The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
At $2000/oz, gold outweighs value of cobalt at NWT project North of 60 Mining News – August 14, 2020
Best known for its critical minerals – cobalt and bismuth – Nico also hosts more than 1 million ounces of gold.
Fortune Minerals Ltd. Aug. 10 announced it is gearing up for an exploration program focused on gold targets on its Nico cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in Northwest Territories.
A 2014 feasibility study for Nico detailed plans for a 4,650-metric-ton-per-day operation that would produce an average of 1,615 metric tons of battery-grade cobalt; 41,300 ounces of gold; 1,750 metric tons of bismuth; and 265 metric tons of copper annually over a 20-year mine life.
This feasibility study is based on 33.1 million metric tons of reserves averaging 0.11% (82 million lb) cobalt, 0.14% (110 million lb) bismuth, 0.04% (27 million lb) copper and 1.03 grams per metric ton (1.1 million oz) gold.
With its price topping US$2,000/oz, gold now contributes more projected revenues than cobalt from the planned mine. Fortune said this potential revenue stream from gold is a distinct attribute that makes the Nico project stand out relative to other global cobalt projects.
"With more than a million ounces of in-situ gold, the Nico deposit is a unique critical mineral project, particularly among other planned cobalt developments needed to supply energy metals for the transformation to electric vehicles," said Fortune Minerals President and CEO Robin Goad.
Now that COVID-19 travel restrictions imposed by the Northwest Territories government been eased, Fortune is planning to carry out late-summer geophysical surveys focused on targets with identified gold potential. The work will be partially funded by a C$144,000 matching grant through the Northwest Territories' Mining Incentive Program.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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