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A Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) is now underway at Impact Minerals Limited’s (ASX: IPT) advanced Lake Hope High Purity Alumina (HPA) Project in Western Australia.
The Project, in which Impact is earning an 80% interest, offers the Company the opportunity to become a low-cost entrant into the HPA chemical market, a high-margin business forecast to grow strongly over the next decade (ASX Release March 21st 2023).
Lake Hope contains a globally unique deposit of high-grade aluminium clay minerals in the top few metres of a playa salt lake, which has unique physical and chemical properties that will allow for low- cost mining and offsite metallurgical processing via a novel and cost-disruptive acid leaching process.
Preliminary economic studies indicate that the production of HPA and related products from Lake Hope will be cost-competitive with current producers and other developers in Australia and globally (ASX Release March 21st 2023).
Impact has appointed the following experienced companies to undertake the work programs for the PFS, which will be completed over the next 12 to 18 months, as well as the work required to lodge a Mining Lease Application in early Quarter 3 this year:
Maiden Resource Estimation: H and S Consultants, Brisbane. H and S are well-known resource estimation specialists with specific experience in resource calculations for deposits in Western Australian playa lakes.
Environmental and Approvals Process Consultants: Biota Environmental Services, Perth. Biota will complete flora and fauna surveys and also help coordinate the approvals process for the Mining Lease Application.
Metallurgical Consultants: Strategic Metallurgy, Perth. Strategic will help oversee and manage the optimisation test work programme for the novel acid leach process, which is currently already underway at ALS Laboratories in Perth. Strategic will also complete process flow sheet design and preliminary engineering studies.
Mining Studies: The Mining Engineer Mine Consulting (TME). TME will complete initial mine optimization studies for Lake Hope, which will likely be mined on a campaign basis every few years.
Financial Modelling: Platek Analytics. Platek Analytics will review Impact’s internal economic model for both the PFS and a Scoping Study, which will be released following the completion of the Mineral Resource Estimate.
The entire PFS will be managed by Roland Gotthard, who discovered the Lake Hope Project and has now joined Impact as Project Manager.
Impact's Managing Director, Dr Mike Jones, said: “We have hit the ground running since announcing the transformational joint venture at Lake Hope. At short notice, we have assembled a first-class team of consultants to complete the Pre-Feasibility Study work programs over the next 12 to 18 months and drive us towards production. In addition, this work will allow us to release a Maiden Resource and an initial Scoping Study over the next two months, as well as lodge a Mining Lease application in the third Quarter of this year. We have never been busier as we become the next "playa” in HPA.”
About the Lake Hope Project
The Lake Hope Project covers numerous prospective salt lakes between Hyden and Norseman in southern Western Australia, a Tier One jurisdiction (Figure 1). It comprises one granted exploration licence (E63/2086), covering the Lake Hope deposit already discovered, together with five further exploration licence applications (ELA63/2317, 2318 and 2319, and ELA74/673 and 764) which are poorly explored. The tenements cover about 238 km2 and are all 100% owned by Playa One.
Figure 1. Location of Playa One tenements with options for trucking and off-site processing.
Geology
The salt lakes of Western Australia are well known for their unique and complex hydrogeochemistry, which has led to the formation of a wide variety of economic minerals and brines within the playa systems. These include the world-class Yeelirrie uranium deposit (>100 Mlb U3O8), significant potash brines, gypsum and lime-sand resources.
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
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.
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 is 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: A mining lease application is currently underway. 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.
- Mining Lease Application: Amining lease application was lodged in mid-2024 over the West Lake resource while a miscellaneous licence application (L63/99) was lodged to cover mine infrastructure and haulage road.
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 in 2023 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.
Gold Price 2024 Year-End Review
Read on for more on what factors moved the gold price in Q4, followed by a look back at the entire year.
Gold price in Q4
The gold price began Q4 at US$2,660.30, but quickly saw a retraction to US$2,608.40 on October 9. However, the decline didn't last, and gold again rose, setting a new record high of US$2,785.40 on October 30.
