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A significant bulk sampling and test pits program has recently been completed at Impact Minerals Limited’s (ASX:IPT) flagship Lake Hope High Purity Alumina (HPA) project located 500 km east of Perth in Western Australia. The program is a critical component of the Pre-Feasibility Study on Lake Hope, which is currently underway following a positive Scoping Study on the project that indicated the project may be the lowest-cost producer of HPA globally by a significant margin (ASX Release 9th November 2023).
Impact has the right to earn an 80% interest in the Lake Hope project by completing the Pre-feasibility Study (ASX Release 21st March 2023).
A total of 5.5 tonnes of material was collected from twenty-five bulk samples taken from test pits across West Lake and East Lake, which host the alumina deposit at Lake Hope. The deposit contains a resource of 3.5 million tonnes at 25.1% alumina (Al2O3) for a contained 880,000 tonnes of alumina, of which about 88%, or about 775,000 tonnes of alumina, is in the higher confidence Indicated Resource category (ASX Release 19th June 2023).
Impact confirms that no new information exists, and all modifying factors remain the same as at the time of the first publication of the resource.
In addition, earthworks for access tracks and drill pads for water bores for groundwater monitoring were also completed.
Managing Director Dr Mike Jones said: “This bulk sampling program marks another significant milestone in our journey towards the production of High Purity Alumina (HPA) from Lake Hope and caps off a very busy and successful nine months since acquiring the rights for this exceptional project.
In that time, we have completed a maiden resource statement, obtained heritage clearance from the Ngadju First Nations people, completed most of the first phase of metallurgical test work using the unique Playa One sulphate process, and completed a Scoping Study. The results of that study were outstanding and demonstrated the potential of Lake Hope to produce HPA at a cost much less than any other supplier globally, and this has given us the confidence to progress the pre-feasibility study aggressively. The bulk samples will set us up for the forthcoming stages of development, which will include the commissioning of a mini-pilot plant once the initial test work is completed.
Our focus for 2024 will be to complete the PFS, which will include setting up the mini-pilot plant and, in particular, producing HPA in bulk for potential customers and off-take partners. As part of this strategy, we have already started reaching out to key groups in the battery and LED market, and the demand is there. We look forward to a watershed year for Lake Hope, Impact and its shareholders”.
About the Bulk Sampling and Earthworks Program
Impact commissioned Pinnacle Site Services to undertake an earthwork and bulk sampling program. A backhoe was used to refurbish the existing access track to the site, construct access tracks to the lakes and a drill pad for a water monitoring bore.
A total of 5.5 tonnes of aluminous mud was collected from 25 pits, 13 from West Lake and 12 from East Lake (Table 1 and Figure 1). Ground conditions during excavation of the lake surfaces were excellent, with the mud hard, dry and easily dug. Groundwater was absent in most excavations, likely due to the dry summer conditions, which emulate the three-yearly summer mining campaigns proposed in the Scoping Study (ASX Release 9th November 2023).
A number of the sample sites were left open for geotechnical studies on the performance of the mud with respect to slope stability and groundwater levels, both of which will be monitored over the next 12 months before rehabilitation.
These ground-disturbing activities were enabled after successful Aboriginal Culture and Archaeological surveys were completed in July with the Ngadju Native Title group (ASX Release 27th July 2023). The survey identified no sites of cultural or archaeological significance, which is critical for Impact lodging a Mining Lease Application.
Update on the Pre-Feasibility Study
Impact has continued to progress the Preliminary Feasibility Study on Lake Hope.
The Baseline Flora and Fauna Survey data collection process is complete, with a final report due early in Q1 2024. Once received, the results will be used to finalise the location of mining lease boundaries and infrastructure corridors. A Mineralisation Report, a critical requirement of a mining lease application, has been completed, and the application will be lodged as soon as practicable in Q1 2024.
The metallurgical test work has progressed to final purification testing, with preliminary results expected in January 2024 (Stages 4 and 5 of the Playa One Sulphate Process, ASX Release 18th October 2023). Design of the by-product circuit and re-design of acid and reagent handling strategy is underway to investigate options for reduced capital and energy costs. A comprehensive test work regime is under design to inform a mini-pilot plant configuration, with quotes being sought.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Impact Minerals, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
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Impact Minerals Limited
Overview
Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) is an exploration and development mining company focused on discovering and developing new resource projects within Australia. Lake Hope, a recent transformational acquisition by the company and its current flagship asset, is a high-purity alumina (HPA) project in Impact’s home territory of Western Australia, a tier-one jurisdiction.
