Public road clears environmental assessment
process to enable NICO mine operations
Issued Capital: 338,403,220
LONDON, ON, April 4, 2018 /CNW/ - Fortune Minerals Limited
(TSX: FT) (OTCQX: FTMDF) ("Fortune" or
the "Company") (www.fortuneminerals.com) is pleased to
report that the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board
("Review Board") has recommended that the Tlicho all-season
road ("Tlicho Road") be approved subject to measures
designed to mitigate potential environmental, social and cultural
impacts. The Government of the Northwest
Territories ("GNWT"), Department of Transportation
and Tlicho Government received this conditional approval on
March 29, 2018, enabling construction
of the 97-kilometre Tlicho Road to connect the community of Whatì
to the territorial highway system. Fortune has already received
environmental assessment approval to build a 49-kilometre spur road
from Whati to its proposed NICO mine. Together, these roads will
allow the Company to transport metal concentrates from the mine to
its proposed refinery in Saskatchewan for downstream processing to
cobalt sulphate, gold, bismuth ingots and oxide, and copper
precipitate to support the growing green economy.
Fortune's NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project ("NICO
Project") is a development stage primary cobalt asset
consisting of a planned mine and concentrator in the Northwest Territories and refinery in
Saskatchewan. As an emerging
vertically integrated Canadian producer of environmentally
responsible and ethical cobalt and bismuth, Fortune will be able to
demonstrate supply chain transparency and custody control of metals
from ores through to the production of value-added products.
Development of the NICO Project will help alleviate supply chain
concerns from the growing demand for cobalt in the rapidly
expanding lithium-ion battery industry from automotive
electrification and stationary storage of electricity for the grid.
It will also mitigate geographic concentration of cobalt supply
from the politically unstable Congo (~67% of mine supply) and China (~80% of refined cobalt chemical
supply), as well as constraints on supply resulting from its
production primarily as a by-product of copper and nickel mining
(~98% of non-artisanal cobalt mine supply) where the primary metals
determine production criteria.
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Tlicho Road:
The Tlicho Road project consists of 97
kilometres of new 2-lane gravel roadway from Highway 3 to the
community of Whatì, including four bridges and one large arched
culvert. The GNWT Department of Transportation has been working
closely with the Tlicho Government since 2012 on this road
initiative to provide reliable year-round all-weather public road
access to the community of Whatì and improved winter road access to
the communities of Gamètì and Wekweèti and mitigate the impacts of
climate change. The routing for the Tlicho Road follows an existing
brownfield land-based winter road route to minimize environmental
disturbance and lower construction costs. Establishment of the road
will reduce the cost of living and improve the quality of life in
the outlying Tlicho communities and provide a catalyst for economic
development in the region.
In January 2017, the Government of
Canada announced it will provide
up to 25% of the construction costs for the Tlicho Road through the
Canada Infrastructure Fund. The GNWT subsequently approved funding
for the remaining 75% of the cost through a Private-Public
Partnership ("P3"). Three qualified consortia of
international finance and construction companies were short-listed
in 2017 to provide bids to design, build, operate and maintain the
road over a 29-year period and be repaid with interest by the GNWT.
Subject to requisite approvals and licensing, it is expected that
the Tlicho Road tender will be selected by the fourth quarter of
2018 and commencement of construction is targeted for early 2019.
The report of environmental assessment can be viewed on the Review
Board website using the following link (view report here).
Provided that Fortune receives the requisite financing for the
NICO Project and the remaining regulatory approvals in 2018,
construction of the mine facilities could begin in early 2019 using
the existing GNWT winter ice road and a new airstrip for access.
Construction of the mine, mill, concentrator and related facilities
in the NWT is expected to take approximately two years to complete,
dependent on ice-road logistics, whereas the refinery requires only
about 18 months for construction.
Fortune's NICO Project is one of few new cobalt assets globally
with the potential to be in production by the early 2020's and help
meet the demand growth from transformation of the automotive
industry.
The disclosure of scientific and technical information
contained in this news release has been approved by Robin Goad, M.Sc., P.Geo. President and Chief
Executive Officer of Fortune, who is a "Qualified Person" under
National Instrument 43-101.
About Fortune Minerals:
Fortune is a Canadian mining
company focused on developing the vertically integrated NICO
cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in the Northwest Territories and a related refinery
the Company plans to construct in Saskatchewan. Fortune also owns the Sue-Dianne
copper-silver-gold deposit located 25 km north of NICO and a
potential future source of incremental mill feed to potentially
extend the life of the NICO mill.
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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 Company's plans
to develop the NICO Project (including the Company's plans to
secure project financing to start construction), the construction
of the Tlicho Road and timing thereof, future production of metals
from the NICO Project, anticipated growth in the demand for
cobalt and anticipated constraints on the supply of cobalt.
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 Company's ability to arrange the necessary financing to
continue operations and develop the NICO Project, assumptions
regarding the construction of the NICO Project and Tlicho Road and
the timing of their completion; assumptions regarding growth in the
demand for cobalt, restrictions on the supply of cobalt and the
economic environment in which the Company will operate in the
future, including the price of gold, cobalt and other by-product
metals). 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 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 and agreements for the
development of the NICO Project and the Tlicho Road and the timing
of construction of each of them, the inherent risks involved in the
exploration and development of mineral properties and in the mining
industry in general; the market for rechargeable batteries and the
use of stationary storage cells may not grow to the extent
anticipated, the future supply of cobalt may not be as limited as
anticipated, the risk of decreases in the market prices of cobalt
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 the risk that even if such
resources prove accurate the risk that such resources may not be
converted into mineral reserves, once economic conditions are
applied; the Company's production of cobalt 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.
SOURCE Fortune Minerals Limited