The surge upward was fueled by a weaker-than-expected September US consumer price index report, which showed annual inflation of 2.4 percent and monthly inflation of 0.2 percent. These numbers were higher than analysts' forecasts of 2.3 and 0.1 percent, raising expectations that the Fed would cut rates at its November meeting.
Gold was in retreat to start November, dropping to US$2,664 on November 6 after Trump’s victory. The next day, it briefly surged above the US$2,700 mark as the Fed cut interest rates by 25 basis points on November 7.
By November 15, the price of gold had fallen to its quarterly low of US$2,562.50.
The end of the month saw gold leap to US$2,715.80 on November 22. Following this peak, gold entered December below the US$2,700 mark, closing at US$2,660.50 on December 9.
Gold price, Q4 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
Geopolitical impacts have been important to gold in Q4.
In addition to Trump's re-election, which has caused turmoil in various forms, on November 17 the US authorized Ukraine to use ATACMS long-range missiles to attack targets deeper into Russian territory. The UK and France mirrored this move, giving Ukraine the green light to use long-range missiles in the ongoing conflict.
Tensions continued to ratchet up in the days following as Russia announced it was lowering the threshold for nuclear retaliation to include conventional attacks from countries backed by nuclear nations. In a demonstration of its capabilities, Russia launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile for the first time on November 21. While the missile appeared only to carry inert warheads, it is capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear armaments.
The threat of a significant escalation has bolstered gold’s appeal as a safe-haven asset and store of value.
How did gold perform for the rest of the year?
Gold price in Q1
Gold set its first record price of the year at US$2,251.37 on March 31.
Central bank buying, notably China's purchase of 22 metric tons of gold in the first two months of the year, supported the price. Turkey, Kazakhstan and India also significantly increased their holdings at the start of the year.
Further momentum came from Chinese wholesale demand, which jumped to 271 metric tons in January, the strongest ever recorded. Investors were turning to the yellow metal as a defense against falling real estate and stock prices. At that time, the country's stocks had lost nearly US$5 trillion in value over the past three years.
Gold price, Q1 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
“As central banks continue to be significant buyers and geopolitical risks and global uncertainties drive investors towards the perceived safety of gold, the current environment underscores gold’s importance as a strategic asset for portfolio diversification and risk mitigation. Therefore, while there may have been a perception of western disinterest in gold, recent developments indicate a sustained and broad-based demand for the precious metal,” Joe Cavatoni, market strategist, Americas, told the Investing News Network (INN) in an email at the time.
Gold price in Q2
The gold price saw increasing momentum in Q2, setting a new all-time of US$2,450.05 on May 20.
Gains through the quarter were influenced by strong central bank demand. Investor sentiment toward the yellow metal also shifted, with outflows from western exchange-traded funds starting to slow.
Although European funds still saw significant declines, it wasn’t all bad news — the US-based SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE:GLD), the Sprott Physical Gold Trust (NYSE:PHYS), Ireland’s Royal Mint Responsibly Sourced Physical Gold ETC (LSE:RMAU) and Switzerland’s UBS ETF Gold (SWX:AUUSI) all saw increases.
Gold price, Q2 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
In a May interview with INN, Jeff Clark, editor of Paydirt Prospector, noted several other market dynamics that caused the price of gold to rise dramatically. He said the real starting point for the precious metal's gains was the end of February, when the Fed indicated it was expecting three or four rate cuts in 2024.
“All of a sudden, gold was off to the races. It jumped so high that suddenly, you had some short covering that needed to happen then as well. So you had short covering, which means they’re buying. And then you had momentum chasers and traders jumping all in. That was a pretty good spike ... that's what kind of started all of this,” he said.
Gold price in Q3
Gold set another record price during the third quarter, reaching US$2,672.51 on September 26.
The high came just a week after the conclusion of the Fed's September meeting, when it announced a jumbo 50 basis point cut to the federal funds rate. While the People’s Bank of China maintained its pause on gold purchases in the third quarter, it granted several regional banks new import quotas in August.
