Fortune Minerals Retains Worley to Update the NICO Project Feasibility Study and Alberta Site Permitting NICO Project development advancing with U.S. and Canadian Government financial support
Fortune Minerals Retains Worley to Update the NICO Project Feasibility
Study and Alberta Site Permitting
NICO Project development advancing with U.S. and Canadian Government financial support
LONDON, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--October 7, 2024--Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX:
FT) (OTCQB: FTMDF) (“Fortune” or the “Company”) (www.fortuneminerals.com) is
pleased to announce that it has retained Worley Canada Services Ltd. (“Worley”) to conduct
additional engineering and lead the preparation of an updated Feasibility Study for the NICO
Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper Project in Canada (“NICO Project”). The NICO Project is an
advanced Critical Minerals development comprised of a planned mine and concentrator in the
Northwest Territories (“NWT”) and a hydrometallurgical recovery plant in Lamont County,
Alberta (“Hydrometallurgical Facility”) where concentrates from the mine, and other feed
sources, will be processed to value-added products for the energy transition and new
technologies. Worley has also been retained to assist with permitting for the Hydrometallurgical
Facility, which is planned to be constructed at a brownfield site held under a purchase option
arrangement from JFSL Field Services LLC (“JFSL”) (see news release dated, August 19,
2024). Development of the vertically integrated NICO Project would provide a reliable North
American supply of cobalt sulphate, gold doré, bismuth ingots, and copper cement produced with
supply chain transparency, Canadian Environmental-Social-Governance (“ESG”) standards, and
compliance with the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”).
Fortune was recently awarded ~C$17 million of non-dilutive grants and contribution funding
from the U.S. Department of Defense (“DoD”), Natural Resources Canada (“NRCan”) and
Alberta Innovates to help finance the work needed to advance the NICO Project to a project
finance and construction decision (see news releases dated, May 16, 2024, and December 5,
2023). The funds are supporting metallurgical test work at SGS Canada Inc. (“SGS”) to validate
recent process optimizations and flow sheet modifications, update the Feasibility and Front-End
Engineering and Design studies for the planned development, permit the Hydrometallurgical
Facility, and secure the remaining authorizations, management plans, and satisfy the
environmental assessment measures and water license conditions required to construct and
operate the NICO mine and concentrator.
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The NICO Project was assessed in a positive Feasibility Study in 2014 by Micon International
Limited (“Micon”) but is now out of date. Micon, and P&E Mining Consultants Inc. (“P&E”)
who also contributed to the 2014 study, will assist Worley with preparation of the NI 43-101
Technical Report, and the updated Mineral Reserve estimates and Mine Plan for the new
Feasibility Study, respectively. Worley’s discipline experts have reviewed historical technical
data for the NICO Project and have visited the NWT and Alberta sites. The updated Feasibility
Study will assess the NICO Project economics at current costs, commodity prices, and currency
exchange rates, while also incorporating recent improvements and project optimizations that
include:
Completion of the Tlicho Highway in the NWT, eliminating capital cost redundancies
and reducing the construction schedule for the mine and concentrator;
Incorporation of the new brownfield Alberta site for the Hydrometallurgical Facility and
re-purposing of the 42,000 square feet of serviced buildings on 77 acres of lands adjacent
to the Canadian National Railway;
Proximity of the Hydrometallurgical Facility site to services and reagents available in
Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, such as process and potable water, natural gas, low-cost
power, sulphuric acid, oxygen, lime, and a commutable pool of skilled engineers and
chemical plant workers;
Enhanced transportation logistics and reduced concentrate haulage distances between the
NWT and Alberta sites;
A new waste residue disposal strategy for the Hydrometallurgical Facility, including
potential sequential precipitation of a saleable gypsum by-product to reduce process
residue transportation and disposal costs;
Incorporation of recent process optimizations to reduce capital and operating costs and
assessing the potential for improved metallurgical recoveries from the test work programs
in progress at SGS;
A new Resource Model with more constrained wireframe boundaries to reduce internal
and external modelling dilution and providing better differentiation of higher-grade
Mineral Resource blocks for earlier processing;
A new Mine Plan focused on earlier mining and processing of higher margin ores to
accelerate cash flows, together with a stockpiling strategy to defer processing lower
margin ores;
Sensitivity analyses for processing other feed sources in the Hydrometallurgical Facility,
including intermediate products from the Kennecott Smelter waste streams pursuant to
the process collaboration between Fortune and Rio Tinto.
About the NICO Project
The NICO Project is a vertically integrated Critical Minerals asset that Fortune has expended
more than C$138 million to advance from an in-house mineral discovery to a near shovel-ready
development. The economics for the project were previously assessed in a positive Feasibility
Study, and the Company has secured environmental assessment approval and the major mine
permits for the facilities in the NWT.
