Fortune Minerals receives water licence and land use permit for NICO Mine in Northwest Territories
2026-09-22 11:14:36 [Print]
Fortune Minerals announced Monday that the water licence renewal for the NICO mine and concentrator has been approved by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change for the Northwest Territories after the draft terms recommended by the Wek'èezhì? Land and Water Board (WLWB) were accepted.
The WLWB also issued the land use permit for the project. With both primary permits now issued following receipt of an environmental assessment, the terms and conditions are set for construction and operation of the mine facilities. They also set the amount of security that will be required for the closure and reclamation plan, the company said.
The NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project is a development-stage critical minerals asset consisting of a planned open pit and underground mine and concentrator in the NWT and a dedicated hydrometallurgical facility in Alberta, where concentrates from the mine, and other feed sources, will be processed into value-added products.
Hardly any bismuth is currently produced in North America, with the continent relying almost entirely on imports. The NICO deposit contains one of the largest known undeveloped bismuth reserves in the world. It holds 12% of global bismuth reserves as well as 1.1 million in-situ ounces of gold, and aims to establish a domestic, reliable North American supply chain, Fortune Minerals has said.
The company said the NICO project will provide a reliable North American supply of battery-grade cobalt sulphate, bismuth ingots and copper cement – with more than one million ounces of in-situ gold as a highly liquid and countercyclical co-product.
The WLWB also issued the land use permit for the project. With both primary permits now issued following receipt of an environmental assessment, the terms and conditions are set for construction and operation of the mine facilities. They also set the amount of security that will be required for the closure and reclamation plan, the company said.
The NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project is a development-stage critical minerals asset consisting of a planned open pit and underground mine and concentrator in the NWT and a dedicated hydrometallurgical facility in Alberta, where concentrates from the mine, and other feed sources, will be processed into value-added products.
Hardly any bismuth is currently produced in North America, with the continent relying almost entirely on imports. The NICO deposit contains one of the largest known undeveloped bismuth reserves in the world. It holds 12% of global bismuth reserves as well as 1.1 million in-situ ounces of gold, and aims to establish a domestic, reliable North American supply chain, Fortune Minerals has said.
The company said the NICO project will provide a reliable North American supply of battery-grade cobalt sulphate, bismuth ingots and copper cement – with more than one million ounces of in-situ gold as a highly liquid and countercyclical co-product.
Bismuth Ingot 99.99%min EXW China
Unit:RMB/mt
China bismuth ingot producers' operating rate statistics by province by month
Unit: %
