A founding director, northern aviation pioneer,
prospector, and unique personality
Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX: FT) (OTCQB: FTMDF)
(“Fortune” or the “Company”)
(www.fortuneminerals.com) is announcing with deep sorrow that Carl
Clouter, one of the Company’s founding directors, passed away on
October 15, 2021, at the age of 78 after a brave fight with cancer.
Carl was part of the great Canadian legacy of northern bush pilots
who provided the transportation link to isolated communities and
exploration camps, and enabled access to remote areas of the North
using its distinctive geography and plethora of lakes and ice for
landing strips. Carl had a unique amiable charm and care-free
disposition that will be sadly missed by everyone who knew him, now
that he has “filed his final flight plan”.
Carl Clouter was born in Catalina, Newfoundland, and raised in
Gander, an important hub for trans-Atlantic aviation refueling. He
started his career in the 2nd Battalion of the Black Watch (Royal
Highland Regiment) of Canada, which he joined in 1962 and served
for three years, including a deployment patrolling the Cold War
border between East and West Germany. Self-admittedly feisty and a
regimental boxer, he also had a gentle demeanor and was a talented
singer. While on tour with the Canadian Tattoo, he met Elvis
Presley and shared a stage with The Beatles.
Carl Clouter earned his pilot’s license and twin engine
endorsement while working as a maintenance worker for Eastern
Provincial Airways in Gander. He flew Canso water bombers and was a
pilot for Premier Joey Smallwood. It was the smaller bush planes
that captivated Carl’s love for flying and it was through flying
these planes that he was introduced to the mining business,
piloting charters for Noranda and other exploration companies.
Water bombing took Carl to literally every corner of our vast
country and after several trips to the Northwest Territories
(“NWT”), he was offered a temporary position as the Chief
Pilot for Air Dogrib in Fort Rae-Edzo (now “Behchoko”) west of
Yellowknife. He stayed in Behchoko for more than two decades and
eventually established his own charter airline, “Edzo Air”, where
he could blend his passions for both flying and prospecting. In
1987, he piloted a charter flight for Robin Goad, who was in the
process of starting Fortune. Carl vended one of his properties into
the start-up and became a director and the Company’s northern
representative. He subsequently staked the original NICO claims,
which together with adjacent claims owned by Goad were transferred
to Fortune and led to the discovery of the NICO
Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper Deposit.
While living in Behchoko, Carl Clouter was approached by the
RCMP to become a Sentencing Justice of the Peace. He studied law
and blended this with his knowledge of Indigenous culture,
performing one of the first circle sentences ever conducted under
Canadian law.
In later years, Carl transitioned between Gander, Yellowknife
and the NICO site, flying occasionally as a commercial pilot, but
more typically at the controls of one of his own small airplanes,
which included two rare Stinson float planes that he personally
restored.
Fortune Minerals is profoundly saddened by Carl’s passing and
this premature conclusion to an epic journey. The Company extends
its most sincere and heartfelt condolences to Carl’s wife and
family.
Drill Program Progressing
Fortune’s exploration drill program at the NICO project is
continuing and the fifth hole is nearing completion. Assays are not
anticipated to be received until several weeks after the conclusion
of the program and will be reported when they become available.
The NICO project is comprised of a planned mine and concentrator
in the Northwest Territories and a related hydrometallurgical
refinery in southern Canada producing cobalt sulphate, gold doré,
bismuth ingots and oxide, and a copper cement precipitate. NICO is
a development stage project and one of the most advanced cobalt
assets outside of the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”)
to meet the growing demand in lithium-ion batteries powering
electric vehicles, portable electronics and stationary storage
cells, and mitigate supply chain issues from geographic
concentration of production in the DRC and China and associated
policy risks. The unique Critical Minerals assemblage of the NICO
Deposit includes Mineral Reserves with primary cobalt, 12% of
global bismuth reserves, by-product copper, as well as a highly
liquid 1.1 million ounce in-situ gold co-product.
