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Lake Hope HPA Pre-Feasibility Study and Maiden Ore Reserve
- Very strong economic metrics and low-cost production: NPV10 A$1.165 billion (with no by-product revenue)
- Capex A$259 million
Opex US$5,860 per tonne excluding by-product credit - Potential Opex of <US$4,500 with by-product credit
- Maiden Probable and Proved Ore Reserve of: 1.7 Mt at 26% Al2O3 for 450,000 tonnes of contained Al2O3.
- Election to proceed to an 80% interest in Playa One Pty Ltd providing Impact with 80% ownership in the Lake Hope resource and intellectual property.
- Definitive Feasibility Study to commence with construction of pilot plant and investigation into the integration of Lake Hope with the HiPurA process.
The PFS highlights the project's exceptionally strong economics and outlines a pathway for Lake Hope to become a global supplier of low-cost, low-carbon HPA, benefiting both the local Ngadju Aboriginal Native title holders and the broader community. The robust economics stem from the unique characteristics of the Lake Hope deposit, which facilitate cost-effective mining and processing.
The PFS confirms that, to the best of Impact's knowledge based on published data, the Lake Hope project could be among the lowest-cost producers of HPA globally, potentially by a significant margin of at least 30%.
Given these strong fundamentals, Impact will issue 120 million shares, escrowed for 12 months, to exercise its option to acquire an 80% interest in Playa One Pty Ltd, which owns the Lake Hope assets and intellectual property, including two patents for metallurgical processes (ASX Release March 21st 2023).
Work will now commence on a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS), which will include the construction of a pilot plant to produce HPA samples at scale for discussions on offtake agreements. The pilot plant project, currently underway, will be part-funded by the recent federal government grant awarded to Impact Minerals in collaboration with CPC Engineering and Edith Cowan University (ASX Release October 22nd 2024).
In addition, as part of these studies, Impact will focus on the potential integration of the Lake Hope ore and its associated metallurgical processes with the assets and intellectual property related to the HiPurA process, which were recently acquired through Impact’s 50% share in Alluminous Pty Ltd (ASX Release April 23rd 2025).
As the acquisition occurred near the end of the PFS, the study only pertains to Lake Hope as a stand-alone project and does not consider integration with HiPurA. Impact believes the HiPurA acquisition will accelerate the Company’s entry into the HPA market by several years, potentially enhancing the economics of the combined projects.
Lake Hope PFS Summary
Impact Minerals’ Managing Director, Dr Mike Jones, said, “The Lake Hope PFS clearly demonstrates that Impact Minerals is now on the cusp of delivering a significant, low-cost and highly scalable HPA project. In just over two short years since acquiring the rights to the project, we have proven that Lake Hope’s unique natural feedstock, combined with a straight-forward flowsheet, offers one of the most capital-efficient and environmentally responsible pathways to high-purity alumina production globally. The Project’s strong margins, minimal carbon footprint, and ability to deliver 4N product without critical reagents or complex processing provides us with a clear competitive advantage as the HPA market enters a phase of rapid growth.”
“Importantly, the PFS positions Lake Hope to potentially be the upstream foundation of our vertically integrated HPA business. Through our recent acquisition of a 50% interest in Alluminous Pty Ltd and the HiPurA® downstream processing technology we are now accelerating plans to seamlessly integrate Lake Hope feedstock with HiPurA’s potentially modular HPA production capacity. This unique model offers Impact the flexibility to scale production in line with market demand and customer qualification, while minimising capital intensity and de-risking the path to early revenues.”
“With the PFS now complete, our next steps are clear: we will advance the detailed engineering required to bring Lake Hope into production, which will revolve around our exciting federal government co-funded membrane research project now underway in conjunction with Edith Cowan University and CPC Engineering. We believe very significant improvements to our flow sheet will emerge from that work. We will also progress approvals and initiate off-take discussions. At the same time, we will help fund and rapidly develop the HiPurA® modular production pathway to establish near-term capacity and position Impact as a differentiated, vertically integrated supplier of high-purity alumina to the global market. The opportunities in front of us are significant and today marks a major milestone in what is shaping up to be an exciting future for Impact Minerals and our shareholders.”
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.
