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Impact Minerals Limited
Investor Insight
With a mining lease application underway and a scoping study that shows excellent economics, Impact Minerals’ game-changing, advanced Lake Hope high-purity alumina project makes for a compelling investment case.
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 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. It is mainly used 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.
With a mining lease application pending, Impact 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 Al2O3) 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.
Lake Hope has 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, and later reached a key milestone by producing 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 in late 2024.
A comparison of the LTL process and the sulphate process
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 has been awarded a $2.87 million grant for the commercialisation of its innovative process to produce High Purity Alumina (HPA) from the Lake Hope deposit. The grant is under the Federal Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P) program which fosters short-term, industry-led research collaborations. The grant is part of an estimated $6.4 million research and development project to be completed within three years and designed to provide Impact with the relevant information required to complete a definitive feasibility. A key component of the grant funding will be to construct a pilot plant, which is a key goal for 2025, and this will provide consistent material for off-take and qualification trials.
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 toward production.
- The 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 scheduled to be completed by Q4 2024. A mining lease application for the Lake Hope High Purity Alumina (HPA) was recently lodged with the aim of being granted by 2026.
- 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 that motivate further exploration. Maiden drill programmes are planned for early 2025.
- The company is also exploring its Broken Hill copper project in New South Wales following a major grant under the auspices of the BHP Xplor program in 2023..
- A strong management team leads the company with experience in geology, mining and corporate finance.
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Developing the lowest-cost HPA project in Australia
Nine Mile samples up to 18.27% Cu at Wedge
As previously reported, the Cominco drill data were acquired by Nine Mile and formatted to facilitate modelling. With the addition of Mike Dufresne, MSc, PGeol, PGeo, of Apex Geoscience Ltd. to the technical advisory committee, the company provided the technical database to Apex for 3-D modelling and drill hole targeting. Data provided included all historic drill holes and assays in addition to the recent successful drilling conducted by Nine Mile. To further assist in targeting, the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) magnetics and borehole electromagnetic (BHEM) data collected by EarthEx Geophysical Solutions Inc. was integrated into the modelling in addition to the initial, reprocessed MegaTEM conductivity interpretation that highlighted the Wedge and the Wedge VMS trend.
At the Wedge mine's western extension (Target 2), modelling has focused on the unmined portions of the deposit with drill holes targeting a copper-rich lens to the west and the unexplored depth extension below 150 metres, where recent drilling and historical cross-sections indicate mineralization occurring to a minimum depth of 300 metres. Apex is designing a sequence of drill holes to test the seven modelled TDEM (time-domain electromagnetic) conductivity plates adjacent to the Tribag VMS occurrence identified by EarthEx (Target 3).
In preparation for drilling, prospecting was conducted at surface in an area proximal to the proposed drill collars along the western flank of the Wedge mine stepping out to test the expansion westward of the mine footprint. A total of 19 samples were catalogued, photographed, and then analyzed with a portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) instrument utilizing an Olympus Vanta 50 portable 50-kilovolt workstation and Reflex XRF software to provide instant real-time geochemical information. Each sample was analyzed in three separate locations and the results averaged by the Reflex XRF software. The XRF process included calibrating the machine and utilizing two standards in the sample stream (OREAS622 and CDN-BL-10) twice during analysis. The results are presented in Table 1. The samples have been forwarded to ALS Global in Moncton, N.B., for preparation, with final geochemical analysis conducted in Vancouver, B.C.
Highlights:
- Samples were massive VMS (copper-lead-zinc) mineralization collected at the coming Wedge drill area.
- The samples were weathered and predominantly copper rich with minor lead/zinc.
- Most samples consisted of 90 per cent plus sulphides and minor quartz and accessory minerals.
Samples 280370 and 280375 are examples of the massive high-grade cooper sulphide mineralization. The samples were collected in the area immediately to the northeast of proposed drill holes 25WG-01 and 25WD-02.
