Fortune Minerals Reports Successful NICO Project Bismuth Test Work Results for the Planned Alberta Refinery
Article content
LONDON, Ontario — Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX: FT) (OTCQB: FTMDF) (' Fortune ' or the ' Company ') ( www.fortuneminerals.com) is pleased to report that metallurgical test work validation is essentially complete for the bismuth circuits for the Company's 100% owned NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper critical minerals project in Canada (' NICO Project '). The Process Design Criteria has been compiled and delivered to Worley Canada Services Ltd. (' Worley ') to engineer the facilities and incorporate them into the Company's updated Feasibility Study. With 12% of global bismuth reserves, development of the NICO Project aligns with the increasing demand for bismuth in traditional and new market applications and the historic high prices (~US$ 27 per pound), compounded by China's recent export restrictions on this, and other critical minerals.
Article content
The vertically integrated NICO Project consists of a planned mine and concentrator in the Northwest Territories (' NWT ') and a hydrometallurgical process facility in Lamont County, Alberta where concentrates from the mine, and other feed sources, will be processed to value-added products needed in diverse industries, the energy transition, new technologies, and defense. Development of the NICO Project will provide a reliable North American supply of cobalt sulphate, gold doré, bismuth ingots, and copper cement enhancing domestic production of three critical minerals. The 1.1 million ounces of in-situ gold in the NICO Project Mineral Reserves is also a highly liquid and countercyclical co-product to mitigate metal price volatility.
Article content
Fortune has completed the hydrometallurgical phase of its test work program for the NICO Project bismuth circuit at SGS Canada Ltd. (' SGS ') in Lakefield, Ontario. The scope for this program was validation of the leaching, cementation and lixiviant regeneration unit operations, and compilation of the Process Design Criteria for detailed engineering. The results exceeded the Company's expectations, supporting a material reduction in the bismuth circuit size and the expected capital and operating costs at the planned Alberta hydrometallurgical facility.
Article content
Bismuth recovery in cement was ~98% after factoring in the ferric chloride leaching, washing and iron cementation efficiencies, compared with lower initial recovery targets. The bismuth cement produced averaged ~95% bismuth, rendering it suitable for smelting and subsequent refining to high-purity metal ingots. Ferric chloride leaching was optimized to a single-stage configuration, resulting in an ~65% volume reduction for the equipment. Cementation using iron powder was also optimized to a single stage configuration, resulting in an ~75% equipment volume reduction. The work also proved that the ferric chloride lixiviant used to leach the bismuth can be regenerated using chlorine with ~95% oxidation efficiency, consistent with well-established industrial processes. Therefore, the process streams can be recycled to save reagent costs while also allowing for safe disposal of the excess process water.
Article content
Exploratory testing of Rio Tinto bismuth oxychloride blended with Fortune bismuth concentrate at the estimated production ratio during operations produced a high quality bismuth cement with no adverse impacts on recoveries. Additional work is planned in collaboration with Rio Tinto aiming to maximize the blend-ratio and overall product output. The Rio Tinto feed is produced from waste streams at the Kennecott Smelter in Utah enhancing its goals for total orebody effectiveness and supporting domestic critical minerals production.
Article content
Fortune retained XPS Industry Relevant Solutions (' XPS ') to conduct the bismuth smelting and refining test work for the pyrometallurgical circuits for the Alberta facility. Bismuth cement samples produced at SGS were submitted for pyrometallurgical testing to prove the production of 99.99% (' 4N ') bismuth ingots, the desired specification for many metal applications as well as for making bismuth oxide and other chemicals. A crude ingot was initially produced assaying 99.8% bismuth (' 2N '), which was subsequently refined with liquation, sulphuration and chlorination steps to increase the purity and achieve the 99.99% bismuth (' 4N ') target grade. The pyrometallurgical investigation is nearing completion, pending the results of a second series of smelting and refining tests and receipt of the final report with the Process Design Criteria needed for the Feasibility Study.