Gold price, Q3 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
David Barrett, CEO of the UK division of global brokerage firm EBC Financial Group, suggested at the time that Fed rate cuts were less of a factor for gold than central bank buying. “I still see the global central bank buying as the main driver — as it has been over the last 15 years. This demand removes supply from the market. They are the ultimate buy-and-hold participants and have been buying massive amounts,” he told INN via email.
The quarter also saw significant merger and acquisition activity, with South Africa-based Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI,JSE:GFI) announcing plans to acquire Canada’s Osisko Mining (TSX:OSK) for C$2.16 billion, and South African gold miner AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) agreeing to purchase UK-based Centamin (TSX:CEE,LSE:CEY) for US$2.5 billion.
Investor takeaway
Overall, uncertainty has been a key driver for gold in 2024.
Central banks have continued to increase their physical holdings against an increasingly polarized political landscape. The most recent data from the World Gold Council shows that they added 186 metric tons of gold to their coffers during the third quarter, with the National Bank of Poland leading the way with 42 metric tons.
The World Gold Council notes that on a rolling four-quarter basis, central bank buying has slowed to 909 metric tons — that's compared to 1,215 metric tons one year ago.
Investors also began returning to the precious metal throughout 2024 as geopolitical tensions and fragile economies pushed them toward gold as a safe haven to help shield their portfolios from volatility.
With the world’s largest economy set to welcome Trump back to the White House in 2025, there are many unknowns. His economic policies could cause inflation to begin creeping up. In contrast, his foreign policies could create new ripples through global trade and financial markets given that he campaigned on more protectionist policies.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.
Brightstar Resources
Investor Insight
A gold-focused emerging gold producer with a clear pathway to production growth, Brightstar Resources presents a compelling investment case driven by its mining and development hubs strategy and a district-scale resource opportunity.
Overview
The price of gold stays strong. In April 2024, the yellow metal’s price passed US$2,400 per ounce for the first time. The reason is multifaceted. The world teeters on the brink of a severe recession while some markets attribute the increase to safe haven rush. Amidst ballooning interest rates, bank failures and falling bond yields, demand for gold continues to rise. At this precise moment, gold is simultaneously an excellent portfolio diversifier and a compelling hedge against ongoing inflation — particularly if one invests in the right company.
Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR) aims to be that company. An emerging mining and development company, Brightstar occupies a strategic land position of roughly 1,200 square kilometers in the Sandstone Greenstone Belt, 300 square kilometers in the Laverton Tectonic Belt and 80 square kilometers of the Menzies Shear Zone.
The company also owns an existing processing facility that can potentially provide tremendous shareholder value in a low-capital cost restart scenario.
That plant, once fully refurbished and operational, could prove a key differentiator for the company, enabling fast gold production at a low capital cost. This is especially noteworthy given that many other gold companies trading on the ASX are largely focused on greenfield exploration and development. Even once those companies discover a promising resource, mining and processing facilities would still need to be built, undertakings which can incur significant upfront capital costs and take several years.
Brightstar's Laverton gold assets are all centered on a 100 percent-owned 300-square-kilometer tenure in the Laverton Tectonic Zone and all within 70 kilometers of the Laverton Processing Plant. Additionally, all resources within this zone are open along strike and at depth. Only minor drilling programs have been conducted in recent years, paving the way for significant exploration upside with the potential for further regional and greenfields discoveries.
Brightstar also owns 100 percent of the Menzies Gold Project, a contiguous land package of granted mining leases over a strike length of roughly 20 kilometers along the Menzies Shear Zone and adjacent to the Goldfields Highway.
In 2023 and 2024, the company announced a mineral resource upgrade to the Cork Tree Well deposit (Laverton gold project) and also delivered two maiden mineral resource estimates at the Link Zone and Aspacia deposits (Menzies gold project). This has grown the total group MRE by approximately 150 koz gold through organic exploration.
The company has also acquired 100 percent of the shares and options of Linden Gold Alliance, a gold producer, developer and explorer with existing mineral resources of 350 koz @ 2.1 g/t gold near Brightstar in the Laverton district. Brightstar’s MRE has reached 1.1 Moz gold across the Menzies and Laverton projects, with an additional 0.35 Moz gold in resources added after the successful acquisition of Linden Gold Alliance.
