/NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE
SERVICES/
Historical, high-grade past producer in Colorado in commissioning phase
for ramp up to production target of 1.78 million ounces of silver per
year plus by-product credits
LONDON, ON, May 9, 2014 /CNW/ - Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX: FT) (OTCQX: FTMDF) ("Fortune" or the "Company") (www.fortuneminerals.com) is pleased to announce that it has completed the first phase of the
planned purchase of a 100% interest in the Revenue Silver Mine in
southwestern Colorado, U.S.A. from private arm's length vendors. The
acquisition of this producing asset is being made with the financial
support of the Company's strategic partner, Procon Resources Inc.
("Procon") as negotiations progress towards completing the proposed
project financing facility for the NICO gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper
project in Canada's Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan. Procon is
exercising its pre-emptive right to purchase up to 7,717,871 shares of
Fortune at a price of 40 cents per share for net proceeds of up to CAD$
3,087,148.40 to help finance part of this acquisition. The staged
purchase of the Revenue Silver Mine is an accretive acquisition
accomplishing Fortune's goal of becoming a producing mining company,
while also positioning the Company for further growth in the Sneffels
Silver Mining District of Colorado with a fully permitted project to
leverage processing of ores from other mines in the area.
Revenue Silver Mine Acquisition Highlights:
-
Staged transaction to acquire a 100% interest in the mine to minimize
equity dilution;
-
Fully permitted and constructed mine, concentrator and surface
facilities currently ramping up to 400 tons per day with the first
concentrate produced in May, 2014;
-
Projected 13-year life of mine average annual production of 1.78 million
ounces of silver, plus gold, lead, and zinc by-product credits
representing about 30% of revenues;
-
Low cost producer with projected C1 cash cost silver price of US$ 8.02
per ounce and breakeven free cash flow silver price of US$ 12.42 per
ounce - both net of by-products;
-
Resources of 215,300 short tons classified as Measured, 586,300 short
tons as Indicated and 684,200 short tons as Inferred, containing 16.3
million ounces of silver in the Measured and Indicated Resources and
10.1 million ounces of silver in the Inferred Resources;
-
Resource upside from the horizontal and vertical projection of the 2
main veins beyond the current resources, delineation of new resources
in the 5 other mineralized veins intersected by the Revenue Tunnel that
are largely unexplored, processing of about 700,000 tons of additional
broken mineralized material in surface and underground stockpiles, and
opportunities to expand production to other mines in the area;
-
Fortune is the Operator of the mine and has staff at the site presently;
-
Contracts with Teck Resources for concentrate processing at its Trail,
B.C. Smelter;
-
Acquisition costs of 32 million common shares of Fortune, US$ 16 million
of cash payments, up to US$ 36.8 million in deferred payments over 6.5
years, and assumption of obligations to pay US$ 4.5 million in deferred
payments and a capped 2% net smelter return royalty to the previous
owners of the project;
-
CAD$ 4.25 million raised to fund first stage commitments of the
transaction at a premium 40 cent price, which can be increased to CAD$
5.1 million with shareholder approval.
Fortune will hold a conference call on Monday, May 12, 2014 at 10 a.m.
ET to review the Revenue Silver acquisition. Robin Goad, President and
Chief Executive Officer, Mike Romaniuk, Vice President and Chief
Operating Officer, and Adam Jean, Vice President and Chief Financial
Officer will host the call. An audiocast of the call will be
distributed in a subsequent news release.
To participate in the call, please dial:
1-888-390-0605 (within North America) or
416-764-8609 (metro Toronto area and outside North America)
Robin Goad, Fortune's President and Chief Executive Officer, commented,
"We are very pleased to announce this accretive and transformative
acquisition accomplishing our goal of becoming a diversified mineral
producer. Upon completion of this transaction, Fortune will own a 100%
interest in a producing silver operation with by-product credits for
gold, lead, zinc and potentially copper. The development of our NICO
and Arctos projects provides our shareholders with further
participation in gold, cobalt chemicals needed to manufacture
rechargeable batteries, 12% of global bismuth reserves, and a world
class anthracite metallurgical coal deposit. We look forward to
marketing this opportunity to the investment community, while also
continuing our negotiations to complete the project financing for our
NICO vertically integrated mine and refinery project with our strategic
partner and its banks."