Article content
Fortune is working with the Canadian and U.S. governments to expand domestic critical minerals production and enhance North American supply chain resilience and security. The Company has been awarded ~C$17 million of non-dilutive contribution funding from the U.S. Department of Defense through its Defense Production Act Title III program, Natural Resources Canada's Global Partnerships Initiative and Critical Minerals Research Development and Demonstration programs, and Alberta Innovates Clean Resource Intake program. This financial support is helping Fortune advance the NICO Project to a project finance and construction decision (see news releases dated, May 16, 2024, and December 5, 2023). Specifically, the funds are supporting metallurgical test work to validate process improvements, update the Feasibility and Front-End Engineering and Design (' FEED ') studies, and secure the remaining permits and authorizations needed to construct and operate the mine and concentrator in the NWT and hydrometallurgical facility in Alberta.
Article content
The NICO Project contains four payable metals, including the largest known resource of bismuth in the world. Bismuth has unique physical and chemical properties that are essential for important industrial and technological uses, but the supply chains are vulnerable to disruption because China controls over ~90% of refined bismuth supply. Consequently, bismuth is identified on both the Canadian and U.S. government's Critical Minerals Lists. Notably, China recently imposed controls over the export of bismuth and other critical minerals resulting in shortages of supply and a precipitous increase in price.
Article content
Bismuth is widely used in the automotive industry for glass and steel coatings, paints and pigments and abrasives used in brake pads. It is also used in low melting temperature and dimensionally stable alloys and compounds, fire depressant sprinkler systems, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Bismuth consumption is increasing primarily as an environmentally safe and non-toxic replacement for lead in brass, solder, free machining steel and aluminum, glass, radiation shielding, ceramic glazes and ammunition. Bismuth-tin alloy is used to make environmentally safe plugs to properly seal decommissioned oil and gas wells, preventing greenhouse gas leakage, blowouts and groundwater migration that can contaminate aquifers. Bismuth is also used in high performance semiconductors and manganese-bismuth magnets that are resistant to demagnetization from heat and are a potential replacement for rare earth elements in electric motors, including electric vehicle powertrains. In the nuclear industry, bismuth coolants are used in some reactor designs and to make radiation shielding with unique gamma ray blocking properties. The dimensional stability of bismuth alloys is also used to align jet engine turbine blades and for lens blocking.
Article content
About the NICO Project
Article content
Fortune has expended approximately C$145 million to advance the NICO Project from an in-house mineral discovery to a near construction-ready development asset with environmental assessment approval and the major mine permits already secured in the NWT. NICO and the Company's nearby Sue-Dianne copper deposit are IOCG-type mineral deposits with multiple payable metals, reducing the Company's vulnerability to price volatility or market manipulation of any single metal. The Open Pit and Underground Mineral Reserves for the NICO deposit contain 33.1 million metric tonnes of ore containing 1.1 million ounces of gold, 82.3 million pounds of cobalt, 102.1 million pounds of bismuth and 27.2 million pounds of copper. Development of the NICO Project would provide a vertically integrated domestic supply of three critical minerals and gold with custody control of the metals from ore through to the production of value-added products to help diversify the supply chains from foreign entities of concern.
Article content
For more detailed information about the NICO Mineral Reserves and certain technical information in this news release, please refer to the Technical Report on the NICO Project, entitled 'Technical Report on the Feasibility Study for the NICO-Gold-Cobalt-Bismuth-Copper Project, Northwest Territories, Canada', dated April 2, 2014 and prepared by Micon International Limited which has been filed on SEDAR and is available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.
Article content
The disclosure of scientific and technical information contained in this news release have been approved by Robin Goad, M.Sc., P.Geo., President and Chief Executive Officer of Fortune and Alex Mezei, M.Sc., P.Eng. Fortune's Chief Metallurgist, who are 'Qualified Persons' under National Instrument 43-101.
Article content
Fortune is a Canadian mining company focused on developing the NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in the NWT and Alberta. Fortune also owns the Sue-Dianne copper-silver-gold satellite deposit located 25 km north of the NICO deposit and a potential future source of incremental mill feed to extend the life of the NICO concentrator.
Article content
Click here to follow Fortune on LinkedIn.
Article content
@FortuneMineral on X.
