Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) is continuing its focus on high purity alumina (HPA) as privately held Alluminous, which Impact has a 50% stake in, pushes its HiPurA HPA pilot plant towards commissioning.
Alluminous is positioning itself to deliver qualified HPA product quickly, with a capital-light, modular pathway to commercialisation and an option-rich feedstock strategy alongside Impact’s Lake Hope project.
The focus remains on customer qualification, near-term revenue milestones and disciplined scaling aligned to demand. Immediate work programs include, among others, commissioning of the pilot plant; pilot sample campaigns for targeted customers; validate North American demonstration plant scope; and advance Lake Hope back-engineering in the micro-plant.
Alluminous has recently appointed Tim Netscher as a non-executive Chairman of the business where the installment of electrical circuits, circuits, batch processing of feedstock to test processes, commissioning of the laboratory is currently being progressed.
Netscher is a chartered engineer with vast experience in senior board roles for a range of companies specifically in the mining sector.
He is currently acting as the non-executive Chairman for Gold Road Resources (ASX:GOR), appointed in 2016 after first joining the board in 2014, which is currently seeing a $3 billion takeover by Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI).
Netscher has also held senior positions at BHP (ASX:BHP), Gindalbie Metals (ASX:GBG), and Newmont Mining (ASX:NEM).
Netscher says the HiPurA platform intends to reward the market with “quality, reliability, and speed” to the qualification process.
“The team’s integrated pilot-and-lab capability and modular process architecture provide a credible path from pilot samples to bankable offtake,” Netscher says.
“I look forward to working with the board and management to execute disciplined, staged growth, deepen customer partnerships, and deliver strong value-adding outcomes for all stakeholders.”
Impact Managing Director Mike Jones is pleased to welcome Netscher on Alluminous’ board, describing his appointment as a “true validation” of its business plan.
“He brings deep industry and governance experience and will play a critical role in guiding Alluminous through its transition from pilot operations to commercialisation,” Jones says.
“Alluminous was established to do one thing very well – get qualified HPA into customers’ hands faster. The combination of a pilot-scale plant, on-site high-purity analytical capability and a modular, compact flowsheet gives us that speed, while keeping capital light and scale-up de-risked.
“Those are critical ingredients to win in the bespoke, specification-driven HPA markets.”
Alluminous intends to streamline the delivery of HPA product for customers, as it continues to commission the plant, commence sample campaigns, validate the plant scope for North American site options and permitting paths, bolster back-engineering of Impact’s Lake Hope Project, and process consolidation and optimisation for induced polarisation.
Impact intends to integrate feedstock from its Lake Hope Project in Western Australia, which hosts similar feedstock chemistry and aspects of metallurgical flowsheets, offering flexibility with dual-feedstock and strengthening the path to commercialisation.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Impact Minerals