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Mr. Dufresne, Apex's president and an independent consultant and technical adviser, commented that these high-quality conductivity targets at the Wedge mine's western extension and TriBag target line up with the horizons that have yielded high-quality VMS drill intersections at the Main Wedge deposit and, based upon the modelling to date, could provide some new exciting discoveries for Nine Mile with the planned drilling.
Gary Lohman, PGeo, vice-president, exploration, stated: "With the provincial-wide fire ban lifted and Apex Geoscience's 3-D modelling complete, the team is looking forward to drilling at the Wedge mine's western extension. With the assistance of Apex, two main zones of mineralization have been identified, one copper rich and another primarily lead/zinc. Targeting has been refined by leveraging the extensive geological and geophysical data (including recent borehole EM and plate modelling), allowing us to prioritize copper mineralization in the upcoming program. This western extension area is the high-grade section of the deposit focused on the copper-rich lens. These massive sulphide samples clearly demonstrate the potential of this untapped area at depth. We are building on last year's new eastern extension successes with our eight VMS drill holes with results of 136.31 metres of 0.68 per cent copper equivalent, including 40 metres of 2.03 per cent copper equivalent (see news release [dated March 26, 2024]). A key aspect here is testing this deposit at depth and how far it extends westward resulting in additional new tonnage."
Qualified person
The technical content of this news release pertaining to the Wedge project was reviewed and approved by Mr. Lohman, a non-independent qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
About Nine Mile Metals Ltd.
Nine Mile Metals is a Canadian public mineral exploration company focused on VMS (copper, lead, zinc, silver and gold) exploration in the world-famous Bathurst mining camp in New Brunswick, Canada. The company's primary business objective is to explore its four VMS projects: the Nine Mile Brook VMS project, the California Lake VMS project, the Canoe Landing Lake (East West) project and the Wedge VMS project. The company is focused on exploration of minerals for technology, positioning for the boom in EV (electric vehicle) and green technologies requiring copper, silver, lead and zinc with a hedge with gold.
We seek Safe Harbor.
Empire Metals Limited Announces Appointment of Marketing Manager
- Appointment of Marketing Manager, Michael Tamlin, to lead product strategy and end-user engagement.
- Partnership with TiPMC Consulting extended, providing strategic titanium market insights.
- Bulk metallurgical testwork progressing well, producing concentrate for downstream processing and larger product samples for end-user evaluation.
Appointment of Marketing Managerto Accelerate Product Development
Empire has appointed Mr. Michael Tamlin as Marketing Manager, which is aligned with the Company's objective to optimise product development, assess commercial process flowsheet options and progress the Project toward a feasibility study.
Further strengthening the Company's in-house product development capabilities. Mr. Tamlin is a metallurgist with over 30 years' experience in the resources sector, including senior roles in marketing and commercialising mineral products. Most recently, he served as Head of Lithium at Neometals Ltd, where he was responsible for managing the pilot development and commercialisation of the ELi™ lithium hydroxide production process in joint venture with Mineral Resources Ltd. His expertise will be instrumental in building Pitfield's product strategy and engaging with potential end-users in high-value titanium markets.
Continuing Partnership with TiPMC Consulting:
Empire has extended its consultancy agreement with TiPMC, a highly respected, US-based titanium industry consultancy. TiPMC will provide oversight of the titanium pigment and metal markets and provide guidance to the Company's technical and marketing team as they continue to develop the processing flowsheet and optimise the products.
Commenting on the announcement, Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said:
"I am delighted to welcome Michael to our team. His extensive marketing expertise will be invaluable as we move toward defining the economic potential and product strategy for Pitfield. This appointment marks an important next step towards building a strong, in-house team, an approach which has been key to our successful and rapid progress.
"We are also very pleased to continue to be working with TiPMC Consulting, whose reputation and experience in the titanium industry is unparalleled."
