Fortune Minerals Secures C$3.8M Government Funding to Complete Alberta Refinery Acquisition

Strategic Move Advances Vertically Integrated Critical Minerals Project

Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX: FT, OTCQB: FTMDF) has moved closer to finalizing its Alberta refinery acquisition with backing from Prosper NWT, the economic development agency of Canada’s Northwest Territories government. The C$3.8 million financing commitment represents a significant milestone for the company’s ambitions to build a fully integrated cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper operation spanning from northern mine to Alberta processing facility.

The funds will allow Fortune to complete its purchase of the Lamont County refinery site and existing industrial facilities from JFSL Field Services LLC. The company had already committed C$3.5 million toward the C$6 million purchase price, leaving the final installment to be covered by the government-backed loan. Completion is anticipated by year-end.

Loan Structure and Security

Under the binding agreement between Fortune Minerals Alberta Inc. (a Fortune subsidiary) and Prosper NWT, the borrowed capital carries an 8.45% fixed interest rate structured over 60 months. The initial 24 months feature interest-only payments, with the remaining 36 months combining blended principal and interest payments based on a 180-month amortization schedule. Fortune has pledged the refinery site, buildings, and equipment as collateral, with the parent company providing additional guarantee coverage.

Why the Alberta Location Matters

The 76.78-acre industrial property sits strategically adjacent to Canadian National Railway infrastructure within Alberta’s Industrial Heartland—a recognized manufacturing hub northeast of Edmonton. The region already hosts petrochemical and minerals processing operations, meaning the site benefits from existing workforce availability, established supply chains, and the regulatory framework supporting heavy industry.

The existing steel fabrication plant encompasses over 42,000 square feet of equipped workshop and building space. This pre-built infrastructure is expected to significantly reduce both capital expenditure and operational costs for the NICO Project compared to constructing from greenfield sites.

The NICO Project: Integrated Supply Chain

The NICO operation represents Fortune’s core long-term strategy—combining an open-pit underground mine and concentrator facility in the Northwest Territories with the Alberta hydrometallurgical processing plant. Rather than exporting raw concentrates, this vertical integration allows the company to produce finished value-added products domestically.

The deposit contains three critical minerals critical to renewable energy and defense applications (cobalt, bismuth, and copper) plus over one million ounces of gold as a secondary product. Gold’s price movements historically move opposite to base metals, providing natural hedging against commodity price swings.

Strategic Significance for North America

This financing milestone removes a major development risk from Fortune’s capital plan. Robin Goad, the company’s President and CEO, framed the achievement as foundational for advancing the NICO Project toward a construction decision while strengthening North American supply chain resilience for critical minerals—a stated priority for North American governments seeking to reduce reliance on foreign sources for battery metals and defense-grade materials.

The combination of proven resources, Tier 1 jurisdiction operations, transparent custody of metals from ore to finished product, and integrated domestic processing positions the NICO Project as a potential anchor project in North America’s emerging critical minerals ecosystem during the energy transition period.