Thorunn Howatt
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sept 05/01) - The danger posed by lead is a lucky break for Fortune Minerals Ltd.'s NICO deposit.

During a re-assessment of NICO's cobalt, gold and bismuth deposit, company president Robin Goad said two smelters indicated their interest in buying the bismuth concentrates that are forecast to be produced at the site.

"We did not account for the bismuth," said Goad.

He explained that although he knew bismuth was contained in the deposit, until recently it hadn't been thought of as a profitable mineral.

Bismuth is seen as a safe metal and is an ingredient in stomach medications. Its physical properties make it similar to lead and it's therefore a consideration as a replacement metal in places where lead had been used in the past.

"Lead has been legislated out. In most applications you can't use lead anymore," Goad said. He said bismuth is so diverse it can be used to replace lead soldering or to create the pearly luster in eyeshadow.

"It's going to have a very profound impact on the project," said Goad.

"Although primarily a cobalt-gold project, NICO contains one of the largest resources of bismuth in the world. The downside to bismuth is its cost. While lead can be bought for 27 cents per pound, bismuth costs $3.50 per pound."

The company is also in talks with Miramar, Yellowknife's Con Mine owner, that could lead to NICO's future ores produced at the old Con Mine.

Goad was secretive about his discussions with Miramar, but said the relationship would allow for the processing of some metals found at the site. The NICO site is 160 kilometres from Yellowknife, eight kilometres from the past-producing Rayrock Mine and its access road and 20 kilometres from surplus power via the Snare Hydro complex.

"We'll need a road and it will benefit the residents of Rae-Edzo. It will stimulate future mining. The road would be used not just for ourselves," said Goad.