Meet Dr. Mike Jones, Managing Director of Impact Minerals Limited
Dr. Mike Jones, MAIG, brings a wealth of expertise and experience to his role as Managing Director of Impact Minerals Limited. His distinguished career in the mining and exploration industry began with undergraduate and post-graduate studies in Mining and Exploration Geology at Imperial College, London.
Driven by a passion for uncovering the earth’s hidden treasures, Dr. Jones’s Ph.D. work on gold mineralisation led him to Western Australia in 1988, where he joined Western Mining Corporation in the exploration for gold and nickel deposits in the Yilgarn Craton.
With a career spanning over three decades, Dr. Jones has consulted on more than 80 projects across various mineralised terrains. He has a notable track record of integrating geological field mapping with the interpretation of geochemical, geophysical, and remotely sensed data for target generation. His pivotal role in the discovery of significant gold and iron ore deposits, such as those at the Higginsville Mining Centre and near Newman in Western Australia, underscores his impact on the industry.
As the founding director of Lithofire Consulting Geologists in Perth, Australia, Dr. Jones further honed his skills and leadership in the exploration sector. Since 2006, he has been at the helm of Impact Minerals Limited, guiding the company through its exploration endeavours and driving its mission to unlock Australia’s vast mineral potential. Under his leadership, Impact Minerals has built an extensive portfolio of tenements, including the flagship Lake Hope High Purity Alumina (HPA) Joint Venture Project, and continues to explore a diverse range of mineral resources, positioning itself as a key player in the mining industry.
Dr. Jones’s commitment to excellence, innovation, and sustainable growth is evident in every project he undertakes, making him a respected figure in the world of mineral exploration.
About Impact Minerals Limited
Impact Minerals Limited, an ASX-listed exploration company since 2006, is dedicated to unlocking Australia’s rich mineral potential. With an extensive portfolio of tenement holdings spanning over 3,500 square kilometers, the company is strategically positioned to explore a diverse range of mineral resources.
The centerpiece of Impact Minerals’ endeavours is the Lake Hope High Purity Alumina (HPA) Project in Western Australia, which is the focus of an ongoing Pre-Feasibility Study. This project is set to revolutionize HPA production with very low cost mining and processing techniques, positioning the company to meet the surging global demand for high-quality alumina.
Impact Minerals also boasts a strong presence in other key mineral sectors, including gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, nickel, and platinum group metals (PGMs). This breadth of resources places the company at the forefront of the industry, ready to seize profitable opportunities and drive growth.
Among its prominent projects are:
- Lake Hope: Located 500 km east of Perth, this world-class HPA project is currently undergoing a pre-feasibility study with heritage clearance for mining already in place.
- Broken Hill: Known for its giant silver-lead-zinc deposit, this project covers 815 sq km and includes ongoing drilling activities. It has also yielded the highest PGM grades in Australia.
- Arkun: A large strategic holding in the emerging Ni-Cu-PGE province, surrounded by Anglo American Corporation, with significant anomalies and no previous exploration.
- Doonia: An 80% interest in a drill-ready gold project in the Mt Belches Basin, featuring a significant gold-in-soil anomaly and multi-metal anomalism.
Impact Minerals’ forward-thinking strategy includes holding tenements with potential for other battery and strategic metals, aligning with the growing global demand for these essential components. The company’s experienced directors, skilled in minerals exploration and corporate management, have a proven track record of delivering value to stakeholders through successful exploration and development projects.
Driven by a commitment to excellence and a vision to harness Australia’s mineral wealth, Impact Minerals Limited is establishing itself as a key player in the HPA and broader mining industries. Through careful project selection, rigorous evaluation, and a focus on profitability, the company aims to create lasting value for shareholders while contributing to the sustainable growth of the mining sector.
Interview Questions for Dr. Mike Jones, Managing Director of Impact Minerals Limited
1. Can you share some insights into your journey in the mining and exploration industry and what led you to become the Managing Director of Impact Minerals Limited?
