using ICP-OES after total multi-acid digestion. Au analysis is completed by fire assay with AAS finish and any samples which return results greater than 1.0 g/t Au are re-run using gravimetric finish. A complete suite of QA/QC reference materials (standards, blanks, and duplicates) are included in each batch of samples processed by the laboratory. The results of the assaying of the QA/QC material included in each batch are tracked to ensure the integrity of the assay data.
Qualified Person
Mr. Roger March, P. Geo., Principal Geoscientist for Foran, is the Qualified Person for all technical information herein and has reviewed and approved the technical information in this release.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION & MEDIA ENQUIRIES:
| Foran: |
| Jonathan French, CFA |
| VP, Capital Markets & External Affairs |
| 409 Granville Street, Suite 904 |
| Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6C 1T2 |
| ir@foranmining.com |
| +1 (604) 488-0008 |
IBF4
