Impact Minerals

Update on the Pre-Feasibility Study at the Lake Hope High Purity Alumina Project WA

Impact Minerals Limited’s (ASX:IPT) is pleased to provide an update on the progress of the Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) underway on the Lake Hope High Purity Alumina (HPA) project located 500 km east of Perth in Western Australia and on schedule to be finished by the end of 2024 (Figure 1). Impact can take an 80% interest in Playa One Pty Limited, which owns the Lake Hope Project and associated intellectual property, by completing the PFS (ASX Releases March 21st 2023).


The Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for the Lake Hope Project continues on schedule to be completed in Q4 this year, with significant progress made on the three main pillars of the Study: the mine, the process plant and product development, marketing and offtake.

The Mine at Lake Hope:

  • A negotiation protocol for Land Access and Cultural Heritage agreements with the Ngadju peoples is under review.
  • Applications for a Mining Lease and associated Miscellaneous Lease will be lodged shortly.
  • Infill drilling to define a maiden Measured Resource and Proven Reserve completed with resource calculations and economic studies in progress.
  • Further flora fauna and heritage surveys are being planned for the mine haul road.

The Process Plant:

  • Kwinana selected as the location for a benchmark production of 10,000 tonnes per annum of HPA due to access to providers of the required input chemical reagents, buyers of the fertiliser and acid by-products and access to suitable land. Combined, these provide substantial strategic advantages for the project with savings on capex and opex.
  • The Low-Temperature Leach process selected as the most straightforward processing method to produce HPA at scale.
  • CPC Engineering selected to provide a design and engineering study for the full-scale plant that is underway.

Product development, offtake and marketing

  • Significant test work on HPA and fertiliser by-products completed with assays due in August. Quotes received and discussions in progress for designing and constructing a pilot plant to provide bulk samples to customers.
  • Experimental work has produced a hydrated alumina product that may have major applications in the catalyst and flame retardant industries.
  • Early-stage discussions are underway for potential synergies with existing alumina businesses in Europe and the USA.
  • A marketing and product development team is being assembled.
The PFS followed on from a positive Scoping Study, which showed that for a benchmark production of 10,000 tonnes per annum of HPA, the Project has an estimated post-tax Net Present Value (NPV8) of about A$1.3 billion and would potentially be one of the lowest-cost producers of HPA globally by a significant margin (ASX Release November 9th 2023).

All material assumptions underpinning the production target and the forecast financial information derived from the production target in the Scoping Study continue to apply and have not materially changed within the +/-30% parameters (ASX November 9th 2023).

Impact Minerals’ Managing Director, Dr Mike Jones, said, “The Lake Hope Pre-Feasibility Study is like a large jigsaw puzzle where we know what the final picture looks like and are now starting to see many of the individual pieces falling into place at a great pace. We have been focused on the puzzle's edges with progress made at the proposed mine at Lake Hope itself, the process plant, which will be in Kwinana and increasingly, product offtake and marketing.

We are filling the puzzle with discussions with the Ngadju peoples, preparing a Mining Lease Application and completing drilling to help define a maiden Reserve. We have selected Kwinana as the site for the processing plant and our proprietary Low-Temperature Leach as the best method to scale up HPA production to the planned 10,000 tonnes per annum because of substantial strategic advantages. These include ready providers for all the reagents we need, ready buyers for our by-products and a site possibly suitable for the plant. As a result, we recently commissioned CPC Engineering to provide design engineering and capital and operating costs for the LTL process plant on that site.

Our test work is progressing well, and as part of that, we recently discovered a product that may have various industrial uses with further research being done. We are looking at ways of accelerating a pilot plant development that will provide HPA in quantity to potential customers and are starting to assemble a marketing team to continue our outreach to them. Recent developments with Alpha HPA Limited, which has shown very strong global demand for HPA and related products, clearly demonstrate to me that “if we build it, they will come”. We continue on schedule to complete the PFS by the end of the year and set ourselves up for significant strides towards production in 2025”.


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.

IPT:AU
The Conversation (0)
Gold bars with text: "5 Top Canadian Mining Stocks This Week."

