Fortune Minerals Extends Option to Acquire the Alberta Refinery Site for the NICO Critical Minerals Project
Fortune Minerals Extends Option to Acquire the Alberta Refinery Site for the NICO
Critical Minerals Project
LONDON, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--December 22, 2022--Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX: FT)
(OTCQB: FTMDF) (“Fortune” or the “Company”) (www.fortuneminerals.com) is pleased to announce that it
has secured an additional extension to the option to purchase the JFSL Field Services ULC (“JFSL”) brownfield
site in Lamont County, Alberta (see news releases, dated January 24, 2022, July 14, 2022, and October 3, 2022).
Fortune plans to construct a hydrometallurgical refinery at this site for its vertically integrated NICO cobalt-
gold-bismuth-copper critical minerals project (“NICO Project”). The JFSL facility is a former steel fabrication
plant located on 76.78 acres of lands in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland northeast of Edmonton and has 42,000
square feet of serviced shops and buildings adjacent to the Canadian National Railway. The JFSL site is also
close to services, sources of reagents, and a commutable pool of engineers and skilled chemical plant workers to
materially reduce capital and operating costs for the planned NICO Project development.
Pursuant to the option agreement, Fortune can acquire the JFSL site and facilities for C$5.5 million. The term of
the option can be extended for up to six months by Fortune paying JFSL C$15,000 per month. JFSL’s has the
right to solicit competing offers for the facility, subject to Fortune’s right to complete its purchase on the agreed
terms by the end of the month for any extension period and/or Fortune’s right of first refusal to match the
competing offer.
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The NICO refinery would process metal concentrates from the planned NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper mine
and concentrator in the Northwest Territories (“NWT”) enabling Fortune to become a vertically integrated
producer of cobalt sulphate needed to make the cathodes of lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles,
portable electronics and stationary storage cells. The refinery would also produce bismuth ingots and oxide, an
‘Eco-metal’ used in the automotive and pharmaceutical industries and with growing demand as an
environmentally safe and non-toxic replacement for lead in free-machining steels and aluminum, brasses and
solders used in potable drinking water sources and electronics, ceramic glazes, radiation shielding, glass,
ammunition, and fishing weights, and environmentally safe plugs to decommission oil and gas wells. The
Mineral Reserves for the NICO deposit also contain more than one million ounces of gold, and copper as a
minor by-product. The vertically integrated NICO Project is an advanced development stage critical minerals
development asset that has already received environmental assessment approval and the major mine permits for
the facilities in the NWT. The project has also been assessed in positive Feasibility and Front-End Engineering
and Design (“FEED”) studies that will be updated to reflect the new refinery site and recent project
optimizations.
For more detailed information about the NICO Mineral Reserves and certain technical information in this news
release, please refer to the Technical Report on the NICO Project, entitled "Technical Report on the Feasibility
Study for the NICO-Gold-Cobalt-Bismuth-Copper Project, Northwest Territories, Canada", dated April 2, 2014
and prepared by Micon International Limited which has been filed on SEDAR and is available under the
Company's profile at www.sedar.com. The disclosure of scientific and technical information contained in this
news release has been approved by Robin Goad, M.Sc., P.Geo., President and Chief Executive Officer of
Fortune, who is a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101.
About Fortune Minerals:
Fortune is a Canadian mining company focused on developing the NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper critical
minerals project in the NWT and Alberta. Fortune also owns the satellite Sue-Dianne copper-silver-gold deposit
located 25 km north of the NICO Deposit and is a potential future source of incremental mill feed to extend the
life of the NICO mill and concentrator.
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This press release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of
applicable securities legislation. This forward-looking information includes statements with respect to, among
other things, the exercise by the Company of its option to purchase of the JFSL site, the successful construction
and completion of the proposed hydrometallurgical refinery at the JFSL site, and the Company’s plans to
develop the NICO Project, including the successful the development and construction of the planned NICO
cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper mine and concentrator. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and
estimates of management as well as certain assumptions at the date the information is given (including, in
respect of the forward-looking information contained in this press release, assumptions regarding: the successful
completion of the Company’s due diligence investigations on the JFSL site, the Company’s ability to secure the
necessary financing to fund the exercise of the option and complete the purchase of the JFSL site, the Company’s
ability to complete construction of a NICO Project refinery; the Company’s ability to arrange the necessary
financing to continue operations and develop the NICO Project; the receipt of all necessary regulatory
approvals for the construction and operation of the NICO Project, including the planned NICO cobalt-gold-
bismuth-copper mine and concentrator and the timing thereof; growth in the demand for cobalt; the time
required to construct the NICO Project; and the economic environment in which the Company will operate in
the future, including the price of gold, cobalt and other by-product metals, anticipated costs and the volumes of
metals to be produced at the NICO Project). However, such forward-looking information is subject to a variety
of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from
those projected in the forward-looking information. These factors include the risks that the COVID-19 pandemic
or global geopolitical situations may interfere with the Company’s ability to continue development of the NICO
Project, the Company may not be able to complete the purchase of the JFSL site and secure a site for the
construction of a refinery, the Company may not be able to finance and develop NICO on favourable terms or at
all, uncertainties with respect to the receipt or timing of required permits, approvals and agreements for the
development of the NICO Project, including the related hydrometallurgical refinery, the construction of the
NICO Project may take longer than anticipated, the Company may not be able to secure offtake agreements for
the metals to be produced at the NICO Project, the Sue-Dianne Property may not be developed to the point
where it can provide mill feed to the NICO Project, the inherent risks involved in the exploration and
development of mineral properties and in the mining industry in general, the market for products that use cobalt
or bismuth may not grow to the extent anticipated, the future supply of cobalt and bismuth may not be as limited
as anticipated, the risk of decreases in the market prices of cobalt, bismuth and other metals to be produced by
the NICO Project, discrepancies between actual and estimated Mineral Resources or between actual and
estimated metallurgical recoveries, uncertainties associated with estimating Mineral Resources and Reserves
and the risk that even if such Mineral Resources prove accurate the risk that such Mineral Resources may not be
converted into Mineral Reserves once economic conditions are applied, the Company’s production of cobalt,
bismuth and other metals may be less than anticipated and other operational and development risks, market
risks and regulatory risks. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking information
because it is possible that predictions, forecasts, projections and other forms of forward-looking information will
not be achieved by the Company. The forward-looking information contained herein is made as of the date
hereof and the Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise it to reflect new events or circumstances,
except as required by law.
Contacts
Fortune Minerals Limited
Troy Nazarewicz
Investor Relations Manager
Tel: (519) 858-8188
www.fortuneminerals.com