Information Request Stage Completed - Advancing to Technical Meeting
Stage
Issued Capital: 116,076,976
LONDON, ON, Dec. 16, 2011 /CNW/ - Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX-FT)
("Fortune" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on the
Environmental Assessment ("EA") process currently underway in the
Northwest Territories ("NT") to permit the mine and mill for the
Company's NICO gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper deposit. The NICO project,
which was referred to EA in February 2009, has completed an additional
milestone by progressing to the Technical Meetings Stage.
The Developers Assessment Report ("DAR") for the NICO project, submitted
in May 2011 to The Mackenzie Valley Review Board ("MVRB"), passed the
conformity check in August with no deficiencies. The EA progressed to
the Information Request Stage where interested parties that have
reviewed the DAR submitted questions to the Company through the MVRB.
Fortune received these requests, which consisted of 425 questions from
10 separate interested parties, in mid-October. Fortune completed its
responses to these requests and has now advanced to the Technical
Meetings Stage of the EA process. These meetings are scheduled for
January 17-19, 2012 in Yellowknife.
Dr. Richard Schryer, Fortune's Director of Regulatory and Environmental
Affairs, commented that, "we are proud of our team's comprehensive and
timely response to the information requests, and with our continued
progression through the EA process."
Fortune is concurrently working to secure a strategic partner to help
finance the NICO project and has engaged Deloitte & Touche Corporate
Finance Canada Inc. ("Deloitte") as the Company's financial advisor.
Deloitte was re-engaged after successfully helping Fortune secure POSCO
Canada Ltd. as its first stage joint venture partner for the Mount
Klappan anthracite coal project in British Columbia. Deloitte will
assist Fortune in identifying additional potential strategic partners
and in evaluating potential transactions.
The Company is also pleased to report that an aggregate of 6,383,277 of
its publicly traded warrants that expired on December 5, 2011 were
exercised at a price of $0.80 per share resulting in gross proceeds to
the Company of approximately $5.1 million.
About the NICO Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth Project:
The NICO Project is located 160 km northwest of the City of Yellowknife,
NT and 50 km north of the Tlicho community of Whati. The 31 million
tonne deposit will be developed using a combination of open pit and
underground mining methods with ores projected to be processed at the
rate of 4,650 tonnes per day in a mill at the site over an 18-year mine
life. Other facilities that are planned at the site include a camp to
accommodate employees working on a rotation basis, ancillary buildings
and a 27 km all-season access road that will join the site to the
proposed Tlicho Road connecting nearby communities with the highway to
Yellowknife. The mill is expected to produce approximately 180 tonnes
of bulk concentrate per day for shipment south to the Company's
proposed hydrometallurgical refinery near Saskatoon for further
processing to high value metal products. Fortune plans to be a
significant, reliable North American-based supplier of high purity
cobalt cathode and/or sulphate and bismuth ingot, together with gold
doré and by-product copper cathode and nickel precipitates.
About Fortune Minerals:
Fortune 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 the Mount Klappan anthracite
metallurgical coal deposits in BC and the NICO
gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper deposit in the Northwest Territories
("NT"). As part of the development of the NICO deposit, Fortune is
developing a hydrometallurgical plant in Saskatchewan to process NICO
concentrates to high value metal products. The Company has also
acquired the buildings and equipment from the Golden Giant Mine at
Hemlo, Ontario, which have been dismantled, moved, and stored for
relocation to NICO. In addition, the Company owns the Sue-Dianne
copper-silver-gold deposit and other exploration projects in the NT.
Fortune 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, the proposed development of the NICO project, the pursuit
of a strategic partner for the NICO project and the proposed
development of the Saskatchewan Metals Processing Plant ("SMPP").
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, the risk that the Company may
not be able to secure a strategic partner for the NICO project,
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 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.