Fortune Minerals provides NICO Road initiative update

About this update from Fortune Minerals Limited

[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nIssued Capital: 64,890,857\n\n\nLONDON, ON, Aug. 5 /CNW/ - Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX-FT) ("Fortune\nMinerals" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update about the road\ninitiative in the Tlicho (aboriginal) region northwest of Yellowknife,\nNorthwest Territories where the Company's NICO mine development is located.\nThe existing winter road extending north from the town of Behchoko on Highway\n3 between Yellowknife and Edmonton, Alberta to the communities of Whati and\nGameti is the subject of a government plan for realignment to an overland\nroute in order to reduce the cost of living in the Tlicho region, mitigate the\nimpacts of climate change on community resupply, and promote economic\nactivity. This road is also currently used to access the NICO\nGold-Cobalt-Bismuth-Copper deposit, which Fortune Minerals is permitting to\ndevelop a mine, mill and process plant, which requires all-season road access\nfor mine supply and to transport metal concentrates south for processing to\nhigh value metal products.\n\n\nThe initiative to upgrade the Tlicho winter road is being managed by the\ngovernment of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) - Department of Transportation\n(DOT), working together with the Tlicho Government, and with financial support\nfrom the federal government. Preliminary engineering, route analysis,\nenvironmental scoping studies and consultation with local communities have\nalready been undertaken to establish the feasibility of this road upgrade and\nits desirability from the perspective of the Tlicho people. Fortune Minerals\nhas also contributed its own detailed engineering and environmental studies\nfor a 50 km portion of the road as its initial contribution toward the project\nand is part of a working group for future planning. An approximate 136 km\nportion of the Tlicho road will be used for the NICO mine. Approximately 25 km\nof all-season road has already been built by the community of Whati and is\nbeing extended this road this summer by the community. Fortune Minerals is in\ndiscussions with the GNWT, federal and Tlicho Governments with respect to\njoint financing the upgrade of other segments of the route to an all-weather\nstandard so that it can be used for mine operations.\n\n\nThe GNWT and the federal government have committed $18 million of\nadditional resources ...

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