The Canadian government has offered funding to support metallurgical test work for the Nico critical minerals project, which entails a planned openpit and underground mine in the Northwest Territories, as well as a hydrometallurgical refinery in Alberta.
The proposed Alberta refinery will process concentrates from a future mine at Nico and other sources to produce cobalt sulphate, gold dore, bismuth ingots and copper.
The government has agreed to provide funding contributions of up to C$714 500 against the costs of Fortune’s planned cobalt sulphate process pilot and other metallurgical test work through the federal government’s Critical Minerals Research, Development and Demonstration Programme.
The government of Alberta, through Alberta Innovates, has also conditionally approved additional funding contributions of up to C$172 670 toward the budgeted programme costs pursuant to its Clean Resources Continuous Intake Programme.
The funds will be used to support a mini-pilot at SGS Canada to confirm certain process design criteria and improvements to the Nico project metallurgical processes. The programme will also provide samples of concentrate that could be used in future tests with material sourced under the previously announced Rio Tinto process collaboration.