LONDON, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX: FT) (OTCQB: FTMDF) (“Fortune” or the “Company”) (www.fortuneminerals.com) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an option agreement with JFSL Field Services ULC (“JFSL”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of a large international engineering company, to purchase its former steel fabrication plant, located in Lamont County within Alberta’s Industrial Heartland northeast of Edmonton. Pursuant to the agreement, Fortune will have six months to carry out additional due-diligence and complete the purchase of the JFSL facility for C$5.5 million. Fortune intends to acquire this brownfield site in order to construct the hydrometallurgical refinery for the planned NICO Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper mine in the Northwest Territories (“NWT”). The proposed refinery would process concentrates from the mine and produce cobalt sulphate for the rapidly expanding lithium-ion rechargeable battery industry and their use in electric vehicles (“EV’s”), portable electronic devices, and stationary storage cells to make electricity use more efficient. In addition to cobalt, the unique mineral assemblage of the NICO deposit includes a highly liquid 1.1 million ounce in-situ gold co-product, 12% of global bismuth reserves, and copper. The vertically integrated NICO development (“NICO Project”) would provide a reliable North American source of three Critical Minerals produced responsibly with Canadian environmental-social governance (“ESG”) values that are essential to support the transformation to new technologies and the growing green economy…"Cobalt, lithium and nickel are all minerals with huge demand in the modern world. Fortune’s new refinery is exactly the type of job creating, diversifying investment we envisioned with our mineral strategy and action plan.” Jason Kenney, Premier of Alberta…“Fortune Minerals’ new facility will add to Alberta’s mineral refining capacity and will bring exciting economic opportunities to the province. Alberta’s mineral strategy and action plan capitalizes on our untapped potential and helps meet demand for the critical and rare earth minerals which are essential to supporting a low-carbon economy. Fortune Minerals’ investment announcement demonstrates that our strategy is working. Our province has the experienced workforce, and the necessary infrastructure to support continued growth in the minerals sector, and there is no better place for a new Critical Minerals refinery than Alberta’s Industrial Heartland.” Sonya Savage, Minister of Energy, Government of Alberta…“I am pleased to see continued investment and diversification in the Industrial Heartland with Fortune Minerals’ plan to establish a new cobalt refinery which will also have the future potential to recycle metals from post-consumer batteries from across Alberta. This project will create well-paid jobs for Albertans and continued prosperity for my constituency.” Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk, MLA for Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville…“The planned NICO Project in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland supports our region’s robust diversification efforts and highlights our value proposition for companies looking to execute their capital growth strategies, develop new technologies and advance their ESG priorities. Fortune Minerals’ innovative vision and metallurgical process technology for the NICO Refinery will promote further energy supply chain integration within North America, solidifying Alberta and Alberta’s Industrial Heartland as a critical jurisdiction for Canada’s energy future.” Mark Plamondon, Executive Director of Alberta’s Industrial Heartland Association…“More economic growth and diversification in Alberta’s energy and tech sectors shows our competitive edge in action. This includes access to highly skilled labour, resources, and transportation links from Alberta’s globally recognized Industrial Heartland and combined with our business-friendly environment thanks to the Alberta tax advantage and a streamlined regulatory framework.” Rick Christiaanse, CEO of Invest Alberta Corporation

Renault SA, Nissan Motor Co and Mitsubishi Motors Corp plan to triple their investment to jointly develop electric vehicles (EVs), two people with knowledge of the plan told Reuters…As established automakers face pressure from new competitors and an expected shift in demand toward EVs, the French-Japanese alliance is seeking to deepen cooperation…The three are expected to announce on Thursday a plan to invest more than 20 billion euros ($23 billion) over the next five years on EV development, the sources said. By 2030, the alliance is expected to come up with more than 30 new battery EVs underpinned by five common platforms, they said…By mid-decade, the alliance aims to deploy a fifth common platform for compact EVs designed by Renault, the sources said…The automakers hope to make compact EVs as affordable as gasoline-fuelled vehicles of similar size, the sources said…The automakers are expected to use common batteries and other key components. The alliance plans to jointly invest in capacity to produce in France, Britain, China and Japan a total of 220 gigawatt hours of battery capacity by 2030 under the plan, the sources said.