Article content
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 construction of the proposed mine and concentrator in the NWT and the hydrometallurgical process facility in Alberta, the potential for expansion of the NICO Deposit and the Company's plans to develop the NICO Project. 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 successful completion of the Company's updated feasibility study, the Company's ability to secure the necessary financing to fund the working capital required for the government funded work, the Company's ability to complete construction of a NICO Project hydrometallurgical process facility; the Company's ability to arrange the necessary financing to continue operations and develop the NICO Project; the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals for the construction and operation of the NICO Project and the related hydrometallurgical process facility and the timing thereof; growth in the demand for bismuth; the time required to construct the NICO Project; and the economic environment in which the Company will operate in the future, including the price of gold, cobalt, bismuth and other by-product metals, anticipated costs and the volumes of metals to be produced at the NICO Project. 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 complete the metallurgical test work to validate process improvements, update the Feasibility and FEED studies and secure the remaining permits and authorizations needed to construct and operate the mine, concentrator in the NWT and hydrometallurgical facility in Alberta, the Company may not achieve the anticipated reductions in capital and operating costs for the bismuth circuit, 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, approvals and agreements for the development of the NICO Project, including the related hydrometallurgical process facility, the construction of the NICO Project may take longer than anticipated, the Company may not be able to secure offtake agreements for the metals to be produced at the NICO Project, the Sue-Dianne Property may not be developed to the point where it can provide mill feed to the NICO Project, the inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties and in the mining industry in general, the market for products that use cobalt or bismuth may not grow to the extent anticipated, the future supply of cobalt and bismuth may not be as limited as anticipated, the risk of decreases in the market prices of cobalt, bismuth 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 Reserves and the risk that even if such Mineral Resources prove accurate the risk that such Mineral Resources may not be converted into Mineral Reserves once economic conditions are applied, the Company's production of cobalt, bismuth 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.
Article content
Article content
Article content
Article content
Contacts
Article content
Article content
Article content
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
National Post
28 minutes ago
- National Post
Sangoma Leverages AWS to Deliver Flexible, Secure UCaaS and Contact Center Services
Article content MARKHAM, Ontario — Sangoma Technologies Corporation (TSX: STC; Nasdaq: SANG) ('Sangoma'), a trusted industry leader offering businesses a choice of on-premises, cloud-based, or hybrid Communications as a Service solutions, announced today its expanded use of Amazon Web Services (AWS) to deliver scalable, secure, and unified cloud communications solutions to customers across industries. By leveraging a robust set of AWS services—including Amazon EKS, EC2, RDS, ElastiCache, ECR, S3, Route 53, and AWS Secrets Manager—Sangoma enables businesses to run its Cloud UCaaS platform (Business Voice) and advanced Contact Center solutions with high availability, reliability, and agility. Article content Article content This strategic implementation allows organizations to consolidate communications under a single provider while benefiting from the performance and stability of a cloud-native infrastructure. Article content 'Our customers want simplicity and performance without compromise,' said Charles Salameh, CEO of Sangoma. 'With our services powered by AWS, businesses are able to consolidate their communications needs with one trusted provider – on highly reliable cloud infrastructure. By building on AWS, we're delivering a secure, scalable platform that's purpose-built for the future. This collaboration serves as an example for how Sangoma can bring integrated, cloud-native solutions to mid-sized enterprises—setting a new standard for modern communications.' Article content Two organizations exemplifying the value of this solution are a large healthcare provider supporting remote patient coordination, and a nationally recognized breakfast restaurant chain with hundreds of locations. Both companies use Sangoma's UCaaS and Contact Center solutions on AWS to keep communications clear, teams connected, and day-to-day operations dependable. Article content The large home healthcare provider improved patient care by keeping distributed teams connected with AWS-powered 99.99% uptime and protecting sensitive data with HIPAA-compliant practices. Article content The national breakfast restaurant chain uses the Sangoma platform on AWS at its headquarters to support better guest services and simplify operations. The solution provides clear calls, quick setup, disaster readiness, and reliable communication during busy hours. Article content 'Sangoma's implementation of AWS helps organizations modernize communications, reduce costs, and run operations with confidence,' said Steve Teitelbaum, Head of Telco for North America at AWS. 