Cash Payment Received from Loreto, Chile Option and Joint Venture Agreement
Transaction Terms
Pursuant to the Agreement, Teck Chile has been granted options, to earn up to a 75% interest in Loreto by making US$600,000 in staged cash payments and spending US$17m on exploration.
First Option
Asara has granted Teck Chile an option to acquire a 55% interest in Loreto (the First Option). Teck Chile may exercise the First Option by incurring an aggregate of US$5,000,000 in expenditures on Loreto and by making US$600,000 in cash payments to Asara as set out in the schedule below. The dates for remaining payments, are tied to the Permit Date.
Second Option
If Teck Chile exercises the First Option, Teck Chile shall have a further option to acquire an additional 20% interest in Loreto, by incurring an additional US$12,000,000 in expenditures over the ensuing four-year period (the Second Option).
Loreto Project Litigation
As announced on 8 May 2025, Asara successfully concluded legal proceedings brought against the Company as outlined in its ASX Announcement dated 15 November 2023. As part of the settlement, Asara was required to sell 25.26% of its interest in the Loreto Project to Costa Rica Dos SpA (Costa Rica Dos) for approximately A$87,122 with payment to be made through future profits generated in the context of the Agreement with Teck Chile. Accordingly, Asara is not required to remit the requisite portion of the recent payment to Costa Rica Dos.
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This article includes content from Asara 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.
Australian Critical Minerals to acquire significant gold and copper portfolio in mineral rich Peru
Highlights
- ACM has entered into a binding Share Purchase Agreement to acquire 100% of the issued capital of Circuit Resources Pty Ltd which owns several potentially transformational gold and copper projects in highly prospective locations in Peru.
- Targeting gold and copper, with high grade silver and base metals a secondary focus.
- Blanca Gold Project is a low-sulphidation epithermal quartz vein with substantial previous drilling and trenching identifying high grade gold.
- Drill results include:
- Bonanza drill grades to 52.8g/t Au over 1.5 metres within 9.5m @ 11.27 g/t Au
- 4m @ 3.97 g/t Au, including 1.75m @ 7.5 g/t Au
- 1.5m @ 22.68 g/t Au within 5m @ 7.04 g/t Au
- 1.2m @ 8.13 g/t Au within 7.37m @ 2.44 g/t Au
- 6m @ 2.31 g/t Au (refer to Figure 4 and Appendices 3 and 4 for full results of the drill and trench sampling program). (1,2,3)
- Only partially drilled - 2km of the 3km strike remains to be drilled
- Drill results include:
- The Riqueza Copper-Silver Project is a district-scale, intermediate-sulphidation vein system extending over a 10 km strike length, which has undergone substantial exploration by previous operators.
- Copper grades from 1% to 8.7% and silver assays to 2,238 g/t in historic surface rock chip samples
- The Flint Gold Project hosts a 6 sq km high-sulphidation system with strong geophysics and geochemistry,
- directly bordering Peñoles’ San Juan copper deposit—highlighting shallow gold potential.
- Cerro Rayas hosts eight high-grade zinc-lead-silver workings along 8 km, with rock chips grading over 40% Pb+Zn—showcasing standout exploration potential (refer to Figure 15 and Appendix 6 for further details).
- Completion of oversubscribed $1m placement to support exploration across new and existing projects.
Australian Critical Minerals Managing Director, Dean de Largie commented, “The acquisition of Circuit Resources is a significant opportunity for ACM, delivering a pipeline of high-impact exploration projects across gold, copper, silver, zinc, and lithium in Peru. The scale and quality of these assets—spanning over 25,000 hectares— give us immediate drill-ready targets and exceptional scope for new discoveries.
Projects like Riqueza, with high-grade copper-silver veins over several kilometres and proximity to majors like Anglo American, offer Tier-1 potential. Blanca has already demonstrated strong gold mineralisation, while Cerro Rayas and the Salar projects provide exposure to critical metals with potentially strong demand tailwinds.
This acquisition significantly strengthens our portfolio, and we’re excited to begin unlocking value with aggressive exploration in the near term.”
Figure 1 – Location of Circuit Resources Projects
Circuit Resources Project Overview
Circuit Resources owns or has the right to acquire 100% of six projects comprising 37 mining concessions covering 25,600 Ha in Peru. Refer to Appendix 5 for a summary of the mining concessions to be obtained through the acquisition of Circuit.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Australian Critical 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.
