Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) outlines sulphate clay potential at Salmon Gums

Impact Minerals has reported early-stage exploration results from its Salmon Gums Project in Western Australia, identifying sulphate clay mineralisation across two lakes within the Kumarl tenement that may support a secondary development pathway alongside its Lake Hope High Purity Alumina project.

Highlights

• Reconnaissance drilling identified sulphate clay deposits across two lakes within E63/2318

• Grades of up to 20% sulphate and 5% potassium (K2O) reported

• Exploration Target of 3.8 to 4.3Mt containing 1.4 to 1.7Mt of sulphate of potash defined

• Scoping Study underway targeting ≥50,000t per annum potash production

• Project located near WA Wheatbelt and Eastern Goldfields markets

The results position Salmon Gums as a potential multi-commodity industrial minerals system, extending beyond the company’s established focus on high purity alumina.

Exploration across the Kumarl tenement confirmed laterally continuous sheets of sulphate-rich clays, with drilling indicating thicknesses ranging from 0.5m to 2m and consistent mineralisation across both Wishy Lake and Bane Lake.

From a resource perspective, the defined Exploration Target of 3.8 to 4.3Mt represents an early-stage estimate, explicitly noted as conceptual and not compliant with JORC 2012 standards.

Within this inventory, contained sulphate of potash is estimated at 1.4 to 1.7Mt, derived from grades averaging around 5% K2O and approximately 20% sulphate, with additional metallurgical work required before any estimate of hydrochloric acid output can be established.

The geological setting is consistent with shallow lacustrine systems, where sulphate clays occur as relatively uniform layers, with drilling across 58 holes, including auger and push tube methods, providing sufficient data density to support a simple flat-sheet exploration model based on area, thickness, density, and grade.

While early, this framework establishes a baseline for further resource definition work and highlights continuity across multiple lake systems within the broader tenement package.

Strategically, the work introduces a second potential development pathway for Impact Minerals, complementing the Lake Hope High Purity Alumina project.

The sulphate clay mineralisation supports a processing route to produce sulphate of potash fertiliser and hydrochloric acid via salt calcination, a pathway confirmed through earlier metallurgical test work.

This dual-product potential reflects the underlying mineral system and introduces optionality in downstream processing configurations.

Impact Managing Director Dr Mike Jones framed the broader significance of the results, noting,

“The exploration work at our Kumarl tenement is an important step in understanding the broader potential of the lake system around Lake Hope and Salmon Gums to host significant sulphate clay mineralisation with the potential to produce both potash and hydrochloric acid.”

The project’s location provides proximity to key end markets, including the Wheatbelt agricultural region and the Eastern Goldfields mining district, which may support logistics for future development.

The company also highlights broader supply chain considerations, including reduced Chinese fertiliser exports, as reinforcing the importance of domestic supply sources.

Looking ahead, the immediate focus is on advancing the Scoping Study to assess technical and commercial parameters, alongside further drilling aimed at defining a maiden Mineral Resource, with additional metallurgical work targeting optimisation of potash recovery and validation of hydrochloric acid production pathways.

In this context, the Lake Hope–Salmon Gums region is emerging as a potential multi-commodity industrial minerals hub, although its progression remains contingent on further exploration, resource definition, and economic validation.

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