/NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES/
Discussions continue with potential
off-take customers for Company's planned battery-grade cobalt
sulphate production and NICO project financing
Issued Capital: 241,363,294
LONDON, ON, March 9, 2016 /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 $500,000 tranche of an anticipated $1 million non-brokered private placement of the
Company's capital stock. A total of 14,285,714 newly issued
common shares were placed with an arm's length private investor at
a price of $0.035 per share. Proceeds
of this financing will be used for general working capital
purposes.
Fortune owns the proposed vertically integrated NICO
Gold-Cobalt-Bismuth-Copper development, that comprises a planned
mine and concentrator in the Northwest
Territories and refinery near Saskatoon where concentrates from the mine
will be processed to higher value products. The NICO project has
already been assessed in a positive feasibility study and has
received its environmental assessment approvals in the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan. The NICO Mineral Reserves will
support a 21-year mine life at a mill rate of 4,650 tonnes of ore
per day to produce 180 wet tonnes of concentrate per day for
shipment to the refinery in Saskatchewan. Life of mine
average annual production is forecast at 41,300 ounces of gold,
1,615 tonnes of cobalt contained in a battery grade cobalt sulphate
heptahydrate, 1,750 tonnes of bismuth in ingots, needles and oxide,
and 265 tonnes of copper.
The cobalt market has been growing at a compound annual growth
rate of approximately 6% over the past two decades and the market
is now greater than 100,000 tonnes. Most of this increase in
consumption is attributed to the use of cobalt in high performance
lithium ion and nickel metal hydride rechargeable batteries used in
portable electronic devices, electric vehicles and stationary
storage cells. Batteries now account for 46% of cobalt demand –
having increased from only 1% of the cobalt market in the mid
1990's. The battery market continues to expand with wider usage of
portable electronic devices and greater adoption of electric
vehicles - globally. Significant growth in the market is also
expected from stationary storage cells connected to intermittent
energy sources such as wind and solar generators, and off-peak
charging from the electrical grid.
The NICO deposit also contains a significant gold co-product and
12% of global bismuth reserves. Bismuth is a metal used in a broad
range of industrial applications, particularly in the automotive
and pharmaceutical sectors. It is also an environmentally safe
replacement for lead which is subject to lead-toxicity concerns and
legislation banning its use in potable drinking water sources and
consumer products such as in solders, brasses, steel, aluminum and
zinc galvanizing alloys, paint pigments and ceramic glazes.
Fortune has completed confidentiality agreements with a number
of globally recognized corporations interested in off-take of the
Company's cobalt sulphate production. Discussions are also
advancing on project financing for the NICO development. The
Government of the Northwest
Territories is also proposing to make strategic investments
in transportation infrastructure and workforce development as a top
priority in the Mandate of the Government, which includes
construction of the Tlicho All-Season Road to connect the community
of Whati with the highway to Yellowknife. Fortune has
environmental assessment approval to build a road from Whati to the
mine as part of its proposed development.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a
solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of any
of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer,
solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities have
not been and will not be registered under the United States
Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or
the securities laws of any state of the
United States and may not be offered or sold within
the United States unless
registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state
securities laws or pursuant to an exemption from such registration
requirements.
About Fortune Minerals
Fortune is a Canadian development stage mining company focused
on advancing the vertically integrated NICO
gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper project in the Northwest Territories and a related refinery
the Company plans to construct in Saskatchewan. Fortune also owns the Sue-Dianne
copper-silver-gold deposit located 25 km north of NICO and is a
potential future source of incremental mill feed. Additionally, the
Company maintains the right to repurchase the Arctos anthracite
coal deposits in northwest British
Columbia that were recently purchased by a provincial Crown
corporation.
The disclosure of scientific and technical information contained
in this press release has been approved by Robin Goad, M.Sc., P.Geo., President and CEO of
Fortune, who is a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument
43-101. The technical report on the feasibility study referred to
above, entitled "Technical Report on the Feasibility Study for the
NICO-Gold-Cobalt-Bismuth-Copper Project, Northwest Territories, Canada", dated
April 2, 2014 and prepared by Micon
International Limited, has been filed on SEDAR and is available
under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.
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This press release contains forward-looking information and
forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable
securities legislation. This forward-looking information includes
statements with respect to, among other things, the Company's plans
to develop NICO, anticipated growth in the market for rechargeable
batteries and the use of stationary storage cells, the anticipated
completion of the second tranche of the private placement referred
to herein and the plans of the Government of the Northwest Territories is to make strategic
investments in transportation infrastructure and workforce
development. 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 arrange the
necessary financing to continue operations and develop the NICO
project, growth in the in the market for rechargeable batteries and
the use of stationary storage cells and proposed investment by the
Government of the Northwest
Territories in transportation infrastructure and workforce
development). 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 risks that the Company may not be able to complete the
second tranche of its private placement or arrange other necessary
financing to continue operations, the Company may not be able to
finance and develop NICO on favourable terms or at all, the market
for rechargeable batteries and the use of stationary storage cells
may not grow to the extent anticipated and the Government of the
Northwest Territories may not
complete its anticipated investments in transportation
infrastructure and workforce development. 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
