Impact (ASX:IPT) ups its southwest stake for critical West Australian commodities

Impact Minerals has upped its exploration tenure with three new licences covering 720 kilometres immediately north of the Arkun project, building it up to 2900 square kilometres of fully owned territory in Western Australia’s burgeoning southwest.

The licences are considered highly prospective for a range of critical commodities, but in focus will be rare earths and copper-nickel sulphides, sitting immediately along trend from recently discovered anomalies.

Rare earth soil geochemistry anomalies discovered at Hyperion, Swordfish, Horseshoe and a copper find at Caligula spurred the expanded territory which holds two significant electromagnetic conductors that remain untouched by the drill.

Impact Managing Director Dr Mike Jones said after recent breakthroughs in soil geochemistry programs which discovered the prospects, the company had been able to expand its strategic ground holding in WA’s emerging South West Yilgarn mineral province in the southern part of the state.

“The new applications contain strike extensions and similar geology to our newly discovered prospects and are easily accessible, allowing us to start groundwork quickly following the usual land access negotiations,” Dr Jones said.

“We are also looking forward to our maiden drill program at Arkun early in the next Quarter and are well advanced in the approvals process and securing the appropriate drill rig.”

Despite being a world-leading producer of bauxite, tantalite and spodumene alongside significant amounts of gold, coal, heavy, minerals, tin, and silica sands, the southwest has historically received just a sliver of Western Australia’s mineral exploration spending.

Difficult land access and a perceived lack of prospectivity has left the area relatively underexplored in spite of the Geological Survey of Western Australia’s best efforts to highlight prospective areas in the region.

GSWA appeared to agree in Impact’s assessment of wide-ranging prospectivity, showing the potential for platinum group elements, nickel, chromium, vanadium, base metals, iron ore, diamonds, silica sand, kaolin, and other industrial minerals.

But it is something Impact will look to prove with the drill, and it plans to test several anomalies over the next quarter, with statutory approvals and land access agreements in progress for a maiden campaign while soil surveys continue over Arkun.