The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - March 27, 2024
A critical minerals-enriched boulder excavated to provide aggregate for road work on Fortune Minerals' Nico cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in Northwest Territories.
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) March 26 announced a C$714,500 (US$525,200) investment into enhancing the production of cobalt sulfate and bismuth ingot products from a future mine at Fortune Minerals Ltd.'s Nico project in Northwest Territories and associated hydrometallurgical refinery in Alberta.
"Critical minerals development like Fortune Minerals' NICO project is a key component of the future of mining in the Northwest Territories," said Michael McLeod, member of parliament for Northwest Territories. "Through this investment, our government is demonstrating its commitment to supporting the growth of this industry in the North."
Lying about 165 kilometers (100 miles) northwest of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Nico is a near-development stage mine project with an intriguing mix of critical and precious metals.
According to a 2020 development plan, an underground mine at Nico and an associated refinery to be built in Alberta would produce an average of 1,800 metric tons of battery-grade cobalt sulfate, 1,700 metric tons of bismuth, 300 metric tons of copper, and 47,000 oz of gold annually over the initial 14 years of mining.
"Development of the NICO project would provide a Canadian solution for the supply of cobalt sulphate, bismuth and copper needed in the energy transition, new technologies and the growing green economy," said Fortune Minerals President and CEO Robin Goad.
Fortune Minerals has the option to acquire this steel fabrication plant in Alberta, which it plans to repurpose as a hydrometallurgical refinery to recover cobalt, copper, bismuth, and gold from concentrates produced at its future Nico Mine in Northwest Territories.
In October, global mining company Rio Tinto entered a partnership with Fortune to investigate technologies for the recovery of bismuth and cobalt contained in the waste streams from Rio Tinto's Kennecott smelter in Utah, including an assessment of blending intermediate products produced at Kennecott with concentrates produced at Fortune's future Nico Mine.
Now, the Canadian government is providing funding to support a pilot-scale hydrometallurgical program designed to optimize processing conditions for producing the critical metals cobalt and bismuth while ensuring that residues from the process are stable for safe disposal.
"These funds will support additional piloting needed for detailed engineering and preparation of the company's updated feasibility study to help advance the asset closer to a construction decision," said Goad.
The ability to produce battery-grade cobalt and other critical minerals domestically, instead of shipping concentrates to China and others for value-added processing, will provide the materials needed to further develop entire electric vehicle supply chains in Canada.
"Today's investment of $714,500 for Fortune Minerals will help to advance the development of dynamic and competitive critical minerals value chains through an innovative new processing technology," said Canada Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson. "This means good jobs for workers, more investment in Canadian innovation and lower emissions across the country - all part of our plan to build a cleaner Canada and a prosperous, sustainable economy that works for everyone."
The Nico funding announcement by Northern Resources Canada formalizes federal support reported by Fortune in December.
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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