This article is a sponsored feature from Mining.com.au partner Impact Minerals. It is not financial advice. Talk to a registered financial expert before making investment decisions.
Most mining companies build their story around a single idea. One deposit, one commodity, and one pathway to production. Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) has a few more options on the table.
About 500km southeast of Perth in Western Australia sits Lake Hope, a clay-hosted project that has quietly become the engine room of Impact’s strategy. What began life as a promising high-purity alumina (HPA) opportunity is gradually turning into something bigger and more interesting.
Breakthroughs in processing technology, the emergence of valuable by-products, and a strategic investment in the Alluminous HPA technology platform are opening up multiple ways the project could ultimately move forward.
Managing Director Dr Mike Jones says that flexibility is no accident: “We’re generating optionality”.
“Rather than locking the company into a single development pathway too early, we’re advancing several parallel strategies that could unlock even more value from Lake Hope.”
Judging by the numbers already on the table, the project has a solid base to build from.
A billion-dollar starting point
One of the biggest milestones for Impact over the past year was the completion of the Lake Hope Pre-Feasibility Study. The study outlined a post-tax net present value of $1.165 billion at a 10% discount rate, excluding by-product revenue, giving the project a strong base to build from.
“One of the key advantages of Lake Hope lies in the simplicity of the mining operation”, Dr Jones says.
“All we’re doing is mining the top 2 metres of some of the salt lakes out there.”
With the mineralised clay sitting so close to the surface, the mining side of the project is relatively straightforward. There is no deep underground work or complex open-pit design required, just shallow extraction from the lake beds. The real technical challenge, and the real opportunity, lies in the processing.
Re-engineering the flowsheet
The Lake Hope process is built around a two-stage flowsheet designed to produce high-purity alumina from clay. In the first stage, potash is extracted as a by-product. The remaining material then moves into a second stage where it is purified through leaching with hydrochloric acid, before ultimately producing HPA.
It already works on paper, but Impact is looking at ways to make it even better.
New research with Edith Cowan University (ECU) is beginning to reshape parts of that flowsheet. The work is being carried out through a Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P) grant, with ECU bringing specialist expertise in membrane technologies.
Membranes have been widely used in water treatment for decades, but their role in mining and metallurgy is expanding rapidly as companies search for more efficient and sustainable processing techniques.
Dr Jones says the collaboration is already delivering some promising results. In the first stage of the flowsheet, researchers have identified ways to improve separation efficiency, which could allow Impact to produce purer and potentially more specialised potash products than originally assumed in the Pre-Feasibility Study.
The second stage is where things start to get interesting. Impact (with ECU) has developed a new purification method that is now the subject of a patent application.
“We believe it might change the flowsheet significantly and further reduce our costs”, Dr Jones says.
One technology currently being evaluated is a membrane crystalliser: a system that selectively removes water vapour from liquid solutions. In practical terms, it allows liquids to be concentrated so potash can crystallise out of solution without relying entirely on traditional pressure-based crystallisers which are expensive and energy-intensive to operate.
If the membrane approach proves viable at scale, it could bring several benefits: lower capital costs, reduced water consumption, and a cleaner processing route overall. It also supports a broader ambition for the project.
“We’re trying to move towards a closed-loop hydrometallurgical process with zero waste output”, Dr Jones says.
A second discovery within the same clays
Lake Hope has thrown up another surprise. Impact has identified a separate processing pathway that could produce potash and hydrochloric acid as the primary products, rather than simply as by-products of the HPA process.
“It’s like working on a gold project and suddenly realising there’s copper there as well”, Dr Jones says.
“The same clays that host the HPA opportunity appear capable of supporting a completely different chemical extraction pathway, and that opens up a new industrial minerals opportunity.”
Potash is widely used in fertilisers, while hydrochloric acid is an important industrial reagent across Western Australia’s mining sector. Dr Jones believes broader market dynamics may also work in Impact’s favour.
“Disruptions to sulphur supply and tighter sulphuric acid markets are increasing the use of hydrochloric acid in certain mining applications. If that trend continues, it could create opportunities for new domestic suppliers.”
Impact is now undertaking a Scoping Study to assess the economics of the alternative processing route, with results expected in the coming quarter. If the numbers stack up, the approach could provide another revenue stream (and potentially a faster path to market) while the larger HPA project continues to move forward.
Alluminous adds another HPA pathway
Impact is also keeping its options open when it comes to actually producing HPA. The company holds a 50% interest in Alluminous, whose technology offers another route into the HPA market. The acquisition included a pilot plant that is now operating in batch mode, producing kilogram-scale quantities of high-purity alumina.
“Clients won’t take you seriously until you’ve got at least a pilot plant”, Dr Jones says.
“Having the facility has enabled us to begin engaging directly with potential customers.”
Alluminous has also signed a technology collaboration agreement with US battery technology group C4V, which is associated with Binghamton University in New York, a major centre for lithium-ion battery research.
Through that partnership, HPA produced using the Alluminous process can be tested against the specifications required by battery manufacturers. That feedback loop helps refine the product and accelerate the qualification process with downstream customers.
Instead of approaching potential buyers one by one, Impact can use the collaboration to demonstrate that its material meets industry standards before moving into broader discussions.
“The next milestone is to transition the pilot plant from batch production into continuous operation”, Dr Jones says.
“We’re also focusing on completing the technical and economic studies needed to scale the technology.”
Dr Jones believes the company could be ready to construct its first commercial HPA facility by 2027, most likely in North America, where production capacity remains limited but demand from battery, electronics, and defence sectors is growing.
Another advantage of the Alluminous process is the potential for modular plant design. Rather than building one large facility from the outset, smaller production units could be installed and expanded over time. That flexibility could make financing and scaling the project considerably easier.
Exploration still part of the strategy
Despite the increasing focus on industrial minerals, Impact has not abandoned its exploration roots. The company still holds two exploration projects that Dr Jones believes could host significant discoveries.
At the Commonwealth Project in New South Wales, Impact has formed a joint venture with Kuniko Limited, which can earn up to a 70% stake by spending $3 million over four years. Impact will retain a 30% interest and be free carried through to a decision to mine.
At Broken Hill, the company retains full ownership and has identified several compelling drill targets. Recent work has included magnetotelluric surveys that revealed conductive zones beneath the surface, along with soil geochemistry programs designed to refine drilling targets.
Dr Jones describes the approach as a “barbell strategy” — relatively modest exploration spending that still leaves room for a potentially large discovery.
Building a multi-commodity hub
Taken together, the developments at Lake Hope are gradually reshaping the Impact Minerals story. What began as a traditional exploration play is evolving into something closer to an industrial minerals platform, with several potential products emerging from the same geological system.
High-purity alumina remains the long-term anchor, but potash, hydrochloric acid, and other chemical products could also play a role as the project develops.
Dr Jones believes the broader region around Lake Hope, Salmon Gums, and Norseman could eventually evolve into a multi-commodity hub. If the company’s plans unfold as expected, Impact could be producing HPA through its Alluminous technology within the next few years, while also advancing new chemical processing opportunities from the Lake Hope clays.
It is an ambitious vision, but as the Lake Hope story continues to evolve, it is becoming increasingly clear that Impact Minerals may be building far more than a single mine.
It may be building an entirely new industrial minerals opportunity from one unusual set of clays.
Write to Kate Ryan at Mining.com.au
Images: Impact Minerals