'We're proud to support Sangoma's mission to bring flexible, scalable communications to companies across industries so they can focus more on core business operations.' Article content With AWS powering its services, Sangoma provides global scalability, enterprise-grade security, and easy integration, empowering essential communications for businesses of all sizes. Key AWS services in use include: Article content Amazon EKS & EC2 for container orchestration and elastic compute Amazon RDS & S3 for secure, scalable data storage Amazon ElastiCache & Route 53 for performance and global failover AWS ECR & Secrets Manager for DevOps efficiency and data protection Article content As more businesses move to cloud-first strategies, Sangoma's implementation of AWS services stands as a model for how technology providers can deliver unified, mission-critical solutions that grow with each customer's needs. Article content About Sangoma: Sangoma (TSX: STC; Nasdaq: SANG) is a leading business communications platform provider with solutions that include its award-winning UCaaS, CCaaS, CPaaS, and Trunking technologies. The enterprise-grade communications suite is developed in-house; available for cloud, hybrid, or on-premises deployments. Additionally, Sangoma's integrated approach provides managed services for connectivity, network, and security. A trusted communications partner with over 40 years on the market, Sangoma has over 2.7 million UC seats across a diversified base of over 100,000 customers. Sangoma has been recognized for ten years running in the Gartner UCaaS Magic Quadrant. As the primary developer and sponsor of the open-source Asterisk and FreePBX projects, Sangoma is determined to drive innovation in communication technology. For more information, visit Article content About AWS: Since 2006, Amazon Web Services has been the world's most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud. AWS has been continually expanding its services to support virtually any workload, and it now has more than 240 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, media, and application development, deployment, and management from 108 Availability Zones within 34 geographic regions, with announced plans for 18 more Availability Zones and six more AWS Regions in Mexico, New Zealand, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand, and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. Millions of customers—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Contacts Article content Article content Article content
National Post
28 minutes ago
- National Post
PL Developments Builds a Smarter, Healthier Supply Chain with Kinaxis
Article content Leading pharmaceuticals manufacturer will utilize AI-powered orchestration to accelerate delivery of essential health products Article content OTTAWA, Ontario — Kinaxis ® (TSX:KXS), a global leader in end-to-end supply chain orchestration, today announced that PL Developments (PLD), a leading manufacturer and distributer of over-the-counter pharmaceuticals and healthcare products, has selected the Kinaxis Maestro™ platform to meet growing demand from consumers and major U.S. retailer partners. By replacing manual tools and spreadsheets with AI-powered orchestration and predictive planning, PLD will accelerate the delivery of essential healthcare products with greater agility, accuracy and efficiency. Article content Specializing in end-to-end solutions from product development to distribution, PLD supplies some of the largest retailers in the U.S. including Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Costco, Sam's Club and Target with health and wellness products in categories including analgesics, cough/cold, allergy and digestive. Due to market expansion and rapidly increasing consumer demand for accessible and affordable healthcare products, PLD needed to deliver to its retail partners with greater speed, accuracy and responsiveness. With manual planning tools and siloed decision-making, PLD was challenged by limited visibility across its operations leading to delayed order confirmations and high inventory levels. Article content To maintain its position as a trusted industry leader, PLD needed a next-generation supply chain platform to meet evolving customer expectations while continuing to deliver on the promise of quality at every step. After rigorous evaluation, Maestro stood out for its unmatched ability to unify data and provide real-time insights, enabling predictive planning to anticipate demand. Maestro allows PLD to optimize inventory, respond faster to market shifts and scale execution across every function of the business with fewer resources and greater supply chain visibility. Article content 'Consumers expect fast access to trusted health and wellness products, and our retail partners need the inventory to match shifting demand,' s aid Thomas Crowe, chief supply chain officer at PL Developments. 'With Maestro, we can anticipate this demand, simulate scenarios, plan for market shifts and make confident, data-driven decisions in minutes. It's a game changer that empowers our team to deliver the innovation and products consumers rely on every single day and Kinaxis is now a key part of that innovation.' Article content 'PLD is a prime example of a forward-thinking manufacturer embracing the speed and intelligence today's healthcare supply chains demand,' said Mark Morgan, president of global commercial operations at Kinaxis. 'With Maestro, they're not just replacing spreadsheets, they're unlocking real-time visibility, rapid execution and scalable decision making. We're proud to support PLD as they deliver the trusted healthcare products consumers rely on, faster and more efficiently than ever.' Article content About Kinaxis Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Contacts Article content Media Relations Article content Article content Erin Boyle | Kinaxis Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content
National Post
28 minutes ago
- National Post
CI Global Asset Management Expands Private Pool Lineup with Six New Mandates