In August 2024, Brightstar entered into a scheme implementation deed to acquire 100 percent of Alto Metals (ASX:AME), which owns the Sandstone gold project located in East Murchison. The project has a current mineral resource of 1.05 Moz of gold at 1.5 g/t.
Brightstar also completed the acquisition of the gold rights at the Montague East gold project (MEGP) from Gateway Mining Limited (ASX:GML). The project is located 70 km from the Sandstone gold project. The acquisition adds a further 9.6 Mt @ 1.6 g/t gold for 0.5 Moz gold to Brightstar’s JORC Mineral Resource Estimate, giving the company a total mineral endowment of 38.3 Mt @ 1.6 g/t gold for 2.0 Moz gold.
The acquisition of the MGEP from Gateway Mining and 100 percent of Alto’s shares creates a third district-scale resource base for the company called the Sandstone Hub. Upon consolidation of the Laverton, Menzies and Sandstone hubs, Brightstar’s mineral resources would reach 3 Moz at 1.5g/t gold.
Subsequent to the deal with Alto Metals, Brightstar entered into a $4 million drill-for-equity agreement with Topdrill to aggressively advance the consolidated Sandstone gold project. The deal strengthens Brightstar's financial capacity to fulfill its multi-hub exploration and development strategy, which includes the Menzies, Laverton and Sandstone hubs.
Company Highlights
- Brightstar Resources is an ASX-listed mining and development company with more than 3 million ounces of gold resources and an on-site processing infrastructure across its project locations in Laverton, Menzies and Sandstone in Western Australia.
- Brightstar's mineral assets are situated across roughly 300 square kilometers of 100-percent-owned land in the Laverton Tectonic Zone and ~80 square kilometers in the high-grade Menzies Shear Zone.
- The Laverton Gold project has a mineral resource of 9.7 Mt @ 1.6 g/t gold for 511 koz gold and the Menzies gold project has 13.8 Mt @ 1.3g/t gold for 595 koz gold.
- In 2023, the company completed a scoping study into the development of its Menzies and Laverton gold projects and the refurbishment and restart of its processing plant in Laverton.
- In 2023 and 2024, Brightstar completed a small-scale mining joint venture with BML Ventures which involved a 50/50 profit-sharing agreement to exploit the Selkirk deposit at Menzies. In April 2024, Brightstar announced that this joint venture delivered a net profit to Brightstar of $6.5 million.
- In June 2024, the company successfully acquired all of the issued ordinary shares and options in Linden Gold Alliance, a gold producer, developer and explorer with existing mineral resources of 350 koz @ 2.1 g/t gold near Brightstar in the Laverton district.
- As part of the merger with Linden Gold, Brightstar released a scoping study into Linden’s development-ready Jasper Hills gold project, which delivered key metrics including:
- 140 koz mined over 3.75 years (35 koz pa)
- Net present value of AU$99 million
- Internal rate of return of 736 percent
- Pre-production capital requirements of $12 million
- All-in sustaining costs of AU$1,972/oz
- Jasper Hills is located just 50 km SE of Brightstar’s processing plant in the Laverton gold project
- Brightstar has recently completed the acquisition of the gold rights at the Montague East gold project (MEGP) from Gateway Mining Limited (ASX:GML), and has entered into an agreement to acquire Alto Metals (ASX:AME) further creating the company’s third district-scale resource base known as the Sandstone Hub.
- Brightstar plans to continue generating shareholder value through a combination of development and strategic acquisitions along with some exploration.
Key Projects
Laverton Hub
Brightstar’s Laverton hub is comprised of the Cork Tree Well, Beta and Alpha project areas with the addition of the Second Fortune gold mine and the Jasper Hills projects.
Highlights:
- Cork Tree Well, Alpha and Beta have current total JORC mineral resource estimate of 9.7 Mt @ 1.6 g/t gold for 511 koz (52 percent measured and indicated category). All mineral resources are on granted mining leases
- Cork Tree Well (6.4 Mt at 1.4 g/t gold for 303 koz gold)
- Alpha (1.4 Mt at 2.3 g/t gold for 106 koz gold)
- Beta (1.9 Mt at 1.7 g/t gold for 102 koz gold)
- Main project area Cork Tree Well is open at depth and along strike with recent drilling results of 34.4 meters at 7.94 g/t gold from 43.5 meters (CTWMET004) and 27.6 meters at 17.8 g/t gold from 51 m (CTWMET003)
- Second Fortune has a mineral resource estimate head grade of ~11g/t gold with an average ore body width of ~0.6 meters.
