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Fortune Minerals awards contract for Hemlo Mill dismantling, equipment salvage & demolition(Canada Newswire English Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Attention Business Editors Preparing for relocation to NICO Issued Capital: 50,100,107 LONDON, ON, July 15 /CNW/ - Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX-FT) ("Fortune" or the "Company") announced today that it has selected Tri-Venture FE&C Limited (Tri-Venture FE&C) as the primary contractor to conduct the dismantling of buildings, equipment salvage, and demolition of surplus facilities at the Golden Giant Mine at Hemlo, Ontario. The Golden Giant mine is located adjacent to the Trans Canada Highway approximately 50 kilometres east of Marathon. The mine buildings, equipment and spare parts inventory were purchased from Newmont Canada Limited (Newmont) and Mindecom Industrial Constructors Limited (Mindecom) in 2006 and 2008 for the purposes of relocating selected components to the Company's NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth project in the Northwest Territories. The purchase is expected to materially reduce capital costs for the proposed mine and notably, Fortune is not responsible for environmental liabilities at the Hemlo site, except to remove the assets it has purchased before April 30, 2010 (see Fortune Minerals news releases, dated August 31, 2006 and March 25, 2008). Tri-Venture FE&C is a company owned jointly by Tri-Venture Construction Ltd. of Airdrie, Alberta and Federal Engineers and Constructors Ltd. of Richland, Washington, U.S.A. that specialize in demolition and decommissioning, asset salvage and disposal, and environmental remediation of large-scale projects. Tri-Venture FE&C will conduct the dismantling of selected buildings and removal of large equipment, including the crushing and grinding plant, float cells, cranes, conveyors, electrical equipment and motors, as well as smaller equipment that has not already been salvaged by Fortune's own team of employees. Tri-Venture FE&C will also conduct the demolition of surplus buildings such as the headframe and administration complex that are not required for re-use at NICO. Valuable materials, including structural and stainless steel, copper and aluminum will be collected, sorted and shipped for sale as scrap. Scrap metals are currently selling at historic high prices making this an important source of revenue from the project. Tri-Venture FE&C is scheduled to commence work on July 15, 2008, with completion of the project on or before December 31, 2009. Approximately 70% of the workforce will be hired from local communities between Sault Saint Marie and Thunder Bay, as well from the Pic Mobert and Pic River First Nations. Fortune has had its own team of employees working at the Golden Giant Mine site preparing equipment parts inventories and smaller assets for relocation to NICO or sale on the used equipment market. Fortune has also entered into agreements with two different companies in order to collect materials from the Hemlo assets for recovery of contained precious metals. The sale of these metals are expected to provide another important source of revenue from the project that will be ongoing concurrently with the dismantling. Fortune's 100% owned NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth project is located 160km northwest of the City of Yellowknife, 22km west of the Snare hydro complex and 80km north of the Tlicho community of Behchoko and the highway to Edmonton. NICO has already been assessed in a positive definitive feasibility study led by Micon International Ltd. (see Fortune Minerals news releases, dated May 8, 2008 and January 16, 2007). Fortune has submitted its "land use" and "water license" applications to the Wek' ?ezhi' Land and Water Board to permit the proposed mine. Front End Engineering Design for the mine is ongoing under the direction of Aker Metals, a division of Aker Solutions Canada Inc. Based on anticipated time to complete the permitting, Fortune is targeting production in 2011 to produce cobalt cathode, gold dor? and bismuth over a minimum 15-year mine life using a combination of open pit and underground mining and hydrometallurgical process methods at a plant constructed at the site. Robin Goad, M.Sc., P.Geo., President and James Currie, B.Sc. (Hons.), P.Eng., Vice President Operations are the Qualified Persons responsible for this release under National Instrument 43-101. About Fortune Minerals Fortune Minerals is a diversified natural resource company with several mineral deposits and a number of exploration projects, all located in Canada. They include the Mount Klappan anthracite coal deposits in British Columbia, and the NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth deposit, the Sue-Dianne copper-silver deposit and other base and precious metals exploration projects in the Northwest Territories. Fortune Minerals is focussed on outstanding performance and growth of shareholder value through assembly and development of high quality mineral resource projects. This press release contains forward-looking information. This forward-looking information includes, or may be based upon, estimates, forecasts, and statements as to management's expectations with respect to, among other things, the size and quality of the Company's mineral resources, progress in development of mineral properties, demand and market outlook for metals and future metal prices. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is given, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. These factors include the inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties, the uncertainty of being able realize anticipated revenues from the sale of scrap metals and other materials from the Hemlo site, uncertainties with respect to the receipt or timing of required permits and regulatory approvals, the uncertainties involved in interpreting drilling results and other geological data, fluctuating metal prices, the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future and other factors. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Inferred mineral resources are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that mineral resources will be converted into mineral reserves. The forward-looking information contained herein is given as of the date hereof and the Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law. Fortune Minerals Limited, Robin Goad, President, Tel.: (519) 858-8188, Fax: (519) 858-8155, [email protected], www.fortuneminerals.com Copyright ? 2008 Canada Newswire Ltd. All Rights Reserved. |