This advanced-stage project allows the company to fast-track the asset toward development, firmly establishing the company on the road to production and increasing shareholder value.
HPA is a high-value product with various uses in several industries that are key to the transition to a low-carbon world. Its main uses are in LED lighting, micro-LED screens, and ceramic-coated separators in lithium-ion batteries. Both these markets are forecast to grow dramatically over the next decade, and a looming supply shortage is predicted for 2026.
HPA is also necessary for producing synthetic sapphire and scratch-resistant glass. With these ever-widening applications for HPA, demand for this resource is expected to grow from US$3.18 billion to US$12.21 billion by 2030 with a compounded annual growth rate of about 20 percent.
Lake Hope is the company’s current focus as it moves towards production, and where a very shallow, high-grade resource of HPA precursor material has been identified in the top two meters of a dry salt lake. The deposit has unique physical and chemical properties that will allow for inexpensive digging and mining, with transportation to a processing facility off-site in an established industrial area. This will accelerate the approvals processes required to get into production.
Impact is currently focused on lodging a mining lease application. The company aims to bring Lake Hope, which contains almost 1 million tons of potential HPA, into production when the forecast average price for 4N HPA (99.99 percent AL203) and related products is about US$20,000 per ton. The ‘4N’ designation indicates the purity grade, making it suitable for high-tech end uses.
Outstanding economics from the latest scoping study released by the company shows Lake Hope’s potential to be the lowest-cost producer of HPA globally by up to 50 percent.
In June 2023, Impact announced a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) of 3.5 million tons at 25.1 percent alumina (Al2O3) for a contained 880,000 tons of alumina. The company also received heritage clearances for the entire Lake Hope deposit further de-risking the project and providing another critical component in the company’s application for a mining lease.
Impact completed a bulk sampling and test pits program at the Lake Hope project in December 2023. The company recently announced a key milestone having produced HPA greater than 99.99 percent (4N) purity from the metallurgical processing of lake clays acquired from Lake Hope.
In February 2024, a new proprietary metallurgical process for producing HPA from the lake clays was identified. Impact produced 99.99 percent (4N) Al2O3 from a low-temperature leach (LTL) process. The LTL process may lower the capital and operating costs to produce HPA compared to the sulphate process which underpinned the recent scoping study. The LTL process will be included in the ongoing pre-feasibility study in parallel with the sulphate process at marginal extra cost to determine the best processing route to HPA. The PFS is due to be completed on schedule in late 2024.
A comparison of the LTL process and the sulphate process
The company received a significant research and development refund of $753,000 from its exploration activities completed in the financial year ending June 30th, 2022. The company is well funded to finance the pre-feasibility study at the Lake Hope High Purity Alumina project and exploration activities at the Arkun battery minerals project.
Impact Minerals was also one of the inaugural cohort of seven companies selected to be part of the prestigious BHP Xplor program. BHP Xplor, an accelerator program introduced by BHP in August 2022, is designed to help provide participants with the opportunity to accelerate their growth and the potential to establish a long-term partnership with BHP and its global network of partners.
The BHP Xplor funding was used to identify new target areas for copper and other energy metals around the Broken Hill area in New South Wales, eastern Australia, where Impact has been quietly adding to its ground position for several years.
Additionally, the company is exploring its large Arkun battery metals project, also in Western Australia which covers nearly 2,900 square kilometres. Three new exploration licence applications were submitted recently immediately north of the Arkun project along trend from the recently discovered REE soil geochemistry anomalies at Hyperion, Swordfish and Horseshoe, and the Caligula copper anomaly. These anomalies require drill testing which will occur in 2024 and is an exciting development in the emerging mineral province of southwest WA.
A strong management team with over 50 years of combined industry experience leads the company. With a mining and exploration geology degree, Dr. Mike Jones, managing director, launched a long career consulting and leading mining organizations. Peter Unsworth, the non-executive chairman, has more than 35 years of experience in multiple financial sectors, such as securities industries and wealth management. Paul Ingram, a non-executive director, has led several mining companies since 2003. Impact Minerals has the experience and expertise to lead the company to success.
Company Highlights
- Impact Minerals is an exploration and development mining company focused on rapidly moving its flagship Lake Hope high-purity alumina (HPA) project towards production.