- Jasper Hills is located 50 km from Brightstar’s existing processing facility along a wholly-owned private haul road, allowing unimpeded, direct access to both projects
- Permitted, previously mined and production-ready
- Last mined by current owners in 2020 with 23,000 oz gold mined
- Scoping Study outcomes include:
- Pre-production capex of $12 million required (maximum capital drawdown)
- Open pit mine at Lord Byron and underground mine at Fish
- Production of 141 koz over four years (35 koz per annum)
- LOM EBITDA of $135 million (@ AU$3,000/oz)
Menzies Hub
The Menzies Hub comprises a tenement holding of a contiguous land package of granted mining leases over a strike length of more than 20 km. The majority of deposits hosted along the Menzies Shear Zone are located adjacent to Goldfields Highway in Menzies (130km north of Kalgoorlie).
Highlights:
- Total Current Resource: 13.7 Mt at 1.3 g/t gold for 595 koz gold (36 percent measured and indicated)
- September 2023 scoping study showed the simultaneous development of open pit mining at Lady Shenton system and underground mining at Yunndaga:
- 1.9 Mt @ 1.63 g/t Au (100 koz) in open pit mining at Lady Shenton
- 650 kt @ 2.91 g/t (60 koz) in underground mining at Yunndaga
- Low capex of $22 million
- Significant opportunities to find virgin discoveries and brownfields mineral resource growth:
Sandstone Hub
The consolidated Sandstone project is over 100 km from existing third-party milling operations in the Murchison. This third processing hub boasts Alto’s Sandstone project with a mineral resource of 1.05 Moz at 1.4 g/t gold and Gateway’s Montague gold project with a mineral resource of 0.5 Moz @ 1.6 g/t gold.
Brightstar aims to fast-track the development timetable through:
- A focused, multi-rig infill drill out to take the inferred mineralisation into measured and indicated status to underpin mining studies and project advancement
- The application of Brightstar’s dedicated in-house geological and mining engineering team to retain crucial project IP and fast-tracked mining studies;
Brightstar Processing Facility
Situated close to Brightstar's existing mineral assets at Laverton, the Brightstar Processing Plant provides the company with a considerable operational head start over its peers.
Highlights:
- Extensive Infrastructure: Current facilities at the plant include two ball mills, a power station and gravity and elution circuits. Other infrastructure includes:
- A tailings storage dam
- An on-site process water pond
- A 60-person accommodation camp
- An airstrip at the Cork Tree Well Project
- Vehicles and equipment include a forklift, bobcat, two loaders, multiple light vehicles and a 30-tonne crane.
- A Leg Up Over Competitors: The presence of pre-existing processing infrastructure represents significant time savings compared to greenfields development. Brightstar had an independent valuation completed which valued the processing plant at AU$60 million in replacement value.
- Low Upfront Capital Cost: As part of the scoping study released in September 2023, GR Engineering estimated a capital cost requirement to refurbish and expand the milling capacity would cost just AU$18.5 million.
- Close to Existing Assets: Brightstar's major development projects — Cork Tree Well, Jasper Hills, Beta and Alpha — are all close to the plant.
Gold doré bars (BTR005 – BTR016) poured on 9 March 2024
Management Team
Alex Rovira - Managing Director
Alex Rovira is a qualified geologist and an experienced investment banker having focused on the metals and mining sector since 2013. Rovira has experience in ASX equity capital markets activities, including capital raisings, IPOs and merger and acquisitions.
Richard Crookes - Non-executive Chairman
Richard Crookes has over 35 years’ experience in the resources and investments industries. He is a geologist by training having previously worked as the chief geologist and mining manager of Ernest Henry Mining in Australia.
