Mining Intelligence and News
Australia

Lake Hope Project

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Summary

Mine TypeOpen Pit
Study CompletedPrefeasibility
Study in ProgressFeasibility
StagePermitting
Commodities
  • Aluminum
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
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SnapshotThe Lake Hope Project spans a vast area of approximately 238 square kilometres, encompassing several promising salt lakes.

The 2025 PFS indicates low operating and capital costs due to the unique characteristics of the clay deposit at Lake Hope. This deposit features high-grade mineralization at the surface, which requires no on-site beneficiation, advantageous metallurgical process kinetics, and the potential for future SOP by-product credits with further test work.

Work underway to integrate Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) to commence, including pilot plant construction, co-funded by the federal government, and assessment of integrating Lake Hope feedstock with the HiPurA® process, which were recently acquired. As the acquisition occurred near the end of the PFS, the study only pertains to Lake Hope as a stand-alone project and does not consider integration with HiPurA.

Mining Lease and Miscellaneous Licence applications lodged.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Playa Two Pty Ltd 20 % Indirect
Impact Minerals Ltd. 80 % Indirect
Playa One Pty Ltd. owns the Lake Hope assets and intellectual property, including two patents for metallurgical processes.

Impact Minerals Ltd. owns an 80% interest in Playa One Pty Ltd.. 20% remains with the sellers, represented by Playa Two Pty Ltd.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Evaporite

Summary:

The mine site is located within the Lake Hope drainage system in the Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia. This lake system primarily rests on an Archaean granitic basement, with minor amounts of metamorphosed greenstone and sedimentary rocks present in the region as inclusions in the granites.

The saline playas within E63/2086 consist of sheets of evaporitic salts up to two metres thick, composed of alunite mud (approximately 50-65%), amorphous silica (about 30-40%), goethite, halite (around 3-6%), gypsum (approximately 0.5%), and minor amounts of quartz, feldspar, and clay detritus (approximately 1% total).

Dimensions
Mineralisation is flat lying.

Mineral Resource dimensions are:
• West Lake: areal extent 1.65km by 1.6km with an average thickness from the sampling of 0.95m, maximum depth is 1.6m and a surface area of 1.33Mm2.
• East Lake: areal extent 1.6km by 0.65km with an average thickness from the sampling of 0.98m, maximum depth is 2.0m and a surface area of 0.76Mm2.

Mineralisation is exposed at surface.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Commodity Production

The product is 4N High Purity Alumina (HPA) (99.99% Al2O3).
CommodityProductUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Alumina Powder t 10,000323,640
Sulfate of potash (SOP) Salt t 24,900

Operational metrics

Metrics
Hourly processing rate  ....  Subscribe
Annual ore mining rate  ....  Subscribe
Annual production capacity  ....  Subscribe
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2025 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
Cash costs Alumina USD  ....  Subscribe
Cash costs Alumina USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Alumina USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2025 study / presentation.
** Net of By-Product.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
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OP OpEx $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
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After-tax NPV @ 10% $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 8% $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jun 17, 2025
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....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 5, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 5, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jun 17, 2025

Workforce

Aerial view:

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