Fortune Minerals provides project finance update

19 April 2018

Fortune Minerals Limited is pleased to provide an update of the financing for its 100% owned NICO Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper Project in Canada. The NICO Project is one of few new cobalt assets globally with the potential to be in production by the early 2020's and respond to the accelerating demand from transformative automotive electrification, portable electronic devices and stationary storage. Fortune has engaged Hatch Ltd., P&E Mining Consultants Inc. and Micon International Limited to update the National Instrument 43-101 technical report on the NICO Project Feasibility Study prepared in 2014 based on new design developments and improvements, current capital and operating costs, commodity prices and currency exchange rates, and the economies of scale of an approximate 30% increase in the mill throughput rate. As this study nears completion, Fortune has been advancing discussions with a number of parties to participate in a complete project finance solution to fund construction of the NICO Project. The company has entered into approximately 25 confidentiality agreements to date with prospective investors and has also been conducting marketing trips to meet with potential partners in North America, Asia and Europe. Discussions are continuing with automotive manufacturers, battery and trading companies, mining companies, banks, sovereign wealth funds and intermediaries. Fortune's preferred strategy is to attract one or more asset level strategic partners to contribute equity toward a conventional debt and equity project financing. Fortune expects to enter into additional confidentiality agreements before the new technical report has been completed, at which time it expects to begin negotiations with a shortlist of companies.