Transaction Details
Fortune has incorporated a wholly-owned Colorado subsidiary, "Fortune
Revenue Silver Mines Inc." ("Fortune Revenue") to acquire the Revenue
Silver Mine from Silver Star Resources LLC, Star Mine Operations LLC
and Revenue-Virginius Mines Corporation (collectively, "the Vendors").
Pursuant to the asset purchase agreement, Fortune Revenue has purchased
a 12% participating interest in the mine by paying the Vendors US$ 2
million and by issuing 32 million shares in Fortune's capital stock.
Fortune Revenue can purchase a 100% interest in the mine by paying the
Vendors an additional US$14 million by July 31, 2014 and by issuing a
promissory note to pay up to US$ 36.8 million in deferred quarterly
installments over 3.5 to 5.75 years determined by revenue targets
commencing in August, 2015. Fortune Revenue will also assume
obligations to make two deferred payments totaling US$ 4.5 million and
pay a 2% net smelter return royalty, which is capped at US$ 9 million
to the former owners of the Revenue Silver Mine. The acquisition of the
remaining interest in the mine is subject to Fortune arranging
financing. Fortune Revenue is the Operator during the transition period
and is funding the working capital for the mine. Fortune has agreed to
add one of the current Vendors of the mine, James Williams, Jr. to its
slate of nominees for election to the Board of Directors at the
Company's Annual and Special Meeting to be held on June 24, 2014.
Mahendra Naik, Fortune's Chairman said, "We look forward to having Jim
Williams join our Board. Jim is a geologist with a history of
successful transactions and projects in the mining and petroleum
industries as well as considerable experience and knowledge of the
Revenue Silver Mine that will complement our Board as we complete the
mine commissioning and ramp up operations to full production."
Financing
Fortune has raised an additional CAD$ 4.25 million as part of the
Revenue Silver Mine acquisition and can increase that amount to CAD$
5.1 million with shareholder approval at the June 24 Annual and Special
Meeting of shareholders. Procon has exercised a portion of its
pre-emptive right to maintain a 19.43% interest in the Company by
purchasing on a private placement basis, 5,631,744 shares at a price of
40 cents per share for net proceeds of CAD$ 2,252,697.60. Procon is
entitled to purchase an additional 2,086,127 shares of Fortune for
proceeds of CAD$ 834,450.80, subject to shareholder approval. In
addition, Fortune has extended the term of the existing CAD$ 3 million
debt facility it has with an arm's length party by two years to August,
2016, and has increased the amount of the facility by CAD$ 2 million to
a total of CAD$ 5 million to help fund Fortune's obligations pursuant
to this transaction.
These securities have not been and will not be registered under the
United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the securities
laws of any state, and may not be offered or sold in the United States
absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration
requirements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell
or a solicitation of an offer to buy these securities in the United
States or in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale
would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the
securities laws of such jurisdiction.
Revenue Silver Mine
The Revenue Silver Mine is situated on 147 patented and unpatented
mining claims, totaling approximately 1,079.9 acres located in
southwestern Colorado, approximately 11 km southwest of the town of
Ouray and 490 km southwest of Denver. The mine is fully permitted and
consists of high-grade, narrow silver-gold-lead-zinc-copper veins that
will be mined by underground mining methods, an underground mill, and
surface facilities to support production at a rate of 400 tons per day
over a minimum 13-year mine life. The mine is serviced by roads
connected to the Colorado highway system, the Colorado electrical grid,
and other services in a historic mining district where there is a pool
of skilled mine labour and management personnel. An operating team is
already in place consisting of approximately 90 people that complement
Fortunes existing management team.
The Revenue Silver Mine operated in the late 1800's and early 1900's by
Caroline Mining Co. and had historical production of approximately 14
million ounces before the mill burned in 1912 and the mine closed.
Ranchers Exploration and Development Corp. ("Ranchers"), Camp Bird Mine
(Federal Resources) as well as Sunshine mining all conducted
significant additional exploration and mine rehabilitation work on the
property during the 1960's, 1980's and 1990's, but the mine did not
re-open due to low silver prices. The Vendors acquired the property in
2011 and conducted considerable additional exploration and development
work to validate the resources and prepare the mine for production. The
mine is currently in ramp up, and a path to realizing production to a
planned 400 tons per day in the mill is being executed. Fortune
conducted significant on-site and desktop due-diligence to validate the
resources and facilities for the Revenue Silver Mine prior to making
this acquisition.
