Fortune Minerals Limited and Rio Tinto are collaborating to develop technology that will improve recovery of the critical minerals cobalt and bismuth. Under a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the companies, testing will be done at Rio Tinto Kennecott's integrated copper mining and smelting operations in Utah and at Fortune's planned Alberta Refinery. The partnership aims to maximize the value of critical mineral supply chain investments and increase Fortune's planned cobalt and bismuth refining operations to process co-product streams of the minerals recovered from the Kennecott smelter.

In 2020, the Canadian and U.S. governments signed a Joint Action Plan on Critical Mineral Collaboration to enable more North American production of the Critical Minerals needed in new technologies. Cobalt and bismuth are both included in this list and are used for sustainable energy resources. Fortune and Rio Tinto are pleased to establish this partnership and work together to expand North American supply chains.

Minanese-bismuth magnets have also been identified for potential replacement of rare earth elements in electric vehicle powertrains. The NICO Project has been assessed in positive Feasibility and Front-End Engineering and Design studies that will be updated to reflect recent project optimizations and the new proposed refinery site in Alberta. This forward-looking information includes statements with respect to, among other things, a commercially feasible collaboration with Rio Tinto to expand critical minerals production, the successful construction and completion of the proposed hydrometallurgical refinery at the Alberta site, and the Company's plans to develop the NICO Project, including the development and construction of the planned NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper mine and concentrator.