Fortune Minerals and Rio Tinto Collaborate to Expand North American Critical Minerals Production
29 Setembro 2023 - 11:04AM
Business Wire
Fortune Minerals Limited (“Fortune”) (www.fortuneminerals.com)
and Rio Tinto are collaborating to develop technology that will
improve recovery of the critical minerals cobalt and bismuth. Under
a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the companies, testing
will be done at Rio Tinto Kennecott’s integrated copper mining and
smelting operations in Utah and at Fortune’s planned Alberta
Refinery.
The partnership aims to maximize the value of critical mineral
supply chain investments and increase Fortune’s planned cobalt and
bismuth refining operations to process co-product streams of the
minerals recovered from the Kennecott smelter.
In 2020, the Canadian and U.S. governments signed a Joint Action
Plan on Critical Mineral Collaboration to enable more North
American production of the Critical Minerals needed in new
technologies. Cobalt and bismuth are both included in this list and
are used for sustainable energy resources. Fortune and Rio Tinto
are pleased to establish this partnership and work together to
expand North American supply chains.
Cobalt is used to manufacture lithium-ion rechargeable batteries
and store energy in electric vehicles, portable electronics, and
stationary storage cells. Bismuth is used in automotive coatings,
paints, and low temperature alloys and castings. Consumption is
growing primarily as a non-toxic and environmentally safe
replacement for lead for products used in potable drinking water
sources and electronics, glass, and ammunition. A significant new
use for bismuth is in environmentally safe, high density plugs to
properly decommission oil and gas wells, preventing greenhouse gas
leakage, blowouts, and aquifer contamination. Manganese-bismuth
magnets have also been identified for potential replacement of rare
earth elements in electric vehicle powertrains.
Robin Goad, President and CEO of Fortune Minerals said, “Working
with Rio Tinto to recover metals from their co-product streams is
part of our corporate strategy to expand production of critical
minerals, and we are excited to be working with one of the world’s
premier mining companies on the first of these opportunities. This
collaboration could provide a solution to support greater
production of the metals needed for the energy transition and
growing sustainable economy.”
Rio Tinto Kennecott Managing Director Nate Foster commented, “We
are committed to find better ways to provide the materials the
world needs to grow and decarbonize. We are enthusiastic about this
partnership with Fortune Minerals as we continue looking at our
waste streams to develop new, sustainable sources of critical
minerals here in North America.”
Rio Tinto is a multinational diversified mining company with a
global footprint that includes the world-class Kennecott integrated
operations outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A. For 120 years,
Kennecott has been mining and processing copper and other minerals
including gold, silver, molybdenum and tellurium from the rich ore
body of the Bingham Canyon Mine.
Fortune is developing its 100 percent owned, vertically
integrated NICO Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper Project in Canada. This
Critical Minerals asset is comprised of a planned mine, mill and
concentrator in the Northwest Territories and a related
hydrometallurgical refinery in Alberta where concentrates from the
mine would be processed.
Fortune and Rio Tinto are working together to assess different
process methods and technology options to recover the bismuth and
cobalt contained in Kennecott’s smelter waste streams. This
includes assessing the effectiveness of blending Rio Tinto’s
intermediate products with NICO Project concentrates and conducting
batch recovery tests using Fortune’s refinery flow sheets.
About Fortune Minerals:
Fortune is a Canadian mining company focused on developing the
vertically integrated NICO Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper Critical
Minerals project in the Northwest Territories and Alberta. The NICO
Project consists of a planned open pit and underground mine and
concentrator and a related refinery in Alberta where the Company
will process concentrates from the mine to value added metals and
chemicals. The NICO Project is an advanced development stage asset
that has received environmental assessment approval and the major
mine permits for the Northwest Territories facilities. The NICO
Project has been assessed in positive Feasibility and Front-End
Engineering and Design studies that will be updated to reflect
recent project optimizations and the new proposed refinery site in
Alberta.
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, a commercially
feasible collaboration with Rio Tinto to expand critical minerals
production, the successful construction and completion of the
proposed hydrometallurgical refinery at the Alberta site, and the
Company’s plans to develop the NICO Project, including the
development and construction of the planned NICO
cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper mine and concentrator. 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 feasible
collaboration with Rio Tinto, the Company’s ability to secure the
necessary financing, the Company’s ability to complete construction
of a NICO Project refinery; the Company’s ability to arrange the
necessary financing to continue operations and develop the NICO
Project; the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals for the
construction and operation of the NICO Project, including the
planned NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper mine and concentrator and
the timing thereof; growth in the demand for cobalt; the time
required to construct the NICO Project; and the economic
environment in which the Company will operate in the future,
including the price of gold, cobalt and other by-product metals,
anticipated costs and the volumes of metals to be produced at the
NICO Project). 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 global geopolitical situations may interfere
with the Company’s ability to continue development of the NICO
Project, the MOU with Rio Tinto may not result in a commercially
feasible or mutually beneficial relationship, the Company may not
be able to finance and develop NICO on favourable terms or at all,
uncertainties with respect to the receipt or timing of required
permits, approvals and agreements for the development of the NICO
Project, including the related hydrometallurgical refinery, the
construction of the NICO Project may take longer than anticipated,
the Company may not be able to secure offtake agreements for the
metals to be produced at the NICO Project, the Sue-Dianne Property
may not be developed to the point where it can provide mill feed to
the NICO Project, the inherent risks involved in the exploration
and development of mineral properties and in the mining industry in
general, the market for products that use cobalt or bismuth may not
grow to the extent anticipated, the future supply of cobalt and
bismuth may not be as limited as anticipated, the risk of decreases
in the market prices of cobalt, bismuth and other metals to be
produced by the NICO Project, discrepancies between actual and
estimated Mineral Resources or between actual and estimated
metallurgical recoveries, uncertainties associated with estimating
Mineral Resources and Reserves and the risk that even if such
Mineral Resources prove accurate the risk that such Mineral
Resources may not be converted into Mineral Reserves once economic
conditions are applied, the Company’s production of cobalt, bismuth
and other metals may be less than anticipated and other operational
and development risks, market risks and regulatory risks. 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.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230929038085/en/
For further information: Fortune Minerals Limited Troy
Nazarewicz Investor Relations Manager info@fortuneminerals.com Tel:
(519) 858-8188 www.fortuneminerals.com
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