Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) plots a low cost path to high purity alumina from a salt lake

In an industry dominated by billion dollar processing hubs and deep kaolin pits, Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) is proposing a radically different path to high purity alumina.

This one begins just beneath the surface of a salt lake in Western Australia.

The company’s pre feasibility study for its 100 percent owned Lake Hope Project outlines a simple, scalable and cost effective production model that challenges conventional thinking in the alumina sector.

Targeting 10,000 tonnes per annum of 4N (99.99 percent) high purity alumina, the study delivers impressive metrics including a post tax net present value of $1.165 billion, an internal rate of return of 47.5 percent, and a payback period of just over two years.

What sets Lake Hope apart is its unique geology.

Unlike kaolin or bauxite based operations that require complex beneficiation, Lake Hope’s alunite bearing clay lies just 1.5 metres beneath the lakebed.

The material can be simply scooped up, trucked off site and processed without the need for crushing, grinding or blasting.

Managing Director Dr Mike Jones believes this gives Impact a major advantage.

“This is one of the most capital efficient and environmentally responsible pathways to high purity alumina production globally,” Dr Jones said.

The processing route uses a low temperature leach and regenerates its own hydrochloric acid, while also producing a potash by product that may reduce net costs even further.

Impact Minerals estimates operating costs could fall below 4,500 US dollars per tonne once credits are applied.

Environmental credentials are also front and centre.

Tailings will be returned to the lake in a closed loop system, and engagement with the Ngadju traditional owners is well advanced.

Heritage surveys are complete, and Impact has already built community royalties into its financial model.

A key part of the strategy is the company’s 50 percent interest in HiPurA, a modular downstream technology that could accelerate production and reduce capital outlay.

Impact says integrating HiPurA could bring first revenues forward by several years and provide flexibility to scale with market demand.

Of course, metallurgy remains the critical risk.

A pilot plant, backed by federal funding under a CRC P grant, will test the process under continuous conditions.

Equipment selection and final design will depend on those results as the company moves toward a definitive feasibility study.

In a market where demand for high purity alumina is forecast to grow by 20 percent annually to 2030, Impact may have found a shortcut.

A low cost, low impact route that avoids the usual capital blowouts and long lead times. Investors will now be watching closely for results from the pilot program and signs of early offtake support.

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