Japan's Panasonic will begin producing its new lithium-ion battery for Tesla from as early as 2023, with plans to invest about 80 billion yen ($705 million) in production facilities in Japan, the Nikkei reported on Monday…The powerpack could help make electric vehicles (EVs) more attractive to motorists by extending cruising range by about a fifth, the Nikkei reported, without saying where it obtained the information…"We are studying various options for mass production, including a test production line we are establishing this business year. We don't, however, have anything to announce at this time," Panasonic said in a statement sent to Reuters…Panasonic unveiled the 4680 format (46 millimetres wide and 80 millimetres tall) battery in October. At around five times as big as batteries it currently supplies to Tesla, it is also expected to help the U.S. electric vehicle maker lower production costs…Panasonic will make the 4680 batteries at a plant in Wakayama prefecture in Western Japan, with output of less than 10 gigawatt hours a year, equivalent to around 150,000 vehicles, the Nikkei said…Panasonic is the sole maker of the more advanced Tesla battery, ensuring it remains a key supplier to the U.S. company, at least for its pricier models, even as the EV maker seeks out battery suppliers in China and elsewhere.

Volkswagen's carbon emissions from passenger vehicles in 2021 were around 2% under the European target limits at 118 grams per kilometre, according to preliminary figures, the carmaker said on Monday…A total of 472,300 electric vehicles were delivered in the EU, Norway and Iceland in 2021, 64% above the previous year, Volkswagen said in a statement…The proportion of battery-electric and hybrid vehicles among total sales grew to 17.2% from 10.1% the year before.

Electric vehicle (EV) battery startup Britishvolt said on Monday it has signed an agreement with a UK government-backed research facility to develop batteries with high nickel content and more energy-dense materials as it gears up for mass production…The auto industry is scrambling to boost EV range with large investments in research into more energy-dense batteries…Britishvolt said it has reached a two-year, multi-million pound agreement with the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) to develop, assemble its next generation of sample battery cells for mass production and commercialisation…The UKBIC is a government-funded facility formed to help the British car industry bring new battery technologies to market…The startup's 30 gigawatt-hour (GWh) plant in Blyth should start production in 2023. It will be built in three phases and when it reaches peak production in 2027 should be capable of producing battery packs for over 300,000 vehicles annually.

More and more automotive producers are increasing the prices for their electric vehicles (EVs) as a response to high lithium and cobalt prices, as well as reduced subsidies for consumers in 2022…Battery raw materials costs a key headache…Key market participants have pointed out rising prices for battery raw materials’ prices as a key concern for automotive producers, especially with the battery pack accounting for 30-40% of total costs - the single most costly component of an EV…"Carmakers have no choice but to increase prices for their EVs. Most battery producers increased their selling prices to automakers by 20-30% in the face of rising production costs,” a cathode producer source told Fastmarkets…The higher costs have been passed on to consumers, and this has been exacerbated by the Chinese government announcing further cuts to existing EV purchase subsidies at the end of last year…Prominent automakers such as Tesla, BYD and Xpeng are part of this trend…Tesla increased the price of their Model 3 and Model Y...

Trade between China and Africa reached an all-time high in 2021 of US254 billion – a 35 per cent year-on-year increase surpassing pre-Covid-19 numbers, according to the latest Chinese customs data…China exported US$148 billion in goods to Africa, up 29.9 per cent on 2020, while receiving US$106 billion in imports from the continent – a rise of 43.7 per cent – in a year of recovery from the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic...South Africa took the lion's share of the China trade, with US$54 billion last year, followed by Nigeria at US$26 billion, Angola on US$23 billion, and Egypt with US$19 billion…The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – where China sources most of its cobalt, an essential component of batteries for electric vehicles, as well as smartphones, tablets and laptops – was in fifth place, at US$14 billion…Analysts attributed last year's better trade numbers to Beijing's recent push to boost African imports, as well as higher commodity prices which started recovering in late 2020 and continued to improve last year.