Product Development Update
Initial results from the large-scale metallurgical testwork programme, involving mineral separation techniques that required bulk feed samples of between approximately 0.5 to 1.5 tonnes each, was announced on 28 August 2025. The bulk testwork programme is progressing well, focusing on ore scrubbing, desliming and gravity spiral testwork, as well as flotation testwork on both the fines fraction, separated in the desliming step, and whole of ore samples. Large scale scrubbing and spiral gravity testwork has been completed on Thomas and Cosgrove weathered sandstone bulk samples and the screened fines have been sent for flotation testwork. As part of this programme, mineral concentrates will be produced for downstream processing, testing both hydrometallurgical and product finishing flowsheet concepts.
This bulk testwork programme will produce significant volumes of concentrates which will feed into the product development and optimisation testwork and result in larger product samples which can be delivered to potential end users for assessment. The role of Marketing Manager will be fundamental to identifying these potential end users and for the development of a high value customer base for a variety of titanium products from Pitfield.
The Marketing Manager will also be responsible for conducting market research, focusing on high value end uses and likely consumers, preparing a Marketing Strategy and Marketing Presentation for the Project and for identifying key customers and suitable product suites in advance of sending out marketing enquiries and product samples.
About TiPMC Consulting
TiPMC Consulting provides independent consulting analyses, perspectives and recommendations for financial as well as industry functions and segments. Their expertise includes thorough reviews of business data as well as the operational, technical, and marketing functionalities for mining, metals, pigments, and chemical industry segments.
Their industry clients recognize the value of their incisive focus on the TiO2 value chain as well as associated businesses, including thorough reviews of fluorochemicals, fluoropolymers, titanium metal and alloys, costings, and other industries associated with the titanium value chain.
The Pitfield Titanium Project
Located within the Mid-West region of Western Australia, near the northern wheatbelt town of Three Springs, the Pitfield titanium project lies 313km north of Perth and 156km southeast of Geraldton, the Mid West region's capital and major port. Western Australia is a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction and has mining-friendly policies, stable government, transparency, and advanced technology expertise. Pitfield has existing connections to port (both road & rail), HV power substations, and is nearby to natural gas pipelines (refer Figure 2).
Figure 2. Pitfield Project Location showing theMid-West Region Infrastructure and Services.
Competent Person Statement
The scientific and technical information in this report that relates to process metallurgy is based on information reviewed by Ms Narelle Marriott, an employee of Empire Metals Australia Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Empire. Ms Marriott is a member of the AusIMM and has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the JORC Code 2012. Ms. Marriott consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on their information in the form and context in which it appears.
The technical information in this report that relates to the geology and exploration of the Pitfield Project has been compiled by Mr Andrew Faragher, an employee of Empire Metals Australia Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Empire. Mr. Faragher is a member of the AusIMM and has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the JORC Code 2012. Mr Faragher consents to the inclusion in this release of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
**ENDS**
For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk or contact:
About Empire Metals Limited
Empire Metals is an AIM-listed and OTCQX-traded exploration and resource development company (LON: EEE,OTCQX: EPMLF) with a primary focus on developing Pitfield, an emerging giant titanium project in Western Australia.
The high-grade titanium discovery at Pitfield is of unprecedented scale, with airborne surveys identifying a massive, coincident gravity and magnetics anomaly extending over 40km by 8km by 5km deep. Drill results have indicated excellent continuity in grades and consistency of the in-situ mineralised beds and confirm that the sandstone beds hold the higher-grade titanium dioxide (TiO₂) values within the interbedded succession of sandstones, siltstones and conglomerates. The Company is focused on two key prospects (Cosgrove and Thomas), which have been identified as having thick, high-grade, near-surface, in-situ bedded TiO₂ mineralisation, each being over 7km in strike length.
An Exploration Target* for Pitfield was declared in 2024, covering the Thomas and Cosgrove mineral prospects, and was estimated to contain between 26.4 to 32.2 billion tonnes with a grade range of 4.5 to 5.5% TiO2. Included within the total Exploration Target* is a subset that covers the in-situ weathered sandstone zone, which extends from surface to an average vertical depth of 30m to 40m and is estimated to contain between 4.0 to 4.9 billion tonnes with a grade range of 4.8 to 5.9% TiO2.