Geology
The geology of the Revenue Silver Mine is well understood from the
historical mining activity in the area and mine site as well as a
comprehensive drill hole and sample database and block model that has
been compiled from more than a century of activities on the property.
Mineralization consists of narrow, high-grade, epithermal
quartz-carbonate veins containing freibergite and tetrahedrite
(silver), native gold, galena (lead), sphalerite (zinc), chalcopyrite
(copper) and pyrite. The known resources are contained in the Virginius
and Yellow Rose Veins. They dip steeply and can be traced for up to 4.8
km along strike, more than 900 metres at depth, and range in width
between 0.15 and 2.74 metres. There is good potential to identify
additional resources along the projection of strike and dip of the
known resources. There are also a minimum of five additional veins that
are intersected by the Revenue Tunnel that are also known to be
mineralized but remain underexplored and represent significant
potential to identify additional resources.
Resource Estimates
A number of historical resource estimates have been prepared for the
Revenue Silver Mine by the previous operators. The Vendors also
commissioned several resource estimates, which were prepared by SRK
Consulting, the most recent of which was done in compliance with
National Instrument ("NI") 43-101. A Technical Report has been issued
in draft and will be filed on the SEDAR website within 45 days of this
news release. Dorinda Bair, B.S. (Geology), CPG, the author of the
draft report is the Qualified Person responsible for the resource
estimates and background sections, Mark Jorgensen, B.S. (Metallurgy),
MMSA is the Qualified Person responsible for the Metallurgical and
Process sections, and James M. Beck (PE) is the Qualified Person
responsible for the Environmental sections contained in the Technical
Report. The information provided below is based on such report and the
assumptions and qualifications contained therein pursuant to NI 43-101.
For data verification, Dorinda Bair reviewed 10% of the resource
database of both historical and new data against assay certificates and
found less than 2% error in the database for silver, gold, lead, copper
and zinc in the Virginius Vein and less than 2% error in the database
for silver, gold, lead and zinc in the Yellow Rose. Identified errors
were corrected in the database. Silver Star Resources LLC provided
additional copper data for the Yellow Rose area from recently located
historical data. However, the first pass validation identified greater
than 10% error in data entry for the copper analytical data. This data
was returned to Silver Star for corrections and the data has been
omitted from the current Yellow Rose resource estimate pending a
recheck of this additional copper data. At Virginius, a lack of
historical Quality Assurance / Quality Control data limited the
Resource estimate to "Indicated". There are no significant limitations
to the data. SRK is of the opinion that the data available is adequate
for resource estimation.
The Mineral Resources for the Revenue Silver Mine are all contained in
the Virginius and Yellow Rose Veins and have been classified as
Measured, Indicated and Inferred based on standards as defined by the
"CIM Definition Standards - For Mineral Resources and Mineral
Reserves", prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve
Definitions and adopted by CIM Council on December 17, 2010. The
classification of the resources reflect the relative confidence of the
grade estimates defined by the search radiuses determined for each
classification and the number of composites and drill holes and/or chip
samples required for each classification. Top cuts were determined for
each metal using geostatistic analysis. The interpolation method used
was inverse distance squared. The classification criteria are intended
to encompass zones of reasonably continuous mineralization.
Virginius Mineral Resource Estimate
The Virginius Main and Footwall Veins have been extensively sampled in
workings and in stope development by Sunshine Mining but due to limited
historic Quality Assurance / Quality Control measures being applied
during this period to support sampling efforts, the classification was
limited to "Indicated". The Indicated Mineral Resources for the
Virginius Main and Footwall Veins are those blocks having a minimum of
three samples within an anisotropic search of 100 ft x 100 ft x 50 ft.
Inferred Mineral Resources are those blocks having a minimum three
samples within an anisotropic search of 200 ft x 200 ft x 50 ft. All
results from channel samples and drilling at the project that are
within the wireframes have been used in the mineral resource estimate.
Note that tons are short tons.
