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Fortune Minerals (TSX: FT) (OTCQB: FTMDF) announced Monday that the water license renewal for the NICO mine and concentrator has been approved by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change for the Northwest Territories after the draft terms recommended by the Wek’èezhìı Land and Water Board (WLWB) were accepted.
The WLWB also issued the land use permit for the project, and with two primary permits issued following receipt of an environmental assessment, the terms and conditions are set for construction and operation of the mine facilities. They also set the amount of security that will be required for the closure and reclamation plan, the company said.
The NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project is a development stage critical minerals asset consisting of a planned open pit and underground mine and concentrator in the NWT and a dedicated hydrometallurgical facility in Alberta, where concentrates from the mine, and other feed sources, will be processed to value-added products.
The NICO site will be connected to territorial highway system by the already approved NICO project access road, the company said.
Last year, China announced plans to impose export controls on five key metals — tungsten, tellurium, molybdenum, indium and bismuth — in response to US President Trump’s import tariffs.
Bismuth is a scarce industrial metal that has characteristics similar to lead, but is non-toxic, and the industry is currently developing uses for replacing lead.
Hardly any bismuth is currently produced in North America, with the continent relying almost entirely on imports. The NICO deposit contains one of the largest known undeveloped bismuth reserves in the world. It contains 12% of global bismuth reserves as well as 1.1 million in-situ ounces of gold and aims to establish a domestic, reliable North American supply chain, Fortune Minerals has said.
The company said the NICO project will provide a reliable North American supply of battery grade cobalt sulphate, bismuth ingots and copper cement – with more than one million ounces of in-situ gold as a highly liquid and countercyclical co-product.
“The Class A Water License and Land Use Permit renewals are the product of numerous engagements with territorial, federal and indigenous governments and communities, focused on identifying and mitigating potential environmental and social concerns related to the NICO development,” Fortune’s VP, Environmental and Regulatory Affairs, Dr. Richard Schryer said in a news release.
“Fortune Minerals will continue to work with these governments and communities, and through the conditions outlined in the water license to make the NICO mine a successful project.”
Fortune Minerals stock closed the day down 3.4% in Toronto on Monday. The company has a C$97 million ($69 million) market capitalization.