Top 5 Canadian Mining Stocks This Week: Avanti Gold Gains 158 Percent on Misisi Settlement

Welcome to the Investing News Network's weekly look at the best-performing Canadian mining stocks on the TSX, TSXV and CSE, starting with a round-up of Canadian and US news impacting the resource sector.

Statistics Canada released its June Labour Force Survey on Friday (July 11). The data indicated that 83,000 new jobs were added to the workforce, led by 34,000 new employees in the wholesale and retail trade category and a 17,000 worker rise in the healthcare and social assistance category.

In other positive news for the Canadian job market, the overall employment rate rose by 0.1 percent to 60.9 percent, while the unemployment rate declined by 0.1 percent to 6.9 percent.

Keep reading...Show less
Gold bar on nuggets with "5 Top Australian Mining Stocks" text overlay.

Top 5 Australian Mining Stocks This Week: Yandal Shares Double on Arrakis Drilling Results

Welcome to the Investing News Network's weekly round-up of Australia’s top-performing mining stocks on the ASX, starting with news in Australia's resource sector.

This week's top-performing stocks list is dominated by oil and gas companies, alongside gold and lithium companies.

In Australian mining news, the Fair Work Commission ruled that BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) must raise the wages of 2,200 workers at three coal mines in Queensland. The workers in question were employed indirectly through a hiring firm and were being paid significantly less than their peers working directly under BHP.

The case was brought by two worker's unions and based on the Same Job, Same Pay reforms made by the government last year. To align wages, the FWC ruled BHP must raise the labour hire employees' wages by AU$30,000 each.

Keep reading...Show less
Pilbara region, Western Australia, Australia.

Pilbara 2.0: Inside Australia’s Newest Gold Frontier

The Central Pilbara region of Western Australia is undergoing a quiet revolution that is rapidly reshaping the global gold exploration landscape.

Once dismissed as a technically challenging and geologically inconsistent terrain, Pilbara is now emerging as one of the world’s most exciting new gold frontiers and drawing serious attention from institutional investors, driven by transformative discoveries, a maturing geological model and a wave of junior explorers tapping into underexplored intrusive-hosted systems.

Anchored by the multimillion-ounce Hemi discovery — one of the most significant gold finds in Australia in over a decade — this region is not just proving its geological potential, but also demonstrating the kind of scale, consistency and margin profile that modern gold investors seek. As the discovery window remains wide open and valuations are still accessible, the Central Pilbara presents a rare opportunity for early exposure to what may become one of Australia’s next tier-one gold districts.

Keep reading...Show less
A mining truck within the outline of Australia's map on a clear day.

Is Australia on the Brink of a New Mining Super Cycle?

Mining remains as a cornerstone of Australia’s GDP and export earnings, but current global challenges such as trade disputes and price changes may be straining its foundations.

A recent FocusEconomics report tackled Australia’s resource wealth, tracing from the gold rushes of the 1850s to the iron ore and coal booms of the 21st century.

Keep reading...Show less
Kobo Resources Confirms Additional High-Grade Gold Mineralization at Kossou with 15.5 m at 2.3 g/t Au, incl. 8.3 m at 3.43 g/t Au; Outlines Next Phase of Exploration at Kossou

Kobo Resources Confirms Additional High-Grade Gold Mineralization at Kossou with 15.5 m at 2.3 g/t Au, incl. 8.3 m at 3.43 g/t Au; Outlines Next Phase of Exploration at Kossou

 
  •   High-grade gold intercepts highlighted by 15.5 m at 2.30 g/t Au, incl. 8.3 m at 3.43 g/t Au at the Road Cut Zone  
  •  
  •   Initial drilling on the gap between Jagger and Road Cut Zone confirms target structure, warrants further testing  
  •  
  •   Current drill phase complete; Geological modelling and planning underway for 15,000 m drill program expected to begin in H2 2025  
  •  

 

 Kobo Resources Inc. (" Kobo" or the " Company ") ( TSX.V: KRI ) is pleased to report additional diamond drill results from the Road Cut Zone at its 100%-owned Kossou Gold Project (" Kossou ") in Côte d'Ivoire. Results from these holes continue to strengthen the Company's understanding of the key structural controls that define this prospective target area.

News Provided by Business Wire via QuoteMedia

Keep reading...Show less

Latest Press Releases

Related News

×