- Lake Hope project has a high-grade maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) of 3.5 million tonnes at 25.1 percent alumina (Al2O3), for a contained 880,000 tonnes of alumina that can be converted to HPA.
- HPA is used throughout multiple industries, and the overall HPA market is projected to grow by a CAGR of 18.4 percent by 2030.
- A pre-feasibility study is currently in progress, and Impact plans to lodge a mining lease application by Q3 2024 after results of its scoping study indicated that Lake Hope could potentially be one of, if not the lowest-cost producer of HPA globally, possibly by a significant margin of up to 50 percent.
- The company’s project portfolio also includes assets with high-grade mineral deposits of a range of base, critical and precious metals.
- Impact Mineral’s 2,000-square-mile Arkun nickel-copper-PGE project in Western Australia has produced encouraging assays motivating further exploration with maiden drill programmes planned for 2024.
- The company is also exploring its Broken Hill copper project in New South Wales under the auspices of the BHP Xplor program.
- A strong management team leads the company with experience in geology, mining and corporate finance.
Key Projects
Lake Hope HPA Project
Impact Minerals’ Lake Hope HPA project is in Western Australia, a tier-one mining jurisdiction. HPA is a crucial component in many new and emerging technologies, creating ongoing demand for high-grade sources. The Lake Hope project has become the company’s flagship as it moves toward production.
Project Highlights:
- Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate: A maiden mineral resource of 3.5 million tonnes at 25.1 percent alumina (Al2O3) for a contained 880,000 tonnes of alumina has been defined at the Lake Hope HPA Project. About 88 percent of the resource, or 775,000 tonnes of alumina, is in the higher confidence indicated resource category.
- Amenable to Open-pit Mining: The Lake Hope project is a unique HPA asset amenable to shallow, open-pit mining. The deposit is soft and shallow, allowing for cheap digging and minimal infrastructure requirements. This type of deposit also lowers the environmental footprint of the operation.
- Fast-tracked to Production: The company is currently awaiting its Mining Lease Application. Once granted, the company will begin working towards a pre-feasibility study and mini pilot plant. Impact Minerals plans to reach a complete pilot plant by 2026.
- Impressive Results of the 2023 Scoping Study: Outstanding economics show Lake Hope to potentially be the lowest-cost producer of High Purity Alumina (HPA) globally by up to 50 percent. Key outcomes from the scoping study include:
- Annual production of 10,000 tpa of 4N HPA with an initial 25-year mine life
- Annual EBITDA of A$174 million.
- 2 years construction period with 5,000 tonnes of production during the first year, 8,000 tonnes in the second year and 10,000 tonnes of production thereafter.
- US$934 million post-tax NPV8 at an IRR of 55 percent.
The scoping study was underpinned by a sulphuric acid process allowing the company to achieve a new milestone by producing HPA with purity of more than than 99.99 percent (4N) from the metallurgical processing of lake clays acquired from Lake Hope. The company further identified a new proprietary metallurgical process for producing HPA from the lake clays. Known as the low-temperature leach (LTL) process, this also produced 99.99 percent (4N) Al2O3 and has the potential to lower even further the capital and operating costs to produce HPA compared to the sulphate process. The LTL process will be included in the ongoing pre-feasibility study along with the sulphate process to determine the best processing route to HPA. The PFS is due to be completed in late 2024.
Broken Hill Copper Project
The Broken Hill project has a significant land position of 815 square kilometers and hosts multiple targets with the potential for high-grade copper. Broken Hill is located in New South Wales, Australia, an area known for its prolific silver-lead-zinc mining operations and the giant Broken Hill deposit.
Project Highlights:
- Participant in the BHP Xplor Program: Impact was selected for the BHP Xplor program based on its Broken Hill project. The program is designed to allow participants to accelerate growth and establish a long-term partnership with BHP.
- Potential for Additional Minerals and Deposits: As well as copper, the project has significant exploration potential for magmatic nickel-copper-PGE sulphides, and at the time the host rocks were formed, Broken Hill was located close to the world-class nickel-copper-PGE deposit of Jinchuan and the significant Lengquisheng deposit. The project area also has the potential to contain zinc-lead-silver deposits, providing even more value.