The Exploration Target* covers an area less than 20% of the overall mineral system at Pitfield which demonstrates the potential for significant further upside.
Empire is now accelerating the economic development of Pitfield, with a vision to produce a high-value titanium metal or pigment quality product at Pitfield, to realise the full value potential of this exceptional deposit.
The Company also has two further exploration projects in Australia; the Eclipse Project and the Walton Project in Western Australia, in addition to three precious metals projects located in a historically high-grade gold producing region of Austria.
*The potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource. See RNS dated 12 June 2024 for full details.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
Empire Metals Limited Announces Director/PDMR Shareholding
**ENDS**
For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk or contact:
About Empire Metals Limited
Empire Metals is an AIM-listedand OTCQX-traded exploration and resource development company (LON: EEE,OTCQX: EPMLF) with a primary focus on developing Pitfield, an emerging giant titanium project in Western Australia.
The high-grade titanium discovery at Pitfield is of unprecedented scale, with airborne surveys identifying a massive, coincident gravity and magnetics anomaly extending over 40km by 8km by 5km deep. Drill results have indicated excellent continuity in grades and consistency of the in-situ mineralised beds and confirm that the sandstone beds hold the higher-grade titanium dioxide (TiO₂) values within the interbedded succession of sandstones, siltstones and conglomerates. The Company is focused on two key prospects (Cosgrove and Thomas), which have been identified as having thick, high-grade, near-surface, in-situ bedded TiO₂ mineralisation, each being over 7km in strike length.
An Exploration Target* for Pitfield was declared in 2024, covering the Thomas and Cosgrove mineral prospects, and was estimated to contain between 26.4 to 32.2 billion tonnes with a grade range of 4.5 to 5.5% TiO2. Included within the total Exploration Target* is a subset that covers the in-situ weathered sandstone zone, which extends from surface to an average vertical depth of 30m to 40m and is estimated to contain between 4.0 to 4.9 billion tonnes with a grade range of 4.8 to 5.9% TiO2.
The Exploration Target* covers an area less than 20% of the overall mineral system at Pitfield which demonstrates the potential for significant further upside.
Empire is now accelerating the economic development of Pitfield, with a vision to produce a high-value titanium metal or pigment quality product at Pitfield, to realise the full value potential of this exceptional deposit.
The Company also has two further exploration projects in Australia; the Eclipse Project and the Walton Project in Western Australia, in addition to three precious metals projects located in a historically high-grade gold producing region of Austria.
*The potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource. See RNS dated 12 June 2024 for full details.
NOTIFICATION AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF TRANSACTIONS BY PERSONS DISCHARGING MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND PERSONS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THEM
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
Empire Metals Limited Announces Company Update
Overview
- Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate on track for release in October 2025.
- The maiden MRE will provide a platform for mine scoping studies.
- Expanded metallurgical testwork and optimisation programmes are underway, leading to continuous pilot-scale operations.
Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, commented:
"Empire has achieved exceptional progress at Pitfield in a very short time and its operational trajectory continues to impress. The combination of outstanding drill results, breakthrough metallurgy, and further injection of capital in May has transformed the Company. These fundamentals remain unchanged and continue to strengthen. Pitfield is now firmly established as a project of global significance, with a unique combination of scale, grade and processing simplicity that sets it apart from other titanium projects worldwide.
"We look forward to sharing further milestones in the coming weeks as we add further tangible value to the Company through the delineation of a maiden MRE at Pitfield."
**ENDS**
For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk or contact:
About Empire Metals Limited
Empire Metals is an AIM-listed and OTCQX-traded exploration and resource development company (LON: EEE, OTCQX: EPMLF) with a primary focus on developing Pitfield, an emerging giant titanium project in Western Australia.
