Impact Minerals Expands Silica Hill Gold-Silver Zone as Lake Hope HPA Pilot Starts

Impact Minerals advanced its 80%-owned Lake Hope High Purity Alumina Project toward a definitive feasibility study during the June quarter after completing key processing optimisation work and starting its pilot plant program at Edith Cowan University.

Joint venture partner Kuniko intersected mineralisation in all six holes of its first drilling program at the Commonwealth–Silica Hill gold–silver project and made a new discovery about 100m beyond the known Silica Hill deposit.

Impact also progressed a scoping study for the Salmon Gums potash and hydrochloric acid project, where drilling has been completed at sufficient density to support a maiden mineral resource estimate later in 2026.

The company ended June with A$2.08 million cash after spending A$742,000 on exploration and evaluation and A$540,000 on corporate and administration activities.

Impact's preferred Stage 1 processing route uses membrane technology to recycle virtually all water used to wash ore and residue, while process refinements increased the purity of the potash by-product from 94% to 98%.

Edith Cowan University has begun optimising the Stage 2 hydrochloric acid leaching process and studying membrane-based acid recovery, which is a key component of the project's processing economics.

CPC Engineering advanced pilot plant design and equipment procurement ahead of construction, while vendor reviews shortlisted calciner technologies and identified two established acid regeneration options for further technical and economic assessment.

The pre-feasibility study outlined annual production of 10,000 tonnes of high purity alumina over a 33-year mine life, with a post-tax net present value at a 10% discount rate of A$1.165 billion, a 47.5% internal rate of return and pre-production capital of A$259 million.