The NICO deposit in Canada’s Northwest Territories was discovered by Fortune Minerals in 1996. NICO is a fully vertically integrated project that will include mining and concentrating ores in the Northwest Territories, and transportation of the metal concentrate to the proposed refinery in Alberta for further processing to high value metal and chemical products. NICO is positioned to stand out as a North American asset dedicated to the production of cobalt chemicals needed to manufacture rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicles, stationary power storage applications, and portable electronics such as smart phones, tablets and laptops. The unique metal assemblage of the deposit also includes more than 10% of global bismuth reserves along with significant gold as a counter cyclical hedge to reduce exposure to cobalt and bismuth price volatility.