Ontario’s Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX: FT) (OTCQB: FTMDF) announced Tuesday that it had secured up to $887,170 from the federal government and Government of Alberta to develop its flagship critical minerals project in the Northwest Territories.
The funds will support metallurgical test work at the operation needed to determine the most efficient and economically viable means of developing the site. Fortune will conduct a “mini pilot” in partnership with SGS Canada to help improve its processes.
The NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project is comprised of a planned open pit, underground mine and concentrator. The company will be constructing a camp and mill at the site in the coming years as well as a refinery in Alberta that will process concentrates from the operation once it is more developed.
Fortune will produce gold doré bars, bismuth ingots, cobalt sulphate and copper at the future refinery and says development of the NICO project will give Canada a vertically integrated supply of those critical minerals. The federal government will provide Fortune with up to $714,500 and the Government of Alberta will contribute up to $172,670.
The commodities were included in the list of critical minerals required for new technologies from the United States and Canada’s Joint Action Plan on Critical Minerals Collaboration established in early 2020. The countries also partnered to develop a joint critical minerals strategy in March this year.
Fortune’s vision for the NICO project. Image via Fortune Minerals
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Canada’s federal government recently chose to invest $1.5 billion in a critical minerals infrastructure fund over a seven-year period. The newly announced funding builds on a $3.8 billion commitment toward Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy last year.
The country invested $40 million in a research fund for critical minerals value chains this July as well. Copper, nickel, lithium, graphite, cobalt and rare earth elements are the country’s primary focus.
Other companies mining critical minerals in the Northwest Territories include the lithium explorer Li-FT Power (TSX-V: LIFT) (OTCQX: LIFFF), Strategic Metals (TSX-V: SMD) and StrategX Elements (CSE: STGX), a junior exploring Canada’s north for cobalt, nickel, copper, vanadium and other minerals.
rowan@mugglehead.com
