Vancouver-based Foremost Clean Energy Ltd. has announced a significant and focused exploration budget for the coming year, targeting mineral discoveries across its Canadian portfolio. The company is allocating $9 million for its 2026 exploration program, with the primary emphasis on advancing its uranium properties in the world-renowned Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan.
A Strategic Focus on Uranium Discovery
The core of the 2026 strategy revolves around Foremost's substantial land package in the Athabasca Basin. The company holds option agreements on 10 prospective uranium projects covering approximately 130,000 hectares, originally sourced from Denison Mines Corp. This portfolio benefits from extensive historical data, including geophysical surveys and previous drilling results, which Foremost has been integrating with its own recent work.
President and CEO Jason Barnard emphasized the company's direction, stating the focus is on "deploying capital where the data is strongest" to efficiently generate results and drive value for shareholders. The planned work includes roughly 11,500 metres of drilling across multiple seasons and projects.
Key Drilling Targets for 2026
The 2026 program is built on several high-priority targets identified through past exploration. A major component is a winter drill campaign of about 5,000 metres at the Hatchet Lake project. This follow-up work is designed to build on a promising new uranium discovery made in 2025, where drill hole TF-25-16 intersected 6.2 metres grading 0.10% U₃O₈, including a high-grade zone of 0.87% U₃O₈ over 0.45 metres.
Results from a recently completed gravity survey at Hatchet Lake are pending and are expected to refine targets along the southern Richardson Trend, an area with limited historical drilling.
Another key uranium asset, the Turkey Lake project, is slated for 2,000 to 2,500 metres of drilling in the summer of 2026. The program will target shallow structural corridors along the edge of the Athabasca Basin. Historic drilling in these corridors has returned encouraging intercepts, such as 0.16% U₃O₈ over 0.6 metres.
Advancing the Jean Lake Gold Project
While uranium is the primary focus, Foremost also plans to advance its Jean Lake Gold Project in Manitoba. The company intends to use results from its 2025 drill program, where assays for 11 holes are still pending, along with re-sampled historic core, to finalize targets for an estimated 4,000 metres of drilling in 2026.
Barnard described Jean Lake as a "low-cost, high-impact asset" that complements the company's uranium strategy, noting its demonstrated potential for high-grade gold mineralization.
With this substantial $9 million budget, Foremost Clean Energy is positioning itself for a busy and potentially transformative year of exploration, aiming to convert its extensive data and promising early results into significant discoveries.
