Fortune Minerals Provides an Update of NICO Project Test Work, Rio Tinto Process Collaboration & Feasibility Study
The Company is advancing the NICO Project toward a construction decision with
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Highlights
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U.S. & Canadian Government supported test work, engineering, updated Feasibility Study & permitting programs progressing - New comminution & flotation circuit designs to reduce capital & operating costs
- Concentrator modifications to improve gold, bismuth & cobalt recoveries
- Smaller hydrometallurgical bismuth circuit with lower capital costs & higher recoveries
- Successful leaching & cementation of blended Rio Tinto & Fortune bismuth streams
Feasibility Study Update
Fortune retained Worley Canada Services Ltd. (“Worley”) to lead the engineering for an updated Feasibility Study assessing the economics of the NICO Project at current costs and commodity prices. Worley is also assisting Fortune with permitting for the brownfield site in Lamont County,
The updated Feasibility Study will incorporate a number of improvements to the NICO Project identified by Fortune and Worley to deliver a more financially robust development. These include: the superior brownfield
Worley has completed value enhancement studies improving the grinding and comminution, and flotation circuits for the planned concentrator in the NWT. A High-Pressure Grinding Rolls (“HPGR”) and vertical mills will replace parts of the previously designed circuit and ball mill with an anticipated
Worley has also reviewed the Company’s historical flotation test work and piloting information and has identified opportunities using Jameson flotation cells to recover additional fine, 5- to 20-micron sized gold and bismuth particles contained in NICO deposit ores. Jameson cell tests were completed at SGS at a finer (minus 44-micron) grind size and the Company is pleased to report that these tests have confirmed an improvement in gold, bismuth and cobalt recoveries for the concentrator. A carbon column is also being designed into the secondary flotation circuit to capture the ~
Worley has also completed a minor realignment of the NICO access road design to reduce construction costs and has also completed the process flow diagrams, piping and instrumentation diagrams, and mass balance for the NWT concentrator. As part of the ongoing Feasibility Study improvements, Worley is also working on updated concentrator and hydrometallurgical facility designs to advance the vertically integrated development.
Test Work Update
Fortune collected between 15 and 16 metric tonnes of ores from its earlier test mining stockpiles at the NICO mine site and shipped this material to SGS for metallurgical test work and piloting. The test work is being financially supported with contribution funding from NRCan’s GPI and a
The Phase 3 hydrometallurgical work is in progress and the results achieved to date are exceeding the Company’s expectations. Ferric chloride leaching of bismuth concentrate followed by cementation and purification test work achieved
A preliminary pressure oxidation (“POX”) test on the cobalt concentrate was recently completed, but more comprehensive cobalt processing tests will be carried out in the first quarter of 2025. The cobalt test work will also include a value enhancement optimization of sequential gypsum precipitation to validate the production of a gypsum by-product from the autoclave effluent. If successful, a saleable gypsum by-product would provide a material improvement to the hydrometallurgical facility overall revenues and reduce waste disposal costs for the process residue.
Rio Tinto Process Collaboration
Fortune has a process collaboration agreement with Rio Tinto investigating the feasibility of recovering additional cobalt and bismuth at the
About the NICO Project
Fortune has expended approximately
The NICO deposit and planned mine is situated in Tlicho Territory, approximately 160 km northwest of the
The NICO 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 to support a ~20-year mine life. Fortune also owns the Sue-Dianne satellite copper deposit located 25 km north of the NICO deposit and is a potential future source of incremental mill feed for the Company’s planned concentrator. NICO and Sue-Dianne are iron oxide copper-gold (“IOCG”)-type mineral deposits with world class global analogues that support the exploration potential of the area and Fortune’s properties.
Ores from the NICO deposit will be mined primarily by open pit methods with a low waste to ore strip ratio. Portions of the higher-grade Mineral Reserves would 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 for access and ore haulage.
NICO ores will be processed in a concentrator constructed at the mine site with a 4,650 metric tonnes per day mill throughput rate and a low (
The hydrometallurgical facility is planned to be constructed in Lamont County in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, approximately 50 km northeast of
Development of the NICO Project would provide a reliable, vertically integrated domestic supply of cobalt, gold, bismuth and copper with supply chain transparency and custody control of the metals from ores through to the production of value-added products. Fortune’s cobalt production is targeting the lithium-ion rechargeable battery industry for use in electric vehicles, portable electronics and stationary energy storage cells. The NICO deposit contains
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,
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 Fortune Minerals
Fortune is a Canadian mining company focused on developing the NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in the
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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.
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Fortune Minerals Limited
Troy Nazarewicz
Investor Relations Manager
info@fortuneminerals.com
Tel: (519) 858-8188
www.fortuneminerals.com
Source: Fortune Minerals Limited