08:43 AM EDT, 05/09/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Fortune Minerals ( FTMDF ) on Friday said the metallurgical test work validation is almost complete for the bismuth circuits for its 100% owned NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper critical minerals project in Canada.

The company said that the Process Design Criteria has been compiled and delivered to Worley Canada Services to engineer the facilities and incorporate them into Fortune Minerals' ( FTMDF ) updated feasibility study.

A statement noted that the NICO Project, which is vertically integrated, includes a planned mine and concentrator in the Northwest Territories and a hydrometallurgical process facility in Lamont County, Alberta. Concentrates from the mine, and other feed sources, will be processed at this facility into value-added products needed in diverse industries, the energy transition, new technologies, and defense.

"Development of the NICO Project will provide a reliable North American supply of cobalt sulphate, gold dore, bismuth ingots, and copper cement enhancing domestic production of three critical minerals," added the company. "The 1.1 million ounces of in-situ gold in the NICO Project Mineral Reserves is also a highly liquid and countercyclical co-product to mitigate metal price volatility."