The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Cobalt, gold and bismuth cut at Peanut Lake, east of deposit North of 60 Mining News – April 22, 2022
An aerial view of Fortune Minerals' Nico cobalt-bismuth-copper-gold mine project in Northwest Territories.
Fortune Minerals is acquiring this former steel fabrication plant in Alberta, which it plans to repurpose as a refinery to process concentrates to be shipped from its Nico cobalt-bismuth-copper-gold mine project in Northwest Territories. Click on the photo for an article with further details.
Fortune Minerals Ltd. April 20 reported that its 2021 drilling cut strong cobalt-gold-bismuth mineralization in the Peanut Lake zone on its Nico project in Canada's Northwest Territories.
Nico hosts 33.1 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 0.11% (82 million pounds) cobalt, 0.14% (110 million lb) bismuth, 0.04% (27 million lb) copper, and 1.03 grams per metric ton (1.1 million ounces) gold.
Peanut Lake is a strong magnetic anomaly about 2,000 meters southeast of this deposit with coincident gravity and partly coincident chargeability high geophysical anomalies.
Five holes drilled in 1997 tested the north rim of the Peanut Lake magnetic feature, three of which cut significant grades. Highlighted intercepts from these holes include three meters averaging 1.76 g/t gold and 0.113% cobalt; three meters averaging 1.82 g/t gold; and three meters averaging 1.105 g/t gold and 0.355% cobalt; and three meters averaging 1.16 g/t gold and 0.06% cobalt.
Last year, Fortune drilled four holes to test the continuity of mineralization previously encountered at Peanut Lake.
The best intercepts were encountered in hole 21-008, which was drilled in a 135-meter-wide gap between two of the 1997 holes. Highlights from hole 21-008 include:
• 3.17 meters averaging 0.423% cobalt, 0.55 g/t gold, and 0.369% bismuth from a depth of 28.7 meters.
• 4.8 meters, averaging 0.118% cobalt and 0.5 g/t gold from a depth of eight meters.
• 2.31 meters, averaging 0.108% cobalt and 0.874 g/t gold from a depth of 139.6 meters.
Fortune says this mineralization correlates well with the 1997 holes drilled 78 meters to the west and 70 meters to the east.
Two other 2021 holes, which tested the strike continuity of the Peanut Lake Zone east and west of the 1997 drilling, encountered multiple zones of lower grade cobalt-gold mineralization. Fortune says these holes, along with the 1997 drilling, indicate continuity of economically interesting mineralization over at least 400 meters of strike.
Another six holes drilled last year tested for an extension of the Nico deposit beyond a fault that was previously believed to terminate the east end of the deposit. Three holes – 21-003, 21-015, and 21-016 – tested for north lateral and depth displacement of the deposit beyond the fault and intersected economically interesting grades over narrow widths. Highlights from these three holes include:
• Hole 21-015 cut 1.98 meters averaging 0.11% cobalt and 0.599 g/t gold from a depth of 210.5 meters.
• Hole 21-016 cut six meters averaging 0.034% cobalt over 6 meters from a depth of 43 meters.
Another three holes drilled to test for a south lateral displacement of the deposit; two tested the strike continuity of grades previously identified in the Ralph Zone; and one drill hole tested the continuity of copper mineralization identified in the Road Cut Zone at depth. None of these holes encountered economically interesting mineralization.
Fortune has already received environmental assessment approval and the major mine permits for a mine at Nico and earlier this year identified a site in Alberta for a hydrometallurgical refinery to upgrade concentrates produced there.
Under the current plan, the Nico mine and Alberta refinery would produce an average of 1,800 metric tons of battery-grade cobalt sulfate; 1,700 metric tons of bismuth; 300 metric tons of copper; and 47,000 ounces of gold annually over the first 14 years of mining.
This unique mix of critical, precious, and base metals makes Nico an intriguing project to provide a North American supply of the cobalt and copper needed for electric vehicles and renewable energy; bismuth used in thin-film solar panels; and gold to provide extra cash and act as a natural hedge to the base and critical metals.
The recently completed 97-kilometer (60 miles) Tlicho Highway to the community of Whati, together with a roughly 50-kilometer (30 miles) spur road Fortune plans to construct, will enable metal concentrates to be trucked to a railhead south of Great Slave Lake for delivery to the planned Alberta refinery.
Fortune plans to update a positive 2014 feasibility study for Nico that includes current costs and commodity prices, the now completed Tlicho Road, and other project optimizations it has identified over the past year.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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