Smaller and simpler bismuth circuit with high metal recoveries align with new market demand
LONDON, Ontario–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#Bismuth—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.
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.
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Bismuth Process Highlights
– Improved bismuth leaching and cementation circuits with an expected reduction in capital and operating costs and higher metal recoveries
– Efficient and cost-effective regeneration of ferric chloride lixiviant used to leach bismuth prior to cementation to reduce reagent costs and safely dispose of excess process water
– Validation of high-quality 4N bismuth ingot production from smelting and refining bismuth cement
– Positive preliminary test results from blending Fortune bismuth concentrate and Rio Tinto bismuth oxychloride with no adverse impacts on product quality or metal recovery
– Historic high bismuth prices from increasing demand and restricted supply
Test Work Results
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.
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.
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.
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.
Government Support
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.
About Bismuth
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.
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.
About the NICO Project
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.
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.
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.
About Fortune Minerals
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.
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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.
Contacts
For further information:
Fortune Minerals Limited
Troy Nazarewicz
Investor Relations Manager
[email protected]
Tel: (519) 858-8188
www.fortuneminerals.com