I came to Australia in 1988 following my undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the Royal School of Mines Imperial College in London. Western Mining Corporation offered me a job and a permanent resident visa, and I was lucky enough to be part of the exploration and project generation team for 6 years looking for gold and nickel deposits in Western Australia. I then worked for several consulting groups before setting up my own consulting group with a business partner specialising in target generation and integration of geophysical and geochemical data.
During this time we decided to get our own ground and listed Impact Minerals in late 2006. It has been an interesting and varied journey having gone through a number of cycles but we were always supported by our major shareholders and the Board to explore for a world class deposit.
2. Impact Minerals has an extensive portfolio of projects. Could you provide an overview of the key projects currently being explored and developed by the company?
Our Flagship project, Lake Hope covers a large area of about 238 square kilometres, encompassing several promising salt lakes stretching from Hyden to Norseman in southern Western Australia, renowned as a Tier One mining jurisdiction. Within this expansive region, lies an extraordinary deposit of high-grade aluminium clay minerals, uniquely situated in the upper two metres of a playa lake.
Distinguished by its singular physical and chemical characteristics, this deposit enables cost-effective mining and off-site metallurgical processing through an innovative acid leaching technique, challenging conventional cost paradigms.
The Arkun project, which covers about 850 square kilometres and is centred between York and Corrigin, 100 km east of Perth, was first identified as an area of anomalous nickel-copper-gold anomalies in publicly available regional geochemistry data sets.
3. The Lake Hope High Purity Alumina (HPA) Project is a centerpiece for Impact Minerals. What makes this project particularly significant, and how is it progressing?
High Purity Alumina (HPA) at greater than 99.99% (4N) purity was produced from the metallurgical processing of lake clays from Impact’s Lake Hope Project, located 500 km east of Perth in Western Australia). Impact can earn an 80% interest in Playa One Pty Limited, which owns the Lake Hope project, by completing a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) on the project, which is in progress.
The 4N HPA was produced via a proprietary and patented metallurgical process called the ‘Sulphate Process’ which is owned by Playa One and by a new method called the Low Temperature Leach (LTL) Process. The replication and optimization of these processes for Lake Hope are a key focus of the Pre-Feasibility Study and therefore, these new results are a key milestone in the development of the project.
The clays at Lake Hope occur in the top two metres of two small salt lakes on E63/2086 in a deposit containing about 880,000 tonnes of alumina (Al2O3) in various minerals. The deposit comprises Indicated (88%) and Inferred Resources (12%) of 3.5 million tonnes at an average grade of 25.1% alumina. The lake clays contain a unique combination of naturally extremely fine-grained minerals, which delivers significant cost advantages to the mining and processing of the ore to produce HPA.
The clays are free-digging and require no crushing, screening or other on-site preparation, and it is envisaged that the clay will be trucked offsite to a pre-permitted industrial site, most likely either in Kalgoorlie or Perth.
The PFS at Lake Hope is progressing on schedule and is due for completion in late 2024. Metallurgical test work is the critical component of the work to be completed for the PFS and is the focus of the forward work programme, which will now include batch production from both the Sulphate Process and LTL Process. The test work will be completed on both processes in parallel at marginal extra cost and time. Final optimisation of the LTL Process and preliminary economic studies will be completed as part of this work.
All of these results, and results from a third possible process route, are due in this Quarter. This will allow a final choice to be made of the process route required for commercial production of HPA. Given the potential for chemical and fertilizer products as a valuable by-product from both the Sulphate Process and the LTL Process, an assessment of the mineral potential of the wider Lake Hope playa system is in progress. This has involved some preliminary shallow auger and push tube drilling, and a detailed review and interpretation of the results is in progress.
4. Broken Hill is known for its historic mineral deposits. What are the current exploration activities and potential findings at the Broken Hill project?
Impact has about 800 sq km of ground around Broken Hill which are prospective for PGMs, copper, silver lead and zinc. Last year Impact was a member of the first cohort to be selected for the prestigious BHP Xplor programme based on its ideas for exploration at Broken Hill. The findings of that work are now forming the basis of renewed exploration efforts in the area both by Impact and various parties interested in a joint venture.