The NICO Deposit is situated in Tlicho Territory, approximately 160 km northwest of the City of
Yellowknife and 50 km north of the community of Whati where the new Tlicho Highway
currently terminates. The deposit contains open pit and underground Proven and Probable
Mineral Reserves totaling 33.1 million tonnes containing 1.11 million ounces of gold, 82.3
million pounds of cobalt, 102.1 million pounds of bismuth, and 27.2 million pounds of copper
that are sufficient to support an approximate 20-year mine life. NICO and the Company’s nearby
Sue-Dianne copper deposit are IOCG-type mineral deposits with world class global analogues,
including the ‘super giant’ Olympic Dam Deposit in South Australia. IOCG-type deposits are
typically very large copper-gold deposits but are notably also enriched in important technology
metals.
The NICO Deposit is planned to be mined primarily by conventional truck and shovel open pit
methods with a low waste to ore strip ratio. A portion of the higher-grade Mineral Reserves are
planned to be mined by underground open stoping methods to accelerate cash flows during early
years of the mine life using the existing ramp and underground workings from previous test
mining for access and ore haulage.
Ores from the mine will be processed by crushing, grinding and bulk flotation methods with a
low (~4%) mass pull that reduces 4,650 tonnes of daily mill throughput to approximately 180
tonnes of bulk concentrate containing the recoverable metals. The bulk concentrate will be
subjected to re-grinding and secondary flotation to produce gold-bearing cobalt and bismuth
concentrates for low-cost transportation by truck and rail to Alberta and downstream processing
to value-added products.
The Hydrometallurgical Facility is planned to be constructed in Lamont County in Alberta’s
Industrial Heartland, approximately 30 km north of Edmonton, where the municipal planning
approvals are already in place for heavy industry. The cobalt concentrate will be processed in an
autoclave using pressure-oxidation to dissolve the metals, followed by sequential neutralization,
copper cementation, and solvent extraction purification and crystallization of cobalt sulphate
heptahydrate. The bismuth concentrate will be processed by ferric chloride leaching, followed by
cementation, and smelting to pour pure ingots. Gold will be recovered by leaching the autoclave
residue, followed by carbon elution and smelting to doré bars. Test work is underway at SGS to
determine if a saleable gypsum by-product can also be produced during sequential neutralization
of the autoclave effluent to increase revenues and reduce the amount of waste that would need to
be trucked to an offsite disposal facility.
NICO Commodities
NICO is a polymetallic deposit containing three Critical Minerals (cobalt, bismuth and copper)
and more than one million ounces of in-situ gold as a highly liquid and countercyclical co-
product to mitigate Critical Mineral price volatility.
Cobalt is a particularly important Critical Mineral due to its expanding consumption in the
cathodes of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicles, portable electronics and
stationary storage cells. Cobalt is also used in aerospace superalloys, cutting tools, magnets,
catalysts and pigments. There are concerns with the current sources of supply for cobalt because
of the geographic concentration of mine production in the politically unstable and ESG-
challenged Democratic Republic of the Congo (77% of mine supply) and geopolitical risks
associated with China’s ownership of most of these mines, 80% of the world’s refinery
production, and 90% of cobalt chemical supply.
Bismuth is another Critical Mineral with a supply chain controlled by China (~80% of the world
production). Bismuth has unique physical and chemical properties leveraged to make automotive
glass and steel coatings, paints and pigments, and brake pads. It is also used in low melting
temperature and dimensionally stable alloys, fire depressants, and pharmaceuticals. Bismuth
consumption is increasing as an environmentally safe and non-toxic replacement for lead in
brass, solders, free machining steel and aluminum, galvanizing alloys, glass, ceramic glazes,
radiation shielding, ammunition, and fishing weights. Bismuth-tin alloy is used to make
environmentally safe plugs to properly seal decommissioned oil and gas wells to prevent
greenhouse gas leakage, blowouts and groundwater contamination. Manganese-bismuth magnets
are also being commercialized as a potential replacement for Rare Earth Elements in the magnets
used in electric vehicle powertrain motors.
Fortune will be pleased to provide periodic updates on the progress of its various metallurgical,
engineering and permitting programs.
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 have been
approved by Robin Goad, M.Sc., P.Geo., President and Chief Executive Officer of Fortune and
Alex Mezei, M.Sc., P.Eng. Fortune’s Chief Metallurgist, who are "Qualified Persons" under
National Instrument 43-101.
About Worley Group
Worley is an international engineering, construction management and environmental services
company listed for trading on the Australian Stock Exchange.
About Fortune Minerals:
Fortune is a Canadian mining company focused on developing the NICO Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-
Copper 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 a potential future source of
incremental mill feed to extend the life of the NICO 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 of the option by the Company and
the purchase of the JFSL site, the construction of the proposed Hydrometallurgical Facility at
the JFSL site, the potential for expansion of the NICO Deposit and the Company’s plans to
develop the NICO Project. 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 Hydrometallurgical Facility; 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 and the related
Hydrometallurgical Facility 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 2021 drill program may not result in
a meaningful expansion of the NICO Deposit, the Company may not be able to complete the
purchase of the JFSL site and secure a site for the construction of a Hydrometallurgical Facility,
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 Facility, 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
For further information please contact:
Fortune Minerals Limited
Troy Nazarewicz
Investor Relations Manager
Tel: (519) 858-8188
www.fortuneminerals.com