Crookes is managing partner of Lionhead Resources, a critical minerals investment fund and formerly an investment director at EMR Capital. Prior to that he was an executive director in Macquarie Bank’s Metals Energy Capital (MEC) division where he managed all aspects of the bank’s principal investments in mining and metals companies.
Andrew Rich - Executive Director
Andrew Rich is a degree qualified mining engineer from the WA School of Mines and has obtained a WA First Class Mine Managers Certificate. Rich has a strong background in underground gold mining with experience predominantly in the development of underground mines at Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) and Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX).
Ashley Fraser - Non-executive Director
Ashley Fraser is an accomplished mining professional with over 30 years experience across gold and bulk commodities. Fraser was a founder of Orionstone (which merged with Emeco in a $660-million consolidation) and is a founder/owner of Blue Cap Mining and Blue Cap Equities.
Jonathan Downes - Non-executive Director
Jonathan Downes has over 30 years’ experience in the minerals industry and has worked in various geological and corporate capacities. Experienced with gold and base metals, he has been intimately involved with the exploration process through to production. Downes is currently the managing director of Kaiser Reef, a high grade gold producer, and non-executive director of Cazaly Resources.
Matthew Bowles – Non-executive Director
Matthew Bowles is a senior corporate finance executive with extensive public corporate advisory, private equity and capital markets experience in the resources sector. Bowles has successfully negotiated domestic and cross border corporate funding, joint venture and M&A transactions for a number of ASX listed companies in Africa, the Americas and Australia. He was previously chief development officer for a West African focused ASX listed company. He commenced his career with Rio Tinto, working in corporate and commercial roles for nine years, before moving to London to work in banking and finance. Since his return to Australia, Bowles has held senior roles with global advisory firms, focusing on the resources sector. Bowles holds a Bachelor of Business, is a member of CPA Australia and a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia.
Dean Vallve – Chief Operating Officer
Dean Vallve holds technical qualifications in geology & mining engineering from the WA School of Mines, an MBA, and a WA First Class Mine Managers Certificate. Vallve was previously in senior mining and study roles at ASX listed mid-cap resources companies Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) and Calidus Resources (ASX:CAI).
Mount Hope Mining: Advancing a Copper, Gold-rich Asset in the Cobar Basin of New South Wales
Mount Hope Mining (ASX:MHM) is a copper and gold exploration company based in Australia. The company's flagship Mount Hope project in the prolific Cobar Basin is comprised of four tenements spanning 175 sq km. Mount Hope Mining's acquisition of Fisher Resources has provided it with full control over the project.
The Cobar Basin, a region with a longstanding history of copper and gold mining dating back to the 1870s, has seen a flurry of significant mining activities in recent years. In August 2024, Polymetals Resources (ASX:POL) finalized the acquisition of the Endeavor Mine, located 40 kilometers north of Cobar, which boasts JORC-compliant resources of 16.3 million tonnes grading 8 percent zinc, 4.5 percent lead, and 84 grams per ton (g/t) silver. In 2023, Metals Acquisition (NYSE:MTAL) successfully acquired the CSA copper mine from Glencore, further signalling the growing investment attractiveness of the Cobar Basin as a major hub for copper production.
The Mount Hope project has four granted exploration tenements: EL6837, EL8058, EL8290 and EL8654. The region is historically significant for its rich copper and gold deposits and has contributed substantially to Australia’s mining output since the 1870s. Despite its long-standing mining heritage, the southern Cobar Basin remains underexplored, presenting a unique opportunity for Mount Hope Mining to utilize modern exploration techniques to uncover untapped resources.
Company Highlights
- Mount Hope Mining is a copper and gold exploration company based in Australia
- The company holds 100 percent ownership of the Mount Hope project in the prolific Cobar Basin, comprising four tenements spanning 175 sq km
- The Cobar Basin has long history of copper and gold mining dating back to the 1870s, and recently experiencing increased M&A activity.
- Mount Hope has identified key zones of interest within the project and will be the target for near-term phased exploration
- The company’s experienced and dynamic board and management team, bring a wealth of expertise in mineral exploration, corporate governance, and strategic planning.
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