Mineral Resource at the Virginius at a Cut-off of US$150/t*
Area
|
Category
|
Tons
|
Ag (opt)
|
Au
(opt)
|
Pb
(%)
|
Cu
(%)
|
Zn
(%)
|
Contained Metal
|
Ag
(M oz)
|
Au
(oz)
|
Pb
(M lb)
|
Cu
(M lb)
|
Zn
(M lb)
|
Virginius
|
Indicated
|
485,600
|
26.95
|
0.044
|
4.30
|
0.25
|
1.37
|
13.1
|
21,000
|
41.80
|
2.4
|
13.3
|
Virginius
|
Inferred
|
646,100
|
14.93
|
0.038
|
3.04
|
0.13
|
0.99
|
9.65
|
24,500
|
39.25
|
1.6
|
12.8
|
-
Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated
economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the
Mineral Resources estimated will be converted into Mineral Reserves.
-
The Mineral Resource estimates include Inferred Mineral Resources that
are normally considered too speculative geologically to have economic
considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized
as Mineral Reserves. There is also no certainty that Inferred Mineral
Resources will be converted to Measured and Indicated categories
through further drilling, or into Mineral Reserves, once economic
considerations are applied. Mineral resource tonnage and contained
metal have been rounded to reflect the accuracy of the estimate, and
numbers may not add due to rounding.
-
*Cut-off is based on a minimum total recovered metal based on a mining
and milling cost provided by Silver Star Resources LLC of $150/t and
diluted to a minimum mining width of 3 feet.
-
Recovered block model metal value = (Ag oz/t • Ag recovery • US$/oz
Ag) + (Au oz/t • Au recovery • US$/oz Au) + (2000 • Pb % / 100 • Pb
recovery • US$/lb Pb) + (2000 • Zn % / 100 • Zn recovery • US$/lb
Zn).
-
The metal price and recovery assumptions include a silver ("Ag") price
of US$20/oz and recovery of 95%; gold ("Au") price of US$1250/oz and
recovery of 90%; a copper ("Cu") price of US$3.15/lb and recovery of
80%; a lead ("Pb") price of US$1/lb and recovery of 90%; and a zinc
("Zn") price of US$1/lb and recovery of 85%.
Yellow Rose Mineral Resource Estimate
The Mineral Resources for the Yellow Rose Vein are classified as
Measured Mineral Resources for those blocks having a minimum of three
samples and three drillholes or channels which are within an
anisotropic search of 125 ft x 125 ft x 50 ft within the vein. This
classification takes into consideration that there has been sampling in
workings around the Yellow Rose Main vein in addition to drilling.
Indicated Mineral Resources are those blocks having a minimum of three
samples and three drillholes or channels which are within an
anisotropic search of 250 ft x 250 ft x 50 ft within the vein. Inferred
Mineral Resources are those blocks having a minimum of three samples
and three drillholes which are a maximum block-composite separation
distance within an anisotropic search of 375 ft x 375 ft x 50 ft within
the main vein and related vein splays. All results from channel samples
and drilling at the Project that are within the wireframes have been
used in the mineral resource estimate. Copper was not estimated at
Yellow Rose due to validation concerns for the copper database. This
data was hand entered from historical assay certificates and there were
too many data entry errors for inclusion at this time. With additional,
data review and data entry corrections, there is potential to add this
data to the resource estimate. Note that tons are short tons.
Mineral Resource at the Yellow Rose at a Cut-off of US$150/t*
Area
|
Category
|
Tons
|
Ag
(opt)
|
Au
(opt)
|
Pb
(%)
|
Zn
(%)
|
Contained Metal
|
Ag
(M oz )
|
Au
(oz)
|
Pb
(M lb)
|
Zn
(M lb)
|
Yellow Rose
|
Measured
|
215,300
|
10.08
|
0.034
|
1.71
|
1.69
|
2.17
|
6,400
|
7.37
|
7.28
|
Yellow Rose
|
Indicated
|
100,700
|
10.92
|
0.036
|
1.96
|
1.74
|
1.10
|
4,000
|
3,95
|
3.5
|
Yellow Rose
|
Measured & Indicated
|
316,100
|
10.35
|
0.035
|
1.79
|
1.71
|
3.27
|
10,490
|
11.31
|
10.78
|
Yellow Rose
|
Inferred
|
38,100
|
11.01
|
0.025
|
1.69
|
0.92
|
0.49
|
700
|
1.28
|
0.701
|
-
Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated
economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the
Mineral Resources estimated will be converted into Mineral Reserves.