Arkun Nickel-Copper-Gold-Lithium-REE Project
The Arkun project is a 2,900-square-kilometer nickel, copper and gold project located in the emerging Ni-Cu-PGE province near the world-class Julimar Ni-Cu-PGE deposit and surrounded by Anglo American Corporation, which secured its ground holding shortly after Impact secured its asset. Anglo-American is one of the world’s top ten mining companies, and their presence in the region brings confidence in the project’s potential.
Project Highlights:
- Additional Exploration Underway: Impact plans follow-up work programs, including drilling, at its priority targets.
- Significant Targets Identified: Recent soil sampling identified two new prospects:
- Hyperion prospect - Located in the northwestern part of the project area returned with rare earth element anomalism of up to 5,880 ppm (0.59 percent) total rare earth oxide (TREO+Y) and neodymium and praseodymium (Nd+Pr) of up to 21 percent.
- Caligula prospect - Initially identified on the roadside, the Caligula prospect is a large and significant target for porphyry copper mineralisation.
- Three New Exploration Licences: Impact applied for three new exploration licences expanding Arkun project along trend from the recently discovered REE soil geochemistry anomalies at Hyperion, Swordfish and Horseshoe as well as the Caligula copper anomaly.
Management Team
Peter Unsworth - Non-executive Chairman
Peter Unsworth, formerly a chartered accountant, has over 35 years of experience in the corporate finance, investment and securities industries and a wealth of management experience with public and private companies. A former executive director with a leading Western Australian stockbroking company, Unsworth has been a director of several public exploration and mining companies. He recently completed a long time serving as chairman of the Western Australian Government-owned Gold Corporation (operator of The Perth Mint). Unsworth is the founding chairman of Impact Minerals.
Dr. Mike Jones - Managing Director
Dr. Mike Jones is the founding managing director of Impact Minerals Limited, which was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in November 2006. Reporting to the board of directors, he is responsible for the company's performance as it moves towards production at its Lake Hope High Purity Alumina Project and also for implementing strategies to explore and maximize the value of the company's other extensive tenement holdings.
Since listing, he has helped raise more than $60 million to help fund the exploration of Impact’s projects and managed the company through significant adverse events, including the global financial crisis and the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which affected Impact’s considerable investment in the uranium sector, a five-year global downturn in the mining sector and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paul Ingram - Non-executive Director
Paul Ingram is a geologist with extensive experience managing major mineral exploration programs for several publicly listed companies and has been involved in the mining sector for over thirty years. He has designed and implemented innovative techniques for exploration in remote areas and has managed projects in countries throughout Australia and East Asia. Ingram has been a director of the following listed companies in the past three years: Polo Resources from January 2008 to January 2011; A-Cap Resources since June 2009; Consolidated Global Investments since September 2006; Caledon Resources from February 2003 to March 2008; and Australian Pacific Coal since March 2011.
Dr Frank Bierlein - Non-executive Director
Dr. Frank Bierlein is a geologist with 30 years of experience as a consultant, researcher, lecturer and industry professional. Bierlein has held exploration and generative geology management positions with QMSD Mining, Qatar Mining, Afmeco Australia and Areva NC, and consulted for, among others, Newmont Gold, Resolute Mining, Goldfields International, Freeport McMoRan, and the International Atomic Energy Agency. He is currently a non-executive director of PNX Metals. He was previously a non-executive director of Gold Australia NL and chaired the advisory board of a Luxembourg-based private equity fund between 2014 and 2021.
Kirgella Gift and Providence: First Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 76,400 oz Au from only 3m depth
Highlights
- First Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate for Kirgella Gift and Providence of: 2.34 Mt @ 1.0 g/t Au for 76,400 oz at a 0.5 g/t gold cut-off from only 3m depth.
- Gold mineralisation remains open at depth and along strike between Kirgella Gift and Providence:
- Potential for significant resource growth and upgrade following additional drilling to expand on unclassified blocks outside current model limits.
- Highly economic discovery with KalGold’s direct exploration expenditure cost (drilling and assay) of only ~A$4.20 per gold ounce.
- KalGold’s Total Mineral Resource base, comprising this new resource from the Pinjin Project, and the La Mascotte deposit at Bulong Taurus (see ASX: KAL 7th March 2023), now stands at 214,300 oz.
- Elevated gold price of over A$3,600/oz continues to drive interest in mineable gold projects.
