Foran Mining Corporation announced details of its expanded 2023 exploration program at its McIlvenna Bay project in Saskatchewan, as well as an update on the Company's ongoing Advanced Exploration Decline program. Year to date, Foran has been active across its properties drilling 12,610 metres (m) using one drill rig, with the majority of drilling conducted at Tesla and Bigstone/Marconi. In 2023, Foran is targeting 35,000m in near-mine and regional exploration in addition to completing geophysics and compilation work, with a total direct spend of approximately CAD 18 million.

Following the new discovery of the Tesla Zone, Foran will be significantly ramping up its drilling activity at this exciting near-mine target. Permits have been received and drilling is already underway with one drill turning at Tesla. Up to three drills are planned for the follow up 2023 program at Tesla, which is designed to conduct broad step-out drilling on 100-200 metre (m) spaced fences along strike of the defined conductor, with associated wedge holes drilled to further test the zones up and down dip.

Priority drilling will test the extension to the mineralized horizons to the south-east and up plunge towards the McIlvenna Bay Deposit with a focus on understanding the relationship between Tesla, McIlvenna Bay and potential synergies for future growth of resources. Foran anticipates drilling 12-15 holes during the winter program, beginning in mid-January, with the full length of the program to be determined by weather conditions supporting drilling on the ice. With the company land package totalling approximately 1,472 km2, Foran has strategically staked and consolidated a potentially transformational district.

The Company has an extensive portfolio of claims in and around the McIlvenna Bay and Bigstone Deposits, as well as several new blocks of claims to the south of the known deposits: Galvani, Curie and Becquerel. In addition to near mine exploration, work to prioritize regional targeting for follow up in 2023 and 2024 is now underway. Detailed geological, geochemical and structural studies currently being conducted on both the McIlvenna Bay Deposit and region, the Bigstone Deposit and region, as well as the newly discovered Tesla Zone are feeding into a new understanding and an enhanced exploration model for the region.

New prospective horizons and targets within the company extensive land holdings have been identified for planned drill testing in 2023 and 2024. The recently acquired Galvani, Curie, and Becquerel claims have been under evaluation and priority areas have been identified for permitting and follow-up groundwork. In 2023 and 2024, Foran plans to conduct several exploration programs designed to further assess the identified targets on these mineral claims. Future adjustments to land holdings in the area may be completed to optimize Foran's position based on the results of those programs and the work of the project generation team.

In May 2022, Foran contracted Boart Longyear to provide TruScan services, an Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (ED-XRF) system that provides continuous elemental abundances of selected elements in conjunction with simultaneous automated recording of structural data and core photography. McIlvenna Bay is one of only five projects in North America that are currently using this technology. The data collected is currently used for detailed chemostratigraphy in support of the ongoing exploration efforts, with a pilot study ongoing to investigate the feasibility of integrating the data into a semiautomated logging process.

Should the study prove successful, TruScan could reduce future reliance on labs, providing opportunities for time and cost savings and improving the company's exploration strategy and turnaround time. These savings and improved capital allocation would apply to both to the exploration and mining cycle while providing a data set of superior spatial resolution, quality, and consistency. To date, over 13,000m of historical core and 2,500m of exploration core has been scanned using the TruScan system at Foran's McIlvenna Bay property.

Following the discovery of the Tesla Zone this year, subsequent drilling has intersected significant mineralization across 200m of strike, including several high-grade intervals of massive to semi-massive sulphide mineralization containing significant copper and zinc. shows a 200m wide preliminary section through the Tesla Zone based on the intersections of TS-22-03, TS-22-03w2 (both previously disclosed) and TS-22-04 (new). A tabulation of significant assay results returned from the Tesla drilling to date is provided in below. Initial interpretations of geophysics, logging and oriented core data indicate the potential for a series of steeply dipping, stacked lenses or zones of disseminated and fracture fill sulphide mineralization, massive sulphides and stockwork veins within a package of highly altered volcanic sequences.

Drilling at the Tesla target is still in its early days and these identified zones of mineralization remain open for potential expansion with further drilling. Geophysical surveys outline a conductor with potential dimensions of 900m (strike) by 300m (width) associated with the Tesla Zone. The results herein confirm that this conductor is, in part at least, a well mineralized zone of copper and zinc sulphides.

In order to properly test the conductor, given its geometry and location adjacent to the shoreline, future drill holes will need to be completed from Hanson Lake. The drill program will focus on defining the extents of the deposit, confirming geometry and step outs towards the McIlvenna Bay Deposit.