Key Highlights

  • Impact is advancing a staged pilot-scale programme to produce about 20 kilograms of 4N high-purity alumina.
  • Edith Cowan University is constructing a pilot Facility in Joondalup, Perth, under a Cooperative Research Centres Projects collaboration.
  • Simulus Group has been appointed to manage testwork involving corrosive reagents and hydrogen chloride gas.
  • Impact has proposed renaming itself Altrica Advanced Materials, a change expected to require Shareholder approval.

Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) announced on 9 November 2026 that it is advancing a staged, pilot-scale test programme for its Lake Hope High-Purity Alumina Project in Western Australia. The goal is to produce about 20 kilograms of 4N high-purity alumina (HPA), meaning alumina that is at least 99.99% pure, for potential evaluation by customers.

The programme builds on earlier laboratory research and testwork on the Lake Hope flowsheet.

Who is doing the work

Edith Cowan University is constructing a pilot facility in Joondalup, Perth, through a Cooperative Research Centres Projects collaboration supported by the Australian Government. The facility will be used for mineral processing, leaching and related development work.

Impact has also appointed Simulus Group to manage testwork involving corrosive reagents and hydrogen chloride gas sparging. The scope covers leaching, gas handling, crystallisation of aluminium chloride hexahydrate, solid-liquid separation, thermal decomposition and calcination.

Those steps describe a hydrochloric acid-based route, in which aluminium is leached from the feed, crystallised as a chloride salt and then heated to produce alumina. Handling hydrochloric acid and gas safely and economically is one of the main engineering challenges in such flowsheets, which helps explain why a specialist group has been engaged.

Why pilot scale matters

Chairman Jim McKerlie described the work as part of Lake Hope's testing phase. He said the company was proving each step of the flowsheet from the laboratory through to a pilot plant, and that these were practical and necessary steps that would provide the data needed to scale up with confidence.

Laboratory tests use small quantities under controlled conditions. Pilot plants run larger volumes, often continuously, and reveal issues such as equipment corrosion, reagent losses, energy Demand and product consistency that do not appear at bench scale. Producing 20 kilograms gives potential customers enough material to test in their own processes.

Where Lake Hope stands

Impact has completed a prefeasibility study for Lake Hope and is working towards a definitive feasibility study. The pilot data is likely to be important input for that next study, particularly for Capital and operating cost estimates.

The company also holds a 50% interest in Alluminous, which produces HPA at a Perth pilot plant for customer qualification. That includes supplying samples to US-based battery technology group Charge CCCV, known as C4V.

The market

HPA is used in LED lighting, semiconductors, sapphire glass and as a coating for Lithium-Ion Battery separators. Demand forecasts have been encouraging, but the market is relatively small and customers typically require lengthy qualification before committing to a new supplier. Several Australian companies are pursuing HPA projects, so competition for offtake is significant.

Corporate changes

On 5 November Impact proposed renaming itself Altrica Advanced Materials, signalling its focus on advanced materials rather than general exploration. The name change is expected to require shareholder approval.

Qualifications

Pilot results may differ from laboratory results, and the Economics of Lake Hope will depend on achieving purity, recovery and cost targets at scale.

Impact's path differs from some HPA developers that use purchased aluminium feedstock. Lake Hope is based on a playa lake deposit containing aluminium-bearing clays, and the company has argued that its own feed source could provide a cost advantage. That argument rests on the pilot work confirming that the flowsheet can handle the material consistently. Testing of the 20-kilogram sample will therefore be important not only for customers but also for investors assessing whether the prefeasibility study's assumptions hold.

What comes next

Completion of the ECU facility, the Simulus testwork and pilot product assessment are the next milestones. Customer feedback on the samples will then indicate whether Lake Hope's product can meet market specifications.