3 March 2020
Fortune Minerals Limited is pleased to provide an update of current activities toward development of the NICO Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper Project in Canada. The NICO Project consists of a planned mine and concentrator in the Northwest Territories, and a related refinery in southern Canada where the Company plans to process concentrates from the mine to value added metals and chemicals. The Mineral Reserves of the NICO Deposit contain cobalt and bismuth, both metals identified on the U.S. Government and European Union Critical Minerals Lists, plus more than one million ounces of gold and byproduct copper (see Fortune news release, dated April 2, 2014). Development of the NICO Project would provide a reliable North American vertically integrated supply of cobalt and bismuth to mitigate supply chain concerns from geopolitical risks and geographic concentration of supply in the Democratic Republic of Congo and China. Fortune is continuing discussions with potential strategic partners interested in the NICO development and participating in the supply chain for transformative automotive electrification with cobalt chemicals required to make the cathodes of lithium-ion batteries together with a highly liquid gold co-product.
The NICO Project was assessed in a Feasibility Study prepared by Micon International Limited in 2014, based primarily on the Company’s Front-End Engineering and Design study by Aker Solutions. After assessing a contemplated 30% expanded project in a 2019 study, Fortune has refocused on a NICO Project development strategy similar to the one used for the 2014 Micon Feasibility Study based on a smaller higher grade project with lower capital costs. The Company is also pursuing a number of opportunities to improve project economics before completing an updated Technical Report.