Battery-grade product proven that sells for premium and lowers operating
costs
Issued Capital: 117,076,976
LONDON, ON, May 30, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX-FT) (OTCQX-FTMDF) ("Fortune" or the "Company") (www.fortuneminerals.com) is pleased to
announce successful results of pilot plant tests conducted at SGS
Lakefield Research Limited ("SGS Lakefield") proving that a
battery-grade cobalt sulphate product used to make high performance
lithium ion and nickel metal hydride rechargeable batteries can be
produced from the Company's NICO gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper project.
These batteries are used in portable electronic devices, such as
cellular telephones and computers as well as electric and
hybrid-electric cars and are responsible for the greatest increase in
the demand for cobalt. Battery-grade cobalt sulphate can be produced
at a lower operating cost than the 99.9% high-grade cobalt cathode that
can also be generated from the NICO project and sells for a 15 to 25%
premium price over metal.
In light of the results from the pilot plant tests, the Company believes
that it is well-positioned to satisfy the needs of electronics
companies and other end users of cobalt sulphate who require reliable
sources of cobalt that are less vulnerable to supply disruptions from
resource nationalism and political instability. More than 50% of world
cobalt production is currently sourced from the Democratic Republic of
the Congo. NICO is poised to become a reliable Canadian-based cobalt
supplier with 15% of global bismuth reserves, and a significant gold
co-product as a counter cyclical hedge. Cobalt sulphate is the
preferred product by many battery manufacturers that would otherwise
need to re-process metals to produce the sulphate that Fortune can
produce directly from solution.
SGS Lakefield conducted the cobalt sulphate pilot plant in March and
April, 2012 at their facilities in Lakefield Ontario. Fortune already
had 2000 litres of cobalt pregnant solution that had been processed by
acid pressure leach in an earlier autoclave pilot plant test and was
used to conduct the current test. Notably, most of the flow sheet that
Fortune has already piloted and engineered to produce a 99.9% cobalt
cathode product is also used to produce a high purity cobalt sulphate
heptahydrate crystal product. However, after removing metal impurities
from the cobalt solution using sequential neutralization, solvent
extraction is used to reject metal impurities, leaving a pure cobalt
sulphate solution, which is then evaporated and subjected to a
three-stage crystallization process instead of electro-winning metal.
Approximately 10 kg of high quality 20.9% cobalt sulphate heptahydrate
product was produced in the test to prove the process flow sheet and
product quality. Production of cobalt sulphate is now being added as a
sensitivity option in the Front End Engineering and Design ("FEED")
study nearing completion by Jacobs Minerals Canada Inc. ("Jacobs") and
other engineering companies and was responsible for the delay
completing this study. The pilot plant test was supervised by Alex
Mezei, M.Sc., P.Eng., Director, Engineering Technical Services at SGS
Lakefield and Keith Lee, B.Sc., Fortune's Senior Process Engineer.
Alex Mezei is the Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 who
supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information
that forms the basis for the disclosure contained in this press
release.
The NICO project consists of a proposed mine and concentrator in the
Northwest Territories ("NT"), located 160 km northwest of the City of
Yellowknife and 50 km northeast of the community of Whati. A
vertically integrated hydrometallurgical process plant, the
Saskatchewan Metals Processing Plant ("SMPP") is planned to be
constructed near Saskatoon, to process NICO concentrates to gold doré,
99.9% cobalt cathode and/or 20.9% cobalt sulphate, 99.99% bismuth ingot
and a copper metal precipitate. Both sites are currently in advanced
stages of the environmental assessment process for permitting. NICO
has already been assessed in a positive definitive feasibility study by
Micon International Limited that was updated in 2008 and shows an
attractive rate of return for the development (see Fortune news
release, dated May 8, 2008). NICO mineral reserves and economics are
being updated in a new technical report and the FEED study by Jacobs,
P&E Mining Consultants Inc., Golder Associates Ltd. and other
engineering companies.
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 British Columbia and the NICO
gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper deposit in the NT. As part of the
development of the NICO deposit, Fortune is developing the SMPP in
Saskatchewan to process NICO concentrates to high value metal
products. The Company has acquired and dismantled equipment from the
Golden Giant Mine at Hemlo, Ontario 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, proposed development of the NICO project, the potential
for increasing reserves at the NICO project, the proposed development
of the SMPP, the anticipated recoveries of metals from the NICO project
and the anticipated sale of products from the NICO project.
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, the risk that actual recoveries of metals from the NICO
project may not be consistent with test results, the possibility that
the Company may not be able to secure supply contracts with users of
products generated from the NICO project 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.