Article content Additions include three ETF Series focused on U.S. small caps, U.S. income and global dividends Article content TORONTO — CI Global Asset Management ('CI GAM') today launches six new mandates within its popular CI Private Pools lineup of investment solutions – including three 'dual-series' pools that are also available as ETFs. Article content The following mandates are now available in Series A, F, I and in the ETF Series noted below: Article content CI Global Dividend Private Pool. The pool has now closed its initial offering of ETF C$ Series units, which begin trading today on the Toronto Stock Exchange ('TSX') under the ticker CGDI. CI U.S. Monthly Income Private Pool. The pool has now closed its initial offering of ETF C$ Series units and ETF US$ Hedged Series units, which begin trading today on the TSX under the tickers CUIG and CUIG.U, respectively. CI U.S. Small/Mid Cap Equity Private Pool. The pool has now closed its initial offering of ETF C$ Series units, which begin trading today on the TSX under the ticker CSMD. Article content The following mandates are now available in Series A, F and I: Article content CI Private Pools are focused investment strategies with a competitive flat-fee structure. The lineup now includes 22 private pools, with mandates spanning a variety of asset classes, geographic regions and investment styles. Eight private pools are also available in ETF Series, trading on the TSX. Article content 'The CI Private Pools are actively managed, high-conviction portfolios that deliver the deep asset class and equity sector expertise of our investment management teams,' said Jennifer Sinopoli, Executive Vice-President and Head of Distribution for CI GAM. 'Today's launches expand our selection of equity and balanced private pools, giving advisors enhanced choice and flexibility in building portfolios tailored to each client's requirements. Article content 'We're also adding three compelling mandates to our ETF lineup, demonstrating our commitment to building one of Canada's most comprehensive selections of investment solutions,' Ms. Sinopoli said. Article content CI GAM is one of Canada's largest ETF providers with approximately $23 billion in ETF assets under management (as at July 31, 2025) and a lineup of 87 ETF strategies. Article content The private pools launched today are all managed by the CI GAM investment team and have the following investment objectives: Article content CI Canadian Income & Growth Private Pool – Article content The pool's investment objective is to generate income and long-term capital growth by investing, directly or indirectly, in a diversified portfolio of securities composed mainly of equity, equity-related and fixed-income securities of Canadian issuers. The pool may also invest in foreign securities. Article content CI Global Dividend Private Pool – Article content The pool's investment objective is to provide investors with a combination of income and capital appreciation by investing primarily in a portfolio of dividend-paying global equity securities. Article content CI Select Canadian Equity Private Pool – Article content The pool's investment objective is to provide long-term capital growth by investing primarily in common shares, convertible securities and preferred shares of Canadian companies that pay regular income. Article content CI U.S. Monthly Income Private Pool – Article content The pool's investment objective is to generate income and long-term capital growth by investing primarily in a combination of equity and fixed-income securities located in the U.S. Article content CI U.S. Small/Mid Cap Equity Private Pool – Article content The pool's objective is to provide long-term capital growth by investing primarily in equity or equity-related securities of small and medium-capitalization companies located in the U.S. Article content CI U.S. Stock Selection Private Pool – Article content The pool's investment objective is to provide long-term capital growth by investing primarily in large-cap U.S. equity and equity-related securities. Article content About CI Global Asset Management Article content CI Global Asset Management ('CI GAM') is one of Canada's largest investment management companies. It offers a wide range of investment products and services and is on the web at CI GAM is a subsidiary of CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX), an integrated global asset and wealth management company with approximately $550.9 billion in assets as at June 30, 2025. Article content Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses may be associated with an investment in mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Please read the simplified prospectus before investing. Important information about mutual funds and ETFs is contained in their respective prospectus. Mutual funds and ETFs are not guaranteed; their values change frequently, and past performance may not be repeated. You will usually pay brokerage fees to your dealer if you purchase or sell units of an ETF on recognized Canadian exchanges. If the units are purchased or sold on these Canadian exchanges, investors may pay more than the current net asset value when buying units of the ETF and may receive less than the current net asset value when selling them. Article content This communication is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase mutual funds managed by CI Global Asset Management and is not, and should not be construed as, investment, tax, legal or accounting advice, and should not be relied upon in that regard. Every effort has been made to ensure that the material contained in this document is accurate at the time of publication. Individuals should seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding any particular investment. Investors should consult their professional advisors prior to implementing any changes to their investment strategies. These investments may not be suitable to the circumstances of an investor. Article content Article content Article content Contacts Article content
