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Impact Minerals Limited (ASX:IPT) (Impact Minerals or the Company) is pleased to announce that the Renounceable Rights Issue (Issue) announced on 26 April 2022 has closed raising $3.2 Million (before costs). The Company will issue 290,908,970 new fully paid ordinary shares (Shares) and 158,254,389 new listed options exercisable at $0.02, with an expiry date of 2 June 2024 (Options). The Options will be quoted under the ASX code IPTOB.
Impact’s Managing Director Dr Mike Jones said “We are very pleased to have raised this significant amount from shareholders and new investors in what has been the most volatile market for several years. We are now funded for our exploration programmes on our significant and exciting battery and strategic metals projects here in Western Australia for the next 18 months. We have recently completed drill programmes and soil geochemistry surveys at several of our projects as well as an airborne EM survey over our flagship Arkun project.
We look forward to analysing the results of all of this work and getting on with follow up drilling. We thank everyone for their significant support in this raising and in particular our lead manager Mahe Capital. Given the success of the raising we have decided to now close the issue and will not be placing any further shortfall.”
The net proceeds will enable the Company to complete its early-stage exploration programmes across its battery and strategic project portfolio in Western Australia. At the flagship Arkun Project, a major airborne electromagnetic (EM) survey has just been completed and extensive follow up soil geochemistry and ground geophysical surveys will now be undertaken to define drill targets to be tested in late 2022 and 2023.
The Company would like to thank all its shareholders for their support of the Issue and would like to welcome new investors to the register. It is noted that the Company’s directors also took up their full entitlements, demonstrating a strong commitment to and confidence in the Company’s projects and its future.
The final allocations are set out below:
Mahe Capital Pty Ltd advised Impact Minerals on the Issue and acted as Lead Manager and Underwriter to the capital raising.
The new securities are expected will be issued today Friday, 3 June 2022, in accordance with the updated timetable. The Directors in conjunction with the Underwriter have resolved to close the Issue and will not be seeking to place the balance of the shortfall.
This announcement has been authorised for release by the Managing Director.
If you have any queries concerning the Entitlement Offer, please contact the Company Secretary on +61 (08) 6454 6666.
Dr Mike Jones
Managing Director
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This article includes content from Impact Minerals 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.
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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 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.
New Phase of Growth Drilling Commences at High-Priority Gradina Prospect at Rogozna
Highlights:
- 10,000m diamond drilling program commences at the Gradina Prospect, where a recently completed access track provides the ability to drill-test shallower zones of gold mineralisation for the first time.
- High-grade gold mineralisation has been delineated at Gradina over ~1km of strike, at vertical depths of ~200m -1,000m below surface, with ~21,000m of previous drilling returning significant intercepts including1:
- 27.5m @ 5.1g/t Au from 439.8m (ZRSD20124);
- 32.0m @ 6.8g/t Au from 595m (EOKSC1361b); and
- 22m @ 4.0g/t Au from 691m (ZRSD21143).
- Based on geophysical and geochemical datasets, this thick high-grade gold mineralisation is projected to extend to near-surface, potentially representing the shallowest deposit at Rogozna alongside the outcropping Copper Canyon.
- Given the extent of high-grade mineralisation defined to date, Gradina represents a high-priority gold target for the delineation of a significant initial Mineral Resource estimate in the near term.
- Four drill rigs are currently operating across the Rogozna Project, with assay results pending for multiple holes.
- Strickland remains extremely well-funded, with $48.7 million in cash and NST shares as at the end of the June Quarter.
Diamond drill rig in operation from new access track at the Gradina Prospect, Rogozna Project.
Exploration Update
Strickland Metals Limited (ASX: STK) (Strickland or the Company) is pleased to advise that a new phase of drilling has commenced at the high-priority Gradina Prospect, part of its 100%-owned ~5.4Moz AuEq Rogozna Gold and Base Metals Project2 in Serbia (Figure 2).
The drilling program follows the recent completion of a new access track at Gradina, enabling drilling to target near- surface extensions of high-grade mineralisation previously encountered at depth.
Gradina is one of four skarn-hosted gold and base metals deposits at Rogozna and represents a key target for the delineation of a near-term initial Mineral Resource Estimate, contributing to the continued rapid growth of the Rogozna Project.
Strickland’s Managing Director, Paul L’Herpiniere, said: “This new program at the Gradina Prospect provides a very exciting opportunity to follow-up significant widths of high-grade gold mineralisation previously encountered at depth. Having constructed a new access track over recent months, we can now drill-test the Gradina system close to surface for the first time in the Project’s history.
“All available datasets indicate that the steeply dipping mineralised lodes encountered in previous drilling extend up- dip towards surface. If we are successful in drilling similar widths and tenor of mineralisation near-surface, we expect that this high-priority target will rapidly take shape and make a considerable contribution to the growth of the Rogozna Resource inventory over the next 12 months.”
Gradina Geology
The Gradina Prospect is characterised by multiple steeply-dipping, NNW-trending zones of gold (+/- copper, zinc) mineralisation occurring over ~1km of strike, with the mineralisation remaining open both along strike, at depth and up-dip towards surface.3
Along its strike extent, the Gradina mineralisation is spatially associated with gold + associated pathfinder geochemical anomalism in soils (Figure 1) and multiple coincident geophysical anomalies, including gravity, IP and remanent magnetism anomalies (Figure 2). All these datasets indicate that the mineralisation is likely to extend close to surface, particularly at the southern end of the system, where there is an absence of volcanic cover.
