Fortune Minerals has successfully validated an optimized hydrometallurgical flowsheet for its NICO Project, producing battery-grade cobalt sulphate heptahydrate. The new process demonstrates improved recoveries for cobalt (97% vs 95%), copper (74% vs 70%), and gold (97-98% vs 95%) compared to previous pilot plant work.
Fortune Minerals has successfully validated an optimized hydrometallurgical flowsheet for the NICO Project, producing battery-grade cobalt sulphate heptahydrate. The new process demonstrates improved recoveries for cobalt (97% vs 95%), copper (74% vs 70%), and gold (97-98% vs 95%) compared to 2008 pilot plant results.
Fortune Minerals has retained P&E Mining Consultants to prepare new Mineral Reserve estimates, a mine plan, and a production schedule for an updated NICO Project Feasibility Study. The update aims to leverage significantly higher current metal prices for gold, cobalt, bismuth, and copper to improve project economics.
Fortune Minerals is updating its NICO Project Technical Report, incorporating metallurgical improvements to the cobalt and bismuth downstream processes. These optimizations, including increased autoclave temperature and pressure, are expected to reduce refinery capital costs by up to $200 million and improve cobalt product purity.
Fortune Minerals is updating its NICO Project Technical Report, assessing four development scenarios with an expanded 6,000 tpd mill throughput. Key improvements in the cobalt and bismuth downstream processes are expected to reduce refinery capital costs by up to $200 million and produce higher purity products.
Fortune Minerals has successfully verified that gold can be recovered from cobalt and bismuth flotation concentrates at the NICO project. This result supports a lower-capital start-up option of selling concentrates rather than building a full refinery immediately.
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.
