Fortune Minerals Ltd is pleased to report that the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) has announced that it has signed the agreement with North Star Infrastructure GP to construct the Tlicho All-Season Road to the community of Whati, Northwest Territories. Whati is located 50 km south of Fortune’s proposed NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper mine. As part of its proposed development, Fortune plans to construct a spur road to connect with the Tlicho Road in order to enable concentrates produced from the mine to be transported south for processing to value added products. These include cobalt chemicals needed to manufacture lithium-ion rechargeable batteries to power electric vehicles, portable electronic devices and stationary cells to make electricity use more efficient.

The Tlicho Road will be a permanent 97 km, 2 lane gravel highway, extending north from Highway 3 to Whati at a construction cost of C$213.8 million. The Government of Canada is providing up to 25% of these costs through the P3 Canada Fund. The GNWT is funding the remaining 75%, using a Private Public Partnership structure with North Star, a consortium consisting of Kiewit Canada Development Corp and the Tlicho Government, together with Design-Build partners Peter Kiewit Sons ULC, Hatch Corporation, and Thurber Engineering Ltd. North Star will design, finance, construct, operate and maintain the Tlicho Road for a total contract value of C$411.8 million over a 28-year period. The Tlicho Government has invested approximately C$16 million to purchase a 20% equity interest in North Star.