- Business
- Fortune Minerals Limited (FT.TO) is a Canadian development-stage mining company focused on advancing the vertically integrated NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project and exploring other mineral properties in the Northwest Territories. Incorporated in 1988 and headquartered in London, Ontario, the company targets critical minerals for energy transition, defense, and technology applications, including cobalt sulphate, gold doré, bismuth ingots, and copper cement produced from NICO mine concentrates at a planned hydrometallurgical refinery in Lamont County, Alberta; it also holds the nearby Sue-Dianne copper-silver-gold deposit as satellite feed potential, the Salkeld Lake exploration project, and net smelter royalty interests on Camsell River leases. Operations emphasize domestic North American supply chains for cobalt, bismuth, and copper, with gold as a countercyclical co-product to hedge price volatility, serving markets in rechargeable batteries, electric vehicles, medical products, automotive sectors, and stationary power storage.
Recent developments include an amended option agreement with JFSL Field Services ULC to acquire a 77-acre brownfield industrial site in Alberta for the planned refinery, with installment payments totaling over C$3 million toward a C$6 million purchase price and a completion deadline extended into 2025; a C$1.25 million initial drawdown from a convertible securities funding agreement to support site payments and operations; a new C$3.8 million loan from Prosper NWT to facilitate the refinery site acquisition; and additional government funding from Canada and the U.S. for feasibility studies, process optimization test work validating cobalt, gold, copper, and bismuth recovery, and collaboration with Rio Tinto on extracting cobalt and bismuth from Utah smelter waste streams. In July 2025, Fortune secured a further convertible security agreement with The Lind Partners for C$3.774 million to advance project financing toward a 2026 mine construction decision. These initiatives position the NICO project, estimated at C$770 million total cost, for open-pit and underground mining with concentrator in the Northwest Territories and 18-month refinery construction timeline.