The high-grade titanium discovery at Pitfield is of unprecedented scale, with airborne surveys identifying a massive, coincident gravity and magnetics anomaly extending over 40km by 8km by 5km deep. Drill results have indicated excellent continuity in grades and consistency of the in-situ mineralised beds and confirm that the sandstone beds hold the higher-grade titanium dioxide (TiO₂) values within the interbedded succession of sandstones, siltstones and conglomerates. The Company is focused on two key prospects (Cosgrove and Thomas), which have been identified as having thick, high-grade, near-surface, in-situ bedded TiO₂ mineralisation, each being over 7km in strike length.
An Exploration Target* for Pitfield was declared in 2024, covering the Thomas and Cosgrove mineral prospects, and was estimated to contain between 26.4 to 32.2 billion tonnes with a grade range of 4.5 to 5.5% TiO2. Included within the total Exploration Target* is a subset that covers the in-situ weathered sandstone zone, which extends from surface to an average vertical depth of 30m to 40m and is estimated to contain between 4.0 to 4.9 billion tonnes with a grade range of 4.8 to 5.9% TiO2.
The Exploration Target* covers an area less than 20% of the overall mineral system at Pitfield which demonstrates the potential for significant further upside.
Empire is now accelerating the economic development of Pitfield, with a vision to produce a high-value titanium metal or pigment quality product at Pitfield, to realise the full value potential of this exceptional deposit.
The Company also has two further exploration projects in Australia; the Eclipse Project and the Walton Project in Western Australia, in addition to three precious metals projects located in a historically high-grade gold producing region of Austria
*The potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource. See RNS dated 12 June 2024 for full details.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
High-Grade Copper-Gold Extensions at Nugent
High Grade Copper-Gold mineralisation extensions discovered during extensional and infill drilling at Nugent, with multiple outstanding intersections returned, including:
- 21m @ 0.85% Cu + 0.98g/t Au from 136m downhole in 25KVUG0653
- 15m @ 0.91% Cu + 0.29g/t Au from 161m downhole in 25KVUG0653
- 11.5m @ 0.99% Cu + 0.79g/t Au from 145.5m downhole in 25KVUG0543
- Including 4m @ 1.93% Cu +1.14g/t Au from 153m
- 8m @ 0.85% Cu + 0.36g/t Au from 177m downhole in 25KVUG0555
- 5m @ 1.43% Cu + 0.34g/t Au from 194m downhole in 25KVUG0555
- 3m @ 0.98% Cu + 0.99g/t Au from 171m downhole in 25KVUG0559
- 4m @ 0.76% Cu + 0.46g/t Au from 177m downhole in 25KVUG0559
Figure 1: Plan View of drilling showing the high Gold grades intersected at the Southern end of Nugent against the 2024 MRE sliced at the 1020 metre RL displaying Gold grades.
Commenting on the drilling results, Hillgrove CEO and Managing Director, Bob Fulker said:
“It is encouraging that each time we test a geological theory we continue to identify additional mineralisation and gain a better understanding of the controls on mineralisation. These results are very exciting, as they provide a greater understanding of the Gold distribution throughout Nugent. It was previously thought that the Southern extent of Nugent had lower Gold grade, based on previous drilling, but these results show this is not the case.
It is also pleasing that as we drill beyond our current understanding of the Nugent ore body, we continue to encounter an expanding alteration corridor with Copper and Gold mineralisation within it. The Nugent 1020 Southern Ore Drive will commence stoping in the December quarter this year.”
Figure 2: View towards the east showing the high Copper grades intersected at the Southern end of Nugent against the 2024 MRE displaying Copper Grades
The Nugent drilling completed to date has targeted resource definition, with the focus shifting in recent weeks to grade control as first Nugent production draws closer. The recent assays from the 1010 diamond drill site have a dual purpose of both grade control and resource definition, with the results sitting further south-west than previously identified from resource drilling at surface. The high-grade intersections include 21metres @ 0.85% Cu and 0.98g/t Au (uncut) from 136 metres downhole in 25KVUG0653 and 11.5 metres @ 0.99% Cu & 0.79g/t Au (uncut) from 145.5 metres downhole in 25KVUG0543. These results improve the understanding of high-grade geometry and interaction of the Copper and Gold bearing fluids in the alteration corridor.
