Issued Capital: 94,779,407
LONDON, ON, May 11 /CNW/ - Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX-FT) ("Fortune Minerals" or the "Company") is pleased to provide a progress report for its recently completed winter drill program on its 100% owned NICO Gold-Cobalt-Bismuth-Copper project in the Northwest Territories ("NWT"). NICO, located 160km northwest of the City of Yellowknife and 50km north of the community of Whati, is in the second phase of an Environmental Assessment to permit a mine and concentrator in the NWT. Bulk concentrate produced from the mine will be transported by truck and rail to the Company's proposed Saskatchewan Metals Processing Plant where it will be further processed to produce gold doré, and cobalt, bismuth and copper cathode high value metal products.
Drilling equipment, fuel and other bulk supplies were mobilized to the NICO site over the winter ice road in February and March by Tlicho Logistics. Geotechnical and environmental drilling was conducted in March by Foraco Drilling Ltd. ("Foraco") to support engineering and construction planning for the mine and concentrator. Seven boreholes were drilled to collect geotechnical data along the centerline of the proposed dam alignments for the comingled tailings and mine rock management area and the effluent polishing pond. Packer testing of the bedrock was also conducted to assess the rock permeability for containment of process water. Thirteen monitoring wells were installed downstream from the dam alignments and the plant site to collect baseline water quality information and to monitor water quality during mine operations. The geotechnical and environmental work was supervised by Golder Associates Limited ("Golder"). Environmental scientists from Golder also collected additional surface and ground water samples, the latter from three deep monitoring wells established in the NICO ore zone to characterize and monitor water quality.
Condemnation drilling was conducted beneath the proposed tailings and mine rock management area to test for the presence of any potential near-surface mineralization that would be sterilized by construction of these facilities. Condemnation drilling was also conducted beneath the effluent polishing pond. The winter drill program was conducted under the supervision of Mr. Robert Van Egmond, B.Sc., P.Geo., who is a Qualified Person under NI 43-101.
Drilling will resume at NICO in mid-June with additional shallow geotechnical holes being drilled in the plant site area to assess bedrock quality for the design of building and equipment foundations. EBA Engineering Limited is conducting the geotechnical work for the construction of buildings and surface infrastructure.
Additional drilling will be conducted in the NICO deposit after completion of the geotechnical drill program in order to test for extensions to the known mineral reserves where the orebody remains open for possible expansion at depth and along strike. Notably, there is good potential to expand the gold-rich part of the deposit. The NICO deposit currently contains Proven and Probable Underground and Open Pit Mineral Reserves of 31 million tonnes, averaging 0.91 g/t gold, 0.12% cobalt, 0.16% bismuth and 0.04% copper, containing 907,000 ounces of gold, 82 million pounds of cobalt, 109 million pounds of bismuth and 27 million pounds of copper. For additional information on the NICO mineral reserves, please see Fortune Minerals' News Release, dated January 14, 2010 and the information posted for the Company on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Eugene Puritch, P.Eng. and Fred H. Brown, CPG PrSciNat, both of P&E, are the Qualified Persons responsible for the NICO mineral reserves under NI 43-101.
Fortune Minerals is pleased to report that the Government of Canada announced last week an "Action Plan" to improve the northern regulatory process and help unlock the resource potential in Canada's North, which is recognized world-wide. The initiative announced by The Honourable Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Minister of the Canadian Economic Development Agency, will reportedly ensure that Northern regulatory regimes are more effective, predictable and provide greater certainty to industry, Northerners and all Canadians by introducing legislative changes to improve regulatory processes and reduce overlap and duplication. The government has committed $11 million to streamline the regulatory regime and $8 million to support community-based environmental monitoring. Fortune Minerals supports this initiative to ensure shovel-ready projects like NICO, transition the permitting process in a timely manner.
About Fortune Minerals:
Fortune Minerals is a diversified resource company with several mineral deposits and a number of exploration projects, all located in Canada. The Company is focused on the development of its NICO gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper deposit in the Northwest Territories and its metals processing plant in Saskatchewan. Fortune Minerals owns the buildings and equipment from the Golden Giant Mine at Hemlo, Ontario, which have been dismantled for relocation to NICO. Fortune Minerals also owns the Mount Klappan anthracite coal deposits in British Columbia, and the Sue-Dianne copper-silver deposit and other exploration projects in the Northwest Territories. Fortune Minerals is focused on outstanding performance and growth of shareholder value through assembly and development of high quality mineral resource projects.
This press release contains forward-looking information. This forward-looking information includes statements with respect to, among other things, projected rates of production and sources of revenue for the NICO project, the projected mine life of the NICO project, the proposed purchase and development of the site for the SMPP, and the proposed implementation of corporate income tax incentives by the Saskatchewan government. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is given, and 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 inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties, the inherent volatility of metal prices, the risk that the Company may not be able to arrange the necessary financing to construct and operate the NICO mine and the SMPP, uncertainties with respect to the receipt or timing of required permits for the development of the NICO project and the SMPP, the possibility of delays in the commencement of production from the NICO project and construction of the SMPP, uncertainties related to the implementation of the proposed tax incentives and other factors. 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.