Fortune Announces Successful Tests to Produce Upgraded and Clean Cobalt Concentrate From the Nico Project
Original announcement by tmx on
- Company
- Fortune Minerals Limited
- Ticker
- FTMDF
- Exchange
- TSX
- Region
- Northwest Territories
- Primary commodity
- Cobalt
- Secondary commodities
- Gold, Bismuth, Copper, Arsenic, Sulfur
- Document categories
- Metallurgy
- Extracted
- 2026-08-25 10:55:04 UTC
Analysis by Minestarters Atlas
Minestarters Atlas analysis
Summary
Fortune Minerals has successfully completed metallurgical test work using DST technology to produce upgraded, arsenic-free cobalt concentrate at the NICO Project. The process removes 99% of arsenic and increases metal grades by 20-30%, offering a lower-CAPEX development pathway.
Reasoning: Successful metallurgical test work demonstrated the ability to produce clean, high-grade cobalt concentrate by removing arsenic, significantly de-risking the project's commercial viability and reducing capital requirements.
Positive factors
- Successful arsenic removal (99%)
- Concentrate grade increase (20-30%)
- Lower CAPEX/OPEX potential
- Proven technology (DST)
- No cobalt/gold/copper losses
Negative factors
- Lower revenue compared to vertically integrated model
- Greater dependence on third party processors
Facts used in scoring: 4
Classification and evidence
Free Millingpositive
Simple, clean ore amenable to standard processing without oxidation.
Why it applies: The release notes that gold can be successfully recovered by cyanidation of the bulk concentrate.
Evidence · text
“Gold can be successfully recovered by cyanidation of the bulk concentrate”
Mill Routeneutral
Processing via mill or concentrator (CIL, CIP, tank leach, flotation).
Why it applies: The technology is applied to metal concentrates produced from the mine to be processed in existing circuits.
Evidence · text
“create metal concentrates that are more attractive to the market and can be processed in existing metal recovery circuits”
Extracted facts
Stored fact records: 4. Some facts used in scoring do not have a stored record.
Metallurgical Results (4)
Fact 1arsenicRecovery: 99 %View all detailsHide details
Identity
- Commodity
- arsenic
- Ticker
- FTMDF
Test Work
- Sample
- NICO bulk concentrate
Recovery
- Recovery
- 99 %
- Recovery Basis
- actual_test
Review
- Needs Review
- No
- Historical
- No
Dates
- Event date
- 2018-09-17T00:00:00.000Z
Reasoning: Successful removal of arsenic from bulk concentrate to below 0.2%.
Positive factors
- 99% removal achieved
Evidence · text
“Successful removal of 99% of the arsenic in NICO bulk concentrate to lower than 0.2%”
Fact 2cobaltView all detailsHide details
Identity
- Commodity
- cobalt
- Ticker
- FTMDF
Test Work
- Sample
- NICO bulk concentrate after pyrolysis
Review
- Needs Review
- No
- Historical
- No
Dates
- Event date
- 2018-09-17T00:00:00.000Z
Reasoning: Mass reduction from selective removal of arsenic and sulphur increases metal grades by 20-30%.
Positive factors
- 20-30% grade increase
Evidence · text
“Metal grades in the concentrate increased by 20-30% due to mass reduction”
Fact 3goldRecovery: 100 %View all detailsHide details
Identity
- Commodity
- gold
- Ticker
- FTMDF
Test Work
- Sample
- NICO bulk concentrate
Recovery
- Recovery
- 100 %
- Recovery Basis
- actual_test
Review
- Needs Review
- No
- Historical
- No
Dates
- Event date
- 2018-09-17T00:00:00.000Z
Reasoning: Pyrolysis process demonstrated zero gold loss, with recovery via cyanidation.
Positive factors
- No gold losses during pyrolysis
Evidence · text
“No cobalt, gold, or copper losses from pyrolysis”
Fact 4copperView all detailsHide details
Identity
- Commodity
- copper
- Ticker
- FTMDF
Test Work
- Sample
- NICO bulk concentrate
Review
- Needs Review
- No
- Historical
- No
Dates
- Event date
- 2018-09-17T00:00:00.000Z
Reasoning: Pyrolysis process demonstrated zero copper loss.
Positive factors
- No copper losses during pyrolysis
Evidence · text
“No cobalt, gold, or copper losses from pyrolysis”
How Atlas produces this analysis
Minestarters Atlas uses automated extraction to summarize mining announcements, identify reported measurements, and classify supporting evidence. Sentiment reflects the extracted narrative and classification rules; it is an interpretation, not a reported measurement. Evidence quotes and context are provided where available. Missing data, low-confidence results, and review flags indicate limitations. Check the original publisher announcement before relying on an interpretation.