Fortune Minerals Ltd. (FT-TSX) said it has retained Worley Canada Services Ltd. to conduct additional engineering and lead the preparation of an updated feasibility study for its flagship NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in the Northwest Territories.
The NICO project is an advanced critical minerals development consisting of a planned mine and concentrator and a planned hydrometallurgical recovery plant in Lamont County, Alberta, where the company has said concentrates from the mine, and other feed sources, will be processed to value-added products for the global energy transition.
The announcement comes after Fortune recently said it had entered into a new option agreement with JFSL Field Services ULC to purchase a brownfield industrial site in Lamont County. JFSL is a subsidiary of the Worley Group, an international engineering, construction management and environmental services company. Its shares are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. “Worley will be the preferred contractor for environmental engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction work for the Alberta Refinery,’’ Fortune said in a press release
In the latest update, Fortune said Worley has been retained to assist with the permitting for the Hydrometallurgical Facility. “Development of the vertically integrated NICO Project would provide a reliable North American supply of cobalt sulphate, gold dore, bismuth ingots, and copper cement produced with supply chain transparency, Canadian Environmental-Social Governance standards and compliance with the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act,’’ Fortune said.
Fortune said it was recently awarded $17 million of non-dilutive grants and contribution funding from the U.S. Department of Defense, Natural Resources Canada, and Alberta Innovative to help finance the work needed to advance the NICO project to a project finance and construction decision.
Those funds are supporting metallurgical test work at SGS Canada Inc. 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
The NICO project was assessed in a positive feasibility study in 2014 by MIcon International Ltd. but is now out of date. Fortune said Micon and P&E Mining Consultants Inc., who also contributed to the 2014 study, will assist Worley with preparation of a NI 43-101 technical report, and the updated mineral reserve estimates and mine plan for the new feasibility study, respectively.
Fortune shares were unchanged at $0.05. The shares currently trade in a 52-week range of 13 cents and $0.025.
The NICO deposit is located in Tlicho Territory, approximately 160 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife. The deposit contains an open pit and underground proven and probable mineral reserve totalling 33.1 million tonnes containing 1.11 million ounces of gold, 82.3 million ounces of cobalt, 102.1 million pounds of bismuth and 27.2 million pounds of copper, material that could support a 20 year mine life.
