Foran Mining hits major milestone: McIlvenna Bay construction soared in July

Foran Mining Corporation (TSX: FOM) (OTCQX: FMCXF) reported that construction progress at its McIlvenna Bay project in Saskatchewan has surpassed the 50% completion milestone. The project remains on budget, aligned with the revised capital estimate disclosed in the May 13, 2025 press release and on schedule with commercial production, targeted for mid-2026.

The McIlvenna Bay deposit is a copper-zinc-gold-silver rich deposit intended to be the centre of a new mining camp in a prolific district that has already been producing for 100 years. The McIlvenna Bay property sits just 65 km west of Flin Flon, Manitoba.

In July 2025, Foran Mining achieved several key milestones at the McIlvenna Bay project:

The year-to-date lost time incident frequency rate, including exploration activities, trended down to 0.7, which underscores the company's commitment to operational health and safety. This achievement is notable with a workforce of approximately 723 people on site.

The construction progress reached approximately 50%, marking a critical milestone as the project surpassed the halfway point toward completion. The project continues to align with the revised capital estimate disclosed on May 13, 2025, keeping commercial production on track for mid-2026.

Surface construction in July demonstrated the greatest monthly progress to date. Key accomplishments included the completion of the ball mill lining, significant progress in structural steel and concrete works, installation of flotation cells, and the start of structural steel erection for conveyor towers, tailings handling, and the paste backfill structure.

Underground development advanced approximately 570 meters in July, achieving the highest single-month underground development to date. Despite two days of planned downtime for the underground fresh air raise vent changeover, daily development rates remained steady at nearly 20 meters per day.

The surface ore stockpile grew by approximately 28,000 tonnes over the month, bringing the total ore inventory to about 90,000 tonnes by the end of July. This inventory supports more than 18 days of steady-state production at the design throughput of 4,900 tonnes per day for phase 1 operations.

Dan Myerson, executive chairman and CEO of Foran, commented: "Surpassing the halfway point of construction is an incredible milestone, and I am extremely proud of the relentless determination and operational excellence shown by our team. We believe that the current market disconnect between perceived risk and actual risk presents a compelling opportunity for investors, and we expect this gap to narrow before bringing McIlvenna Bay into production. Our focus remains on disciplined execution and long-term value creation, supported by consistent, transparent updates as we advance construction, and today's announcement reinforces that both schedule and budget remain firmly on track. We appreciate the continued support of our partners and stakeholders as we advance a long life, scalable asset and help define the next chapter in the evolution of Canada's critical minerals industry."

As of July 31, 2025, the construction progress at the McIlvenna Bay project demonstrates significant milestones across various areas:

In health and safety, the site has achieved a year-to-date lost time incident frequency rate of 0.7 and a total recordable incident frequency rate of 2.9, with over 1,090,000 hours worked. Notably, the underground teams celebrated completing two years without any lost time incidents in July.

Construction progress has reached 50%, with commercial production still on track for mid-2026. Key infrastructure and earthworks, including tailings storage, are ongoing. The construction of the transmission line has achieved key milestones, including the installation of the gantry in July, with energization projected for March 2026.

Engineering efforts have advanced to 98.4%, consistent with Q2 2025. The engineering for the mine water treatment plant is scheduled for completion in Q3 2025, while automation and programming remain on track for completion by October 2025.

The procurement team is actively managing 202 work packages, with 199 already awarded.

In surface development, the team completed the ball mill liner installation and erected structural steel for the conveyor towers, tailings handling, and paste backfill. Mechanical installations for various systems continue to progress.

Underground development achieved 570 metres of lateral advancement and 38 metres in decline, with ramps extending 53 metres below the 210 m level. New truck load-out construction activities began, and the completion of the fresh air raise has boosted productivity. Additionally, the project added 28,000 tonnes to the ore stockpile, increasing the total to 90,000 tonnes, thereby supporting mill readiness.

As permits approach completion, there were no new submissions in July. Currently, the site hosts 723 personnel, comprising 166 Foran employees and 557 construction workers.

The company filed its NI 43-101 compliant 2025 technical report on the McIlvenna Bay project  on March 12, 2025, with an effective date and report date of March 12, 2025, outlining a mineral resource in respect of the McIlvenna Bay deposit estimated at 38.6 Mt grading 2.02% copper equivalent in the indicated category and an additional 4.5 Mt grading 1.71% copper equivalent in the inferred category.

More information is posted on www.ForanMining.com.