This is nice to see..From mining.com ......
https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/story/2022/07/01/in-depth/nwt-mining-future-takes-a-critical-turn/7434.html Bridging the gap
Like the rest of Canada's North and Alaska, NWT is a vast and remote land with limited transportation and energy infrastructure. This often makes the economics of mining even high-grade deposits, especially those that produce a concentrate that must be shipped elsewhere for processing, out of reach.
The territory, which has been working to bridge this gap between its rich mineral resources and the markets that need them, hopes the federal government's C$3.8 billion (US$3 billion) budget to support Canada's critical minerals strategy includes funds to continue this effort.
The recently completed 97-kilometer (60 miles) Tlicho Highway to the community of Whati is an example of recent efforts to extend infrastructure closer to the territory's critical mineral potential.
Funded by a partnership between the federal, territorial, and Tlicho First Nations governments, this recently completed project extends road access to within 50 kilometers (30 miles) of Fortune Minerals Ltd.'s NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project, which will need road access to deliver concentrates to market.
Located about 150 road-kilometers (95 miles) north of Hay River and the northern end of the rail system in NWT, NICO is a near-development stage project that includes an intriguing mix of critical and precious metals.
According to a 2020 plan, a mine at NICO and an associated refinery would produce an average of 1,800 metric tons of battery-grade cobalt sulfate; 1,700 metric tons of bismuth; 300 metric tons of copper; and 47,000 oz of gold annually over the first 14 years of mining.
This mix of metals in NWT makes NICO an intriguing prospect for those wanting to see more critical minerals mined and refined in North America.
According to an annual minerals report published by the U.S. Geological Survey in February, DRC accounted for roughly 69% of the cobalt mined during 2021.
"This country has a high-risk index for doing business owing to poor infrastructure, resource nationalism, a high perception of corruption, and a lack of transparency as well as wars," USGS wrote about DRC in a 2018 report on cobalt.
Russia, the world's second-largest producer, accounted for another 6%.
This creates a dilemma for companies that need cobalt for the lithium-ion batteries powering EVs and a wide range of devices that make the world greener and more convenient.
The bismuth also found in abundance at NICO is an increasingly important ingredient as a substitute for lead in non-toxic alloys for water pipes and in semiconductors for solar power and potentially green hydrogen production.
Read more about research into bismuth's use in hydrogen production at Solar fuel made from artificial leaves in the June 15, 2022 edition of Metal Tech News.
Bismuth, however, is one of the rarest elements in Earth's crust and is seldom found in economically recoverable concentrations.
In fact, it is estimated that NICO accounts for 12% of the world's bismuth reserves – deposits where it has been shown economic feasibility for recovering the metal.
When you throw in the copper and gold, NICO offers a mix of metals increasingly critical to an electric-centric world and a monetary metal traditionally seen as a safe-haven asset in times of financial or political uncertainty.
NICO, however, requires a road to deliver concentrates to Fortune's planned refinery in Alberta and onward to the renewable energy and other supply chains that need the metals to be produced.
Fortune plans to construct an industrial access road that will link the mine to the new Tlicho Highway, which will enable metal concentrates to be trucked to a railhead south of Great Slave Lake for delivery to the planned Alberta refinery.
NWT hopes that Ottawa will support further infrastructure development to critical minerals enriched areas of the territory.
"To transition into the next chapter of our storied mining history with our rich critical mineral potential, we need strong partners at the federal level and continue to make the case for significant infrastructure investment. By doing this, we will be able to capitalize on our true economic potential," said Northwest Territories Premier Caroline Cochrane.
The C$3.8 billion (US$3 billion) federal budget to support the development of critical minerals across Canada includes C$1.5 billion (US$1.2 billion) specifically designated for infrastructure investments to unlock new mineral projects in critical regions.