Name of the Project
NICO gold/cobalt/bismuth/copper mine project.

Location
The proposed NICO mine is located 50 km north of the Tlicho community of Whati and 160 km north-west of Yellowknife, in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

Project Owner/s
Fortune Minerals.

Project Description
The NICO project is a development-stage primary cobalt asset consisting of a planned mine, mill and concentrator in the Northwest Territories, and a hydrometallurgical refinery, in Saskatchewan, to process concentrates from the mine into cobalt sulphate, gold, bismuth ingot and oxide, as well as a copper precipitate.

The NICO deposit contains openpit and underground proven and probable mineral reserves totalling 33.1-million tonnes containing 1 085 000 oz of gold, 82.3-million pounds of cobalt, 102.1-million pounds of bismuth and 27.2-million pounds of copper.

According to the project’s 2014 feasibility study, at the planned mill throughput rate of 4 650 t/d of ore, the mineral reserves will sustain operations for 21 years.

Openpit methods will be used, with underground ores contributing 22% of the mill feed during the second year of operations. The openpit part of the mine will be a conventional truck-and-shovel/loader operation, accomplished in four phases at an average waste-to-ore strip ratio of 3.0:1.

The underground portion of the mine will be mined by a contractor using retreat blasthole open stoping, providing access for gold-rich, higher-grade ores.

The ore will be processed in two stages at the NICO site and Saskatchewan metals processing plant. At the site, an average of 4 650 t/d of ore will be processed in a crushing, grinding and flotation concentrator to produce about 180 t/d of wet bulk concentrate.

Construction of the NICO mine and concentrator is planned using the existing winter ice road, but all-season road access is required for mine operations. The Tlicho road will be a permanent 97 km highway, extending north from Highway 3 to Whatı. Fortune has received environmental assessment approval to build a road from Whatı to the mine site.

Potential Job Creation
Fortune's proposed hydrometallurgical plant will provide employment for 80 to 90 full-time employees, with a payroll of about $9-million a year. Using a typical employment multiplier, this will result in two additional indirect jobs for every employee, creating another 170 jobs in the region.

The contracting opportunities during construction are estimated at $76-million, with operational expenditure of about $25-million a year, totalling about $525-million over the current life-of-mine estimate.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
According to the 2014 feasibility study, the project has a levered pretax net present value, at a 7% discount rate, of $254-million in the base case, and an internal rate of return of 15.6%.

Capital Expenditure
The 2014 feasibility estimated capital expenditure at C$589-million, including working capital.

Planned Start /End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Fortune Minerals has selected a site for its proposed brownfield hydrometallurgical refinery for the NICO project.  

The company has entered into an option agreement with JFSL Field Services, a subsidiary of an international engineering company, to buy a former steel fabrication plant in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland near Edmonton.                                    

Fortune will have six months to conduct additional due diligence to complete the purchase for C$5.5-million.

The proposed refinery will process concentrates from the NICO mine and produce cobalt sulphate for the lithium-ion rechargeable battery industry and their use in electric vehicles, portable electronic devices, and stationary storage cells to make electricity use more efficient.

In addition to cobalt, the NICO deposit includes a highly liquid 1.1-million-ounce in situ gold co-product, 12% of global bismuth reserves and copper.

About C$250-million will be spent on the refinery. Fortune has said that these estimates will be updated to reflect current costs.

Fortune has spent more than C$135-million to advance NICO, from an in-house discovery to a near-term critical minerals producer. The company has received environmental assessment approval and the Type A water licence to construct and operate the NICO mine and concentrator.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Hatch, P&E Mining Consultants and Micon International (updated technical report on 2014 feasibility study).

Contact Details for Project Information
Fortune Minerals, tel +1 519 858 8188, fax +1 519 858 8155 or email info@fortuneminerals.com.