KalGold Managing Director and CEO Matt Painter said:
“KalGold is proud to report the first Mineral Resource Estimate at the Kirgella Gift and Providence gold deposits. It totals ~76,000 oz defined at over 1.0 g/t Au from only 3m depth, remains open in several directions, and is considered the first step in defining the full potential of the Kirgella Gift and Providence gold deposits. Pleasingly, we have defined a shallow gold resource at a very low cost to the Company of around A$4.20 per gold ounce.
The Kirgella and Providence mineral resource estimate is comparable to other deposits within the Laverton Tectonic Zone and is considered typical of the region. This is particularly true of some of the constituent deposits at Ramelius Resources’ (ASX:RMS) Rebecca Gold Project, around 20 km to the south along strike.
KalGold now has defined a total resource base of 214,300 oz of gold. The increased resource base enables KalGold to commence high level mining optimisation studies to assess pathways to production. KalGold looks forward to continuing to progress its work in the Pinjin area with the aim of significantly growing this initial JORC Code (2012) resource and defining a suite of additional shallow resources.”
First Gold MRE at KalGold’s Pinjin Project
The Inferred MRE of 2.34 Mt @ 1.0 g/t Au for 76,400 oz Au has been defined at a 0.5 g/t gold cut-off from the Company’s recent drill focus on the shallow portion of the Kirgella Gift and adjacent Providence gold deposits (see Table 1), combined with thoroughly validated historic datasets. Work continues on both deposits, with gold mineralisation open at depth and along strike between the two. This MRE is expected to form the basis of future updates as drilling and exploration continues.
Table 1 – Kirgella Gift and Providence Mineral Resource at a 0.5 g/t gold cut-off Note totals may not sum due to rounding.Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Kalgoorlie Gold Mining Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Acquisition of Mubende Gold Project, Uganda
HIGHLIGHTS
- The granted exploration license EL00379 covers 202 square kilometres in the Mubende region west of Kampala and includes the highly prospective Bukuya prospect.
- The Bukuya prospect is currently being mined by 60-80 artisanal workers over 600 metres of prospective strike and remains open along strike and at depth.
- Rock chip samples taken from a recent site visit to the Bukuya prospect by consultant geologists returned numerous specimens containing visible gold in both ferro-manganese and quartz veins.
- Experienced in-country technical team appointed including Mr Dylan le Roux and Mr Allan Agumya to manage exploration activities.
- Field activities scheduled to commence 05 August 2024.
Commenting on the acquisition Managing Director Mr Mathew Walker stated, “We are delighted to have secured a significant land holding that has prospectivity confirmed by a strong presence of artisanal mining activity. Uganda has a well established gold mining industry and regulatory protocols that add to the appeal of the acquisition. We look forward to the commencement of field activities in the immediate term.”
MUBENDE GOLD PROJECT
The Mubende Gold Project is an extensive landholding of 202 square kilometers that covers a series of metasediments, predominantly characterized by meta-wacke’s and phyllitic slates, with occasional interbedded quartzite units and mafic volcanics. Late-stage granites have intruded the metasediments, mainly in the southern part of the license.
Figure 1: Regional Map with locations of Sifang licenses.
At the Bukuya prospect, wall rock consists of metapelitic units with vertical foliation trending NW in most shafts, turning EW in the northern artisanal shafts. Mineralization appears confined to a deformation zone within the metapelites and hosts three subsets of veins exploited by artisanal workers. The first subset includes quartz veins with hematite mineralization, iron-oxide staining, and goethite/limonite-filled vugs, seen in southern shafts with NW trending foliation. The second subset comprises metallic veins of blueish-grey and black ferro-manganese mineralisation with botryoidal textures and specular hematite, found in northern shafts with EW trending foliation. The third set comprises massive milky white quartz veins.
These veins are described in more detail below.
Type 1 (Iron-rich quartz veins): These are quartz veins that show varying degrees of ferro(-manganese) mineralisation. Mineralisation occurs as hematite (red), specular hematite (dark silver/black), and a lesser degree of manganese (botryoidal, blue-grey to black). Vugs filled with limonitic material is often seen in these veins and is interpreted to represent leached out sulphides. These veins are seen in the SE of the Bukuya site. They are typically decimetre to metre scale and are foliation concordant (vertical to subvertical with dominantly NW trend).
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from eMetals Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Impact Minerals Limited Investor Kit
- Corporate info
- Insights
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- Upcoming projects