Drilling is ongoing for both stope definition and resource expansion throughout the Kanmantoo system, with upcoming Nugent drilling planned to target the northern end of the 1020 level. This will provide input into future planning alongside operational requirements for stope and development designs. Drilling is currently underway from the 1010 diamond drill site targeting Emily Star, with initial results pending.
Figure 1 above details the location of significant intersections relating to the current 2024 Kanmantoo Mineral Resource Estimate1 gold values, with gold results displayed for the drilling results. The full list of significant intersections is included in Table 1 below. Figure 2 above details a section view of drilling results showing the Copper results against the 2024 Kanmantoo Mineral Resource Estimate1 Copper values.
Drilling from underground remains on track to achieve the target of 60,000 metres by the end of the calendar year. August delivered 8,114.6 metres of diamond drilling, which is a record for the company to date. Year-to-date, a total of 42,816.2 metres has been drilled. An updated Resource estimation will be released in the December quarter 2025 inclusive of drilling results up to mid-August.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Hillgrove Resources, 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.
Empire Metals Limited Announces Director/PDMR Shareholding
Empire Metals Limited (LON:EEE)(OTCQX:EPMLF), the AIM-quoted resource exploration and development company, announces that it was notified today that Mr Greg Kuenzel, Finance Director, purchased 111,091 ordinary shares of no par value in the share capital of the Company ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 45 pence each.
Following this purchase, Mr Kuenzel's total beneficial ownership in the Company is 3,969,669 Ordinary Shares representing 0.57% of the Company's issued share capital.
**ENDS**
For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk or contact:
About Empire Metals Limited
Empire Metals is an AIM-listed and OTCQX-traded exploration and resource development company (LON: EEE, OTCQX: EPMLF) with a primary focus on developing Pitfield, an emerging giant titanium project in Western Australia.
The high-grade titanium discovery at Pitfield is of unprecedented scale, with airborne surveys identifying a massive, coincident gravity and magnetics anomaly extending over 40km by 8km by 5km deep. Drill results have indicated excellent continuity in grades and consistency of the in-situ mineralised beds and confirm that the sandstone beds hold the higher-grade titanium dioxide (TiO₂) values within the interbedded succession of sandstones, siltstones and conglomerates. The Company is focused on two key prospects (Cosgrove and Thomas), which have been identified as having thick, high-grade, near-surface, in-situ bedded TiO₂ mineralisation, each being over 7km in strike length.
An Exploration Target* for Pitfield was declared in 2024, covering the Thomas and Cosgrove mineral prospects, and was estimated to contain between 26.4 to 32.2 billion tonnes with a grade range of 4.5 to 5.5% TiO2. Included within the total Exploration Target* is a subset that covers the in-situ weathered sandstone zone, which extends from surface to an average vertical depth of 30m to 40m and is estimated to contain between 4.0 to 4.9 billion tonnes with a grade range of 4.8 to 5.9% TiO2.
The Exploration Target* covers an area less than 20% of the overall mineral system at Pitfield which demonstrates the potential for significant further upside.
Empire is now accelerating the economic development of Pitfield, with a vision to produce a high-value titanium metal or pigment quality product at Pitfield, to realise the full value potential of this exceptional deposit.
The Company also has two further exploration projects in Australia; the Eclipse Project and the Walton Project in Western Australia, in addition to three precious metals projects located in a historically high-grade gold producing region of Austria.
*The potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource. See RNS dated 12 June 2024 for full details.
NOTIFICATION AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF TRANSACTIONS BY PERSONS DISCHARGING MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND PERSONS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THEM
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.