Funding propels Fortune closer to NWT bismuth decision

Cross-border government aid is helping Canada’s Fortune Minerals (TSX: FT) approach a construction decision next year on its main Nico cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper deposit in the Northwest Territories.

Fortune secured grants last year from both the Canadian and U.S. governments for Nico, which the company said in February contains 12% of global bismuth reserves as well as 1.1 million oz. in-situ of gold. The funding from Natural Resources Canada, which amounts to $7.5 million (US$5.5 million), is expected to cover three-quarters of the $10 million in additional engineering and test work for the project, Fortune said.

Fortune has also been awarded $6.38 million by the U.S. Department of Defense to expand the capacity and production of cobalt for the battery and high-strength alloy supply chain. Both funding streams may be used for an updated feasibility study, engineering designs, permits for the Alberta refinery site and test work validation on some process improvements, CEO Robin Goad said.

“We have the major mine permits,” Fortune Minerals’ Goad told Mining.com in an interview in March. “The government money that we’re being provided is supposed to take our project to a construction decision, which we hope to be in June 2026.”

Bismuth is one of five key metals — along with tungsten, tellurium, molybdenum and indium — on which China in February announced plans to impose export controls in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s import tariffs. Bismuth prices surged to all-time highs on the European spot market in March as the export controls squeezed supplies of the mineral used in atomic research, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

Bismuth is a scarce industrial metal that has characteristics similar to lead, but is non-toxic, and industries are developing uses for replacing lead. But hardly any bismuth is being produced in North America. In a tale unfolding over and over in the metals markets, 90% of global refined bismuth comes from China and about 80% of the mine production is in China.

Phone calls

“The restrictions on exports coming from China mean that virtually 90% of the supply of this metal has been cut off,” Goad said. “Is that sustainable? No, but people have got to have it and are paying through the nose to get it. We’re receiving phone calls from all over the world – or emails, looking for sources of supply. “Historically, this project would normally be considered a cobalt-gold asset, but we’ve got extreme volatility right now in the prices for some of these metals,” the CEO said.

Cobalt prices are rising as concerns over supplies mount after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in March banned exports of the battery material for four months. The DRC’s decision aims to rein in oversupply, which had sent prices to nine-year lows.

“We have four metals, and the fact that we have significant gold in our asset as well provides some pretty strong mitigation of metal price volatility,” Goad said. “So now we’re vertically integrated.”.

Advanced stage

Nico is an advanced-stage asset consisting of a proposed open pit and underground mine and concentrator. Anchoring the mine is a cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper deposit containing 33.1 million tonnes in reserves grading 0.11% cobalt, 1.03 grams gold per tonne, 0.14% bismuth and 0.04% copper. Nico is to produce a bulk concentrate shipped by railway from Enterprise, NWT south to the proposed refinery site in Lamont County near Edmonton, Goad said.

Fortune plans to contribute to a burgeoning critical minerals processing hub in Alberta near a petrochemicals refinery, a Sherritt International (TSX: S) nickel-cobalt facility and a Rio Tinto (NYSE, LSE, ASX: RIO) petroleum calcining operation that produces anodes for aluminum processing. Fortune is also collaborating on plans to build a refinery in the hub with Rio Tinto.

Tariff talk

While tariff talk is dominating headlines and disrupting markets, Goad doesn’t expect the levies to jeopardize U.S. funding and partnerships.

“To the best of our knowledge, it’s business as usual,” he said. “I expect that some of the disputes happening between Canada and the United States will get resolved. We’re all hoping that because it makes economic sense.”

North America’s economies “are so interconnected that the U.S. is pursuing a strategy that’s effectively shooting themselves in the foot. And yes, it hurts us more than it hurts them,” Goad said. “The U.S. administration will figure that out. We do know critical minerals are very important to them. And what’s happening in the bismuth market is a very good example of why we need shorter supply chains with more resiliency – and without the exposure to political policy risks.”