For more detailed information about the NICO Mineral Reserves
and certain technical information in this news release, please
refer to the Technical Report on the NICO Project, entitled
"Technical Report on the Feasibility Study for the
NICO-Gold-Cobalt-Bismuth-Copper Project, Northwest Territories,
Canada", dated April 2, 2014 and prepared by Micon International
Limited which has been filed on SEDAR and is available under the
Company's profile at www.sedar.com. The disclosure of scientific
and technical information contained in this news release has been
approved by Robin Goad, M.Sc., P.Geo., President and Chief
Executive Officer of Fortune who is a "Qualified Person" under
National Instrument 43-101.
About Fortune Minerals:
Fortune is a Canadian mining company focused on developing the
NICO Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper Project in the NWT. The Company has
an option to purchase lands in Saskatchewan where it may build the
hydrometallurgical plant to process NICO metal concentrates and is
also evaluating other brownfield locations with existing facilities
to reduce project capital and operating costs. In addition, Fortune
owns the satellite Sue-Dianne Copper-Silver-Gold Deposit located 25
km north of the NICO Project mine site and is a potential future
source of incremental mill feed to extend the life of the NICO mill
and concentrator.
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This press release contains forward-looking information and
forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable
securities legislation. This forward-looking information includes
statements with respect to, among other things, the Company’s 2021
drill program, the Company’s plans to develop the NICO Project and
the potential for the Sue-Dianne property to provide incremental
mill feed to the NICO Project. Forward-looking information is based
on the opinions and estimates of management as well as certain
assumptions at the date the information is given (including, in
respect of the forward-looking information contained in this press
release, assumptions regarding: the Company’s ability to conduct
and complete the planned drill program; the Company’s ability to
secure a site in southern Canada for the construction of a NICO
Project refinery; the Company’s ability to arrange the necessary
financing to continue operations and develop the NICO Project; the
receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals for the construction
and operation of the NICO Project and the related
hydrometallurgical refinery and the timing thereof; growth in the
demand for cobalt; the time required to construct the NICO Project;
and the economic environment in which the Company will operate in
the future, including the price of gold, cobalt and other
by-product metals, anticipated costs and the volumes of metals to
be produced at the NICO Project). However, such forward-looking
information 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 risks that the 2021 drill program may not
result in a meaningful expansion of the NICO Deposit, the COVID-19
pandemic may interfere with the Company’s ability to conduct the
drill program, the Company may not be able to secure a site for the
construction of a refinery, the Company may not be able to finance
and develop NICO on favourable terms or at all, uncertainties with
respect to the receipt or timing of required permits, approvals and
agreements for the development of the NICO Project, including the
related hydrometallurgical refinery, the construction of the NICO
Project may take longer than anticipated, the Company may not be
able to secure offtake agreements for the metals to be produced at
the NICO Project, the Sue-Dianne Property may not be developed to
the point where it can provide mill feed to the NICO Project, the
inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of
mineral properties and in the mining industry in general, the
market for products that use cobalt or bismuth may not grow to the
extent anticipated, the future supply of cobalt and bismuth may not
be as limited as anticipated, the risk of decreases in the market
prices of cobalt, bismuth and other metals to be produced by the
NICO Project, discrepancies between actual and estimated Mineral
Resources or between actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries,
uncertainties associated with estimating Mineral Resources and
Reserves and the risk that even if such Mineral Resources prove
accurate the risk that such Mineral Resources may not be converted
into Mineral Reserves once economic conditions are applied, the
Company’s production of cobalt, bismuth and other metals may be
less than anticipated and other operational and development risks,
market risks and regulatory risks. Readers are cautioned to not
place undue reliance on forward-looking information because it is
possible that predictions, forecasts, projections and other forms
of forward-looking information will not be achieved by the Company.
The forward-looking information contained herein is made as of the
date hereof and the Company assumes no responsibility to update or
revise it to reflect new events or circumstances, except as
required by law.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211020005743/en/
For further information please contact: Fortune Minerals
Limited Troy Nazarewicz Investor Relations Manager
info@fortuneminerals.com Tel: (519) 858-8188
www.fortuneminerals.com
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