At the southern end of the prospect, the surface geology is characterised by steeply west-dipping limestone, with a swarm of ENE-trending quartz latite dykes cutting across the carbonate stratigraphy and extending through to the Copper Canyon deposit ~500m to the east.
Previous drilling at Gradina was carried out with collars positioned in a valley to the immediate west of the deposit, where access was easiest, with mineralisation intersected at vertical depths of ~200m to 1,000m below surface (Figure 3).
At the northern end of the prospect, the surface geology consists of hydrothermally altered andesite, which sits unconformably above the host carbonate sequence. Previous drilling of the northern extents of the system was conducted from the same valley access track, with mineralisation encountered at depths of ~400m to 600m vertically below surface (Figure 4).
In terms of mineralisation style, the gold mineralisation is associated with pyrrhotite and lesser amounts of arsenopyrite, with chalcopyrite and sphalerite occurring in localised areas.
The mineralisation at Gradina is the most gold-dominant of the four currently identified deposits at Rogozna (comprising the Shanac, Copper Canyon, Medenovac and Gradina deposits), with gold at Gradina accounting for ~90% of the contained metal.
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This article includes content from Strickland Metals, 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.
40% Increase in Indicated Resource in Gold Domain and 60% in Copper Domain for Nueva Sabana Deposit
Antilles Gold Limited (“Antilles Gold” or the “Company”) (ASX: AAU, OTCQB: ANTMF) is pleased to report a revised Mineral Resource Estimate (‘MRE’) for the first stage of the proposed Nueva Sabana copper-gold mine in central Cuba. The updated MRE follows completion of a 2,000m in-fill drilling program.
Brightstar Completes Montague East Acquisition with BTR Group Mineral Resources Now 2.0Moz Au
HIGHLIGHTS
- Brightstar has completed the acquisition of the Montague East Gold Project (MEGP) from Gateway Mining Limited
- The completion of the acquisition of the mineral resources at the MEGP signifies the strategic addition of shallow, advanced ounces to Brightstar which is aligned with the Company’s strategy of advancing multi assets towards near term commercialisation
- The MEGP is located 70km from the Sandstone Gold Project, which is owned by Alto Metals Ltd, which is currently undertaking a merger with Brightstar by way of a Scheme of Arrangement
- $5 million cash consideration paid and 466.67 million Brightstar shares issued to Gateway
- Deferred contingent consideration of $2 million in Brightstar shares subject to further project milestones, including:
- upon the commencement of commercial mining operations in respect of the gold mineral rights at MEGP, or
- the delineation of a JORC Mineral Resource Estimate on the tenements exceeding 1.0 Moz Au.
- Following completion, the sale by Gateway of the consideration shares will be subject to orderly sales restrictions in consultation with Brightstar
- Brightstar is planning a drilling program to commence at the MEGP in late October, targeting infill and extensional targets within and proximal to the Mineral Resources located at the advanced Whistler and Montague-Boulder deposits
- Completion of the MEGP acquisition adds a further 9.6Mt @ 1.6g/t Au for 0.5Moz Au to Brightstar’s JORC Mineral Resource Estimate
- Total mineral endowment owned by Brightstar now 38.3Mt @ 1.6g/t Au for 2.0Moz Au
For further details regarding the Transaction please refer to the Company’s ASX announcement released on 1 August 20241.
Brightstar’s Managing Director, Alex Rovira, commented“The completion of the acquisition of the Montague East Gold Project from Gateway achieves the first step in Brightstar’s previously announced consolidation plan of the Sandstone district, adding shallow ounces and a meaningful Mineral Resource inventory to our portfolio of advanced exploration, development and producing gold assets in Western Australia.
We are working towards mobilising an RC drill rig to the Montague-Boulder and Whistler deposits in late October, which contain ~280koz Au of shallow, largely oxide material. It is our intent to move the Montague East Gold Project swiftly through resource drill-out and feasibility study workstreams to advance this asset towards development.
With 2Moz of gold Mineral Resources situated on granted mining leases in the Company, combined with our low capex growth plans and near-term development and production expansion, Brightstar is well placed to maximise value of the portfolio in an all-time high gold price environment.
Recent drilling success across the Lord Byron, Fish and Second Fortune deposits has illustrated the immense upside in the Company’s projects, as we seek to grow the Mineral Resource and de-risk future development through the DFS underway.”
MONTAGUE ACQUISITION
Brightstar, via its wholly-owned subsidiary Montague Gold Project Pty Ltd (MGP), has acquired the interests held by Gateway and its wholly owned subsidiary Gateway Projects Pty Ltd (GPWA) in certain mining tenements in respect of Gateway’s Montague Gold Project, with Brightstar obtaining 100% of the gold mineral rights and Gateway retaining all other mineral rights.
The total consideration paid by Brightstar in respect of the Montague acquisition is $14.0m, comprising:
- an upfront cash payment of $5.0m;
- 466,666,667 Brightstar shares issued at an implied issue price of $0.015 per share for $7 million worth of fully paid Brightstar shares (Gateway Consideration Shares); and
- $2.0m payable in cash or Brightstar shares, upon the commencement of commercial mining operations in respect of the gold mineral rights, or the delineation of a JORC Mineral Resource on the tenements exceeding 1.0 Moz Au.
Following Completion, the sale by Gateway of the Gateway Consideration Shares will be subject to orderly sales restrictions in consultation with Brightstar.
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This article includes content from Brightstar 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.
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