-
The Mineral Resource estimates include Inferred Mineral Resources that
are normally considered too speculative geologically to have economic
considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized
as Mineral Reserves. There is also no certainty that Inferred Mineral
Resources will be converted to Measured and Indicated categories
through further drilling, or into Mineral Reserves, once economic
considerations are applied. Mineral resource tonnage and contained
metal have been rounded to reflect the accuracy of the estimate, and
numbers may not add due to rounding.
-
*Cut-off is based on a minimum total recovered metal based on a mining
and milling cost provided by Silver Star Resources LLC of $150/t and
diluted to a minimum mining width of 3 feet.
-
Recovered block model metal value = (Ag oz/t • Ag recovery • US$/oz
Ag) + (Au oz/t • Au recovery • US$/oz Au) + (2000 • Pb % / 100 • Pb
recovery • US$/lb Pb) + (2000 • Zn % / 100 • Zn recovery • US$/lb
Zn).
-
The metal price and recovery assumptions include a silver ("Ag") price
of US$20/oz and recovery of 95%; gold ("Au") price of US$1250/oz and
recovery of 90%; a lead ("Pb") price of US$1/lb and recovery of 90%;
and a zinc ("Zn") price of US$1/lb and recovery of 85%.
Mining
The Revenue Silver Mine is accessed from the Revenue Tunnel, a 2.2 km
long crosscut intersecting the various vein systems identified in the
mine and terminating at the Virginius Vein. There has also been 335
metres of horizontal drifting on the Virginius and Yellow Rose Veins.
These workings have been rehabilitated with track and serviced with
water, air, ventilation and electricity to support mining activities.
Track mounted electric locomotives are used to convey personnel and
supplies to the working areas and to tram ore and waste rock to the
mill and surface, respectively.
There is also an approximately 200 metre deep internal winze (shaft)
that requires rehabilitation to access two additional levels on the
Virginius Vein below the level of the Revenue Tunnel. Fortune Revenue
plans to rehabilitate this winze to access higher grade mineralization
recognized in this part of the mine.
The veins identified in the Revenue Silver Mine are narrow and contain
high grades that must be mined using narrow vein mining methods common
to the area with a focus on dilution and grade control. Two different
mining methods will be used depending on vein width and ground support
requirements while limiting dilution and maximizing ore recovery.
Shrinkage methods will be applied in stopes with a vein width of
greater than 3 feet, and sublevel open back stoping will be used where
vein widths are less than 3 feet.
The use of electric equipment and smaller development headings will
further contain costs through minimizing the amount of waste rock
produced and ventilation requirements.
Milling and Processing
The mill is situated in an underground excavation to minimize the
surface mine footprint. The crushing and grinding plant and flotation
circuits were designed by CH2MHill and built with primarily new
equipment. The plant was designed initially for a rate of 300 tons per
day, but was built with oversized key components and will be expanded
to 400 tons per day. Three concentrates are produced, including a
gravity gold concentrate that will be sold to Johnson Matthey and other
refineries. The flotation concentrates include a lead-silver
concentrate and a zinc-silver concentrate, both of which will be
filtered and bagged prior to shipment to Teck Resources Limited for
processing at their smelter in Trail, B.C.
All tailings will be filtered to allow for water recovery that will be
recycled back to the mill. The filtered tailings will be dry stacked
and placed in a permitted impoundment facility which will eliminate the
need for a tailings pond.
Environment and Community
The site is fully permitted for production. Due-diligence has revealed
no historic concerns or issues with the mine site and operations. The
required closure bond is in place with state authorities. The mine is
situated in a historic mining district and has received strong
community support. The majority of the workforce has been sourced from
the local area and Fortune looks to continue to maximize the use of
local resources.
Next Steps
Fortune has been actively pursuing an accretive acquisition in the
precious and specialty metals sector that complements the proposed
development of our NICO and Arctos projects. The acquisition of the
Revenue Silver Mine fulfils this objective, while also delivering cash
flows from production and upside opportunities for expansion of
production in the Sneffels Silver Mining District of Colorado. The cash
flow that will be produced from the Revenue Silver Mine also supports
our financing efforts to develop the NICO mine and refinery in
Saskatchewan. This acquisition is also complementary because it comes
with an operating team that is already in place and will not distract
Fortune's management from delivering the NICO financing.
Mr. Mike Romaniuk, Fortune's Vice President of Operations and Chief
Operating Officer said, "We are impressed with the team that has been
assembled and are very confident that they are on track to achieve both
production and cost targets. The mine development and mill
commissioning are both advancing and we will soon be realizing revenue
from the team's efforts."