5. The Arkun project has a large strategic ground holding and significant anomalies. Could you elaborate on the potential you see in this emerging Ni-Cu-PGE province?
The Arkun project lies in the south west of Western Australia in the same broad domain as the exciting Julimar Ni-Cu-PGM discovery. The project contains several greenstone belts and possible layered mafic intrusions that are prospective for similar deposits and the entire area is very poorly explored.
In addition significant rare earth element potential has been discovered. A soil geochemistry survey conducted at Arkun revealed a significant area exceeding 3 km² with Total Rare Earth Oxides + Yttrium (TREO+Y) concentrations surpassing 1,000 ppm, with some samples reaching values above 2,500 ppm and a peak value of 5,880 ppm, making it among the highest tenor REE soil values in Western Australia. This anomaly comprises two broad zones extending over 2.5 km along a northwest-southeast trend, displaying promising levels of neodymium and Praesedynium, typical of economically significant heavy rare earths.
Impact, the company behind the survey, has applied for three new exploration licenses covering 720 km² adjacent to the Arkun project, capitalizing on similar geological formations and significant soil geochemistry anomalies identified in nearby areas. These licenses, if granted, would extend the company’s strategic ground position along the Corrigin Tectonic Zone (CTZ), a region considered highly prospective for various strategic and battery metals, including REEs, copper, nickel, and gold.
Two strong conductors have already been identified within the new licenses, further enhancing exploration potential. Impact plans to conduct aircore drilling at Hyperion to assess the depth and REE content of the mineralization, with additional reconnaissance work and detailed geology interpretation underway.
6. Doonia is described as an interesting gold project with significant anomalies. What are the next steps for this project, and what do you hope to achieve in the near term?
Impact has identified some significant soil geochemistry anomalies for gold at Doonia as well as lithium. Follow up on ground work is now required to identify specific drill targets and this work is planned for later in 2024.
7. Impact Minerals has a diverse portfolio that includes various metals. How does this diversity position the company in the current global market, particularly in the context of battery and strategic metals?
Impact is becoming increasingly focussed on the Lake Hope Project as the PFS progresses. Accordingly the company is rationalising its ground holdings and has relinquished ground, helped organise an upcoming IPO of its copper-gold assets in the Lachlan province of NSW and talking to potential joint venture partners for its Broken Hill project.
8. Sustainability is a key focus in modern mining. How does Impact Minerals ensure its operations are sustainable and minimize environmental impact, particularly at your major projects?
Impact is committed to the principles of ESG as the most effective means of creating long-term enterprise value and addressing the societal priorities enshrined in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. In August 2023, we made a commitment to commence reporting on the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosures of the Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics (SCM) of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
We are in the process of making ESG disclosures in the form of a set of universal, comparable ESG metrics focused on people, planet, prosperity and principles of governance that organisations can report on regardless of industry or region. This table represents our reporting against the 21 core metrics, being reviewed quarterly and updated periodically.
We use this universal ESG framework to align our mainstream reporting on performance against ESG indicators. By integrating ESG metrics into our governance, business strategy, and performance management process, we diligently consider all pertinent risks and opportunities in running our business. We continue to look for opportunities for further transparency on the topics which are material to our business.
To track our disclosure progress and demonstrate our sustainability performance against the WEF SCM framework we utilise Socialsuite’s ESG disclosure platform. Socialsuite ESG enables us to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to ESG by providing a dedicated solution to track, report, and share our ESG disclosures. With Socialsuite ESG we have started the journey of building robust ESG credentials.
9. Community engagement is crucial for mining companies. What initiatives does Impact Minerals undertake to build positive relationships with local communities and stakeholders?
Impact Minerals recognises the importance of community engagement and implements various initiatives to build positive relationships with local communities and stakeholders. These include maintaining open communication channels, conducting community consultations, investing in community projects, prioritising environmental stewardship, and collaborating with Indigenous communities for cultural heritage preservation. Through these efforts, Impact Minerals aims to foster trust, transparency, and mutual respect with its stakeholders.
In particular, Impact is now engaged with Ngadju Peoples upon whose land the Lake Hