At the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference last week, CEO.ca caught up with Patrick Soares CEO of Foran Mining (FOM.T).

Foran is currently looking for a joint venture partner for the McIlvenna Bay project located in Saskatchewan, a large zinc-copper-gold-silver Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ("VMS") deposit. The project has a PEA study complete that shows economics of a $262.7 million NPV (7%) and a 18.9% IRR after tax.

The project has significant exposure to zinc in what many analysts are forecasting to be a tightening market.

Mr. Soares talks about the strong shareholder base that includes Pierre Lassonde and David Harquail of Franco Nevada.

Patrick Soares, CEO, Foran Mining, Cambridge House transcript:

The biggest challenge going forward is to get enough money to start the pre feasibility or feasibility study going. That is going to involve finding a partner which we are already discussing corporately, and is probably going to take $7-$12 million to raise and we don't want to do that with equity. It will mean selling part of the McIlvenna Bay project off to do it.

All of us in management are large shareholders; I own over 3 million shares. Our chairman owns probably 12 million shares.

We have other great investors like Pierre Lassonde who owns about 12% of the company, and same with David Harquail who is the president of Franco Nevada.

Foran has a solid shareholder base, we rely on those shareholders to assist us and give us ideas on financing because a lot lot of them are mining professionals.

We will move forward with corporates and other ways to raise our money going forward.

Some milestones we just completed a PEA so we will move forward to feasibility study. Our other upside is on the exploration front. We will be doing exploration on one historical deposit and hopefully adding a second smaller deposit to that.

All catalysts are showing that McIlvenna Bay is not part a single deposit it is part of a camp.

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