Through this acquisition, Fortune realizes its goal of bringing an
existing operation into the company with upside potential that
complements its development assets and transitions the company into an
immediate producer. Next steps include the completion of the
transaction by completing the next staged payment. Once this has been
achieved, the Company is confident that the remaining payments can be
funded from the mine's cash flows with minimal risks due to the low
cash cost of production. There is considerable upside from any increase
in the silver prices and significant exploration potential in the mine
and surrounding area.
The company is in the process of integrating the current management team
with Fortune. Additional capital spending is planned to support mine
development, ensuring the mill achieves concentrate grade targets, and
realizes a number of opportunities to increase revenue.
The disclosure of scientific and technical information contained in this
press release has also been approved by Robin Goad, M.Sc., P.Geo.,
President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, who is a
"Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101.
About Fortune Minerals
Fortune is a diversified North American mining and development company.
The Company operates the Revenue Silver Mine in Colorado and is
developing the vertically integrated NICO gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper
project that is comprised of a mine and mill in the Northwest
Territories that will produce a bulk concentrate for shipment to a
refinery in Saskatchewan for processing to high value metal products.
Fortune is also developing the Arctos anthracite metallurgical coal
project in British Columbia and owns the Sue-Dianne copper-silver-gold
deposit and other exploration projects in the Northwest Territories.
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" and "forward
looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and
United States legislation, respectively (collectively, "forward looking information". This forward-looking information includes statements with respect to,
among other things, the proposed financing of the NICO project; the
anticipated completion of the other stages to the acquisition of 100%
of the Revenue Silver mine ("RSM") and expected benefits from such
acquisition; the anticipated completion of the issuance to Procon of
the additional Fortune shares pursuant to the private placement; the
anticipated 11-year life of mine for the RSM; the projected cash costs
relating to the extraction of silver; the planned ramp-up of the mill
at the RSM to process an anticipated 400 tons per day; future cash flow
expectations from production at the RSM and the anticipated expansion
opportunities in Colorado. Forward-looking information is based on the
opinions and estimates of management as well as certain assumptions at
the date the information is given (including, in respect of the
forward-looking information contained in this press release,
assumptions regarding: the Company's ability to complete the necessary
financing for the NICO project; the ability of the Company to obtain
the requisite shareholder approval for the completion of the issuance
of the additional Fortune shares to Procon; the Company's ability to
fund the next staged payment for the RSM acquisition from the mine's
cash flow; production and costs of the RSM being in line with
estimates; the mill having the ability to process at a rate of 400 tons
per day; the ability of the Company to expand production in the future;
the ability of the Company to obtain the necessary funds to increase
capital spending. However, such forward-looking information 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 risk that the Company may not be able to arrange the
necessary financing to construct and operate the NICO mine,
uncertainties with respect to the receipt or timing of required permits
for the development of the NICO project, the possibility of delays in
the commencement of production from the NICO project; the inability of
the Company to fund the acquired payments to complete the full
acquisition of the RSM in accordance with its contractual obligations,
if at all; the failure to obtain the requisite shareholder approval to
complete the private placement fully; the inability of the mill to
process up to 400 tons per day; unexpected technical delays and
associated timing delays in the ramp-up of the mine and associated
production of silver; materially higher cash costs than anticipated;
substantial decrease in the price of silver or other precious metals;
loss of key personnel; discrepancies between actual and estimated
production; discrepancies between actual and estimated mineral
resources or between actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries;
higher costs of production; higher labour costs or shortages; mining
accidents; the cost and timing of expansion activities; changes in
applicable laws or regulations and other factors. In addition, the risk
factors described or referred to in Fortune's Annual Information Form
for the year ended December 31, 2013, which is available on the SEDAR
website, should be reviewed in conjunction with the information
contained in this news release. 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.
SOURCE Fortune Minerals Limited
Image with caption: "Revenue Silver Mine Underground Crushing Gallery - photo credit Fortune Minerals Limited (CNW Group/Fortune Minerals Limited)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20140509_C7654_PHOTO_EN_40185.jpg
Image with caption: "Revenue Silver Mine Tunnel - photo credit Fortune Minerals Limited (CNW Group/Fortune Minerals Limited)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20140509_C7654_PHOTO_EN_40184.jpg