Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) outlined progress and plans for its Lake Hope high-purity alumina (HPA) project in Western Australia, emphasizing a shallow, low-cost deposit near infrastructure and a recent acquisition that the company said could accelerate commercialization.
Lake Hope resource and development status
Presenting at RIU, managing director Dr. Mike Jones described Western Australia’s salt lakes as “an amazing chemical laboratory” with varying compositions and potential for industrial minerals including salt, dolomite, and potash. Impact’s focus, he said, is high-purity alumina at its Lake Hope project, located about 500 kilometers east of Perth.
He also highlighted the project’s long potential operating life, stating Lake Hope has a mineral reserve supporting “30–40 years at least,” describing it as a multi-decade mine. Jones characterized drilling and sampling as straightforward and low cost, noting that the drill program cost about AUD 250,000.
Acquisition of ChemX assets and pilot plant progress
A key update since the company’s prior RIU appearance, Jones said, was Impact taking a 50% share in a company that purchased the assets of ChemX Materials, which he described as a competitor with “a very elegant technology” for the back-end processing required to produce HPA. He said the acquisition included:
- A pilot plant that was about 80% commissioned
- A fully functional analytical laboratory
- Intellectual property including granted patents
Jones said Impact has had possession of the facility for about eight months and is now producing “significant quantities” of HPA in batch mode, with product available for distribution to potential customers. He described the acquisition as a “fantastic bargain,” stating the total cost was AUD 2.2 million and Impact’s share was AUD 1.1 million.
Market demand and applications highlighted
Jones framed HPA as a critical mineral, noting it is on Australia’s Critical Minerals list. He cited demand across multiple sectors, including LEDs (via synthetic sapphire components), advanced ceramics, and defense and aerospace uses such as missile tips and jet windows. He also pointed to consumer applications such as watches and smartphones.
He emphasized two large demand drivers:
- Semiconductors: HPA is used in polishing and in thermal management, and Jones linked increased usage to data center build-outs, particularly in North America.
- Batteries: He said HPA has been used in battery separators to mitigate thermal runaway, and he highlighted growth in storage batteries where safety requirements are “significantly greater” than for electric vehicle batteries.
Jones said the HPA market is growing at roughly 15% to 20% per year and suggested a supply deficit could emerge around 2028–2029 unless additional supply comes online.
He also discussed the importance of purity tiers, describing most market volume as concentrated in 3N and 4N material (including 4N, or 99.99% purity), while ultra-high purity 5N and 6N can offer high margins but limited volume. He said the company believes it can compete in the 3N segment due to low production costs.
Cost, financing, and modular scale-up strategy
Jones presented a cost-curve view of global production, saying current supply is dominated by Japanese producers, with European and Chinese production also present. He referenced peers including Alpha HPA and AEM as lower-cost producers relative to higher-cost incumbents, but said Impact believes it can be “significantly lower” on the cost curve, in part due to by-product credits.
He cited project economics from the company’s work to date, including an estimated NPV of about AUD 1.2 billion and capital expenditure of AUD 250 million, while adding the company expects to improve those figures.
Jones outlined what he called high barriers to entry in HPA—process control, feedstock and reagent management, rapid development of operating capability, customer engagement, and financing scale-up—arguing that Impact’s combination of Lake Hope and the acquired technology addresses these hurdles.
A central theme was modular growth. Rather than building a single large 10,000-ton-per-year facility, Jones said Impact believes it can deploy multiple smaller 1,000–2,000-ton-per-year plants to scale faster with lower capital intensity and reduced reliance on debt financing. He compared peer capital costs at “about $100 million per 1,000 tons per annum” of HPA capacity and said Impact believes it can reach “at least one third of that.”
By-products, R&D partnerships, and forward plan
Jones said Impact is working with Edith Cowan University under a federal government grant to incorporate membrane technology into its flowsheet with the goal of routinely producing 4N HPA. He also discussed potash as a valuable by-product, stating the company is beginning to crystallize “beautiful potash” and believes membrane crystallization could significantly reduce capital costs.
In addition, Jones said the company’s potash work has led to an alternative flowsheet concept where potash and hydrochloric acid could become prime products rather than HPA, with scoping studies underway and potential targeting of lakes around Salmon Gums due to proximity to agricultural regions and mining demand for hydrochloric acid.
On customer qualification, Jones said Impact has signed a collaboration agreement with C4V, based at a university in Binghamton, New York, to run test programs required by battery manufacturers. He said this approach could streamline pre-qualification by centralizing testing rather than engaging multiple individual manufacturers.
Looking ahead, Jones said priorities include completing and ramping up the pilot plant, expanding customer engagement, and pursuing a North American base in 2027. He said investors should expect “a lot of news flow” over the coming months as the company advances the project.
About Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT)
Impact Minerals Limited operates as an exploration company in Australia. It primarily explores for nickel, gold, copper, silver, lead, zinc, and platinum group element deposits. The company’s project is the Arkun-Beau project comprising 8 exploration licenses covering an area of 2,100 square kilometers located in Western Australia. It acquired the right to earn an 80% interest in the Lake Hope High Purity Alumina project; and 100% interest in Broken Hill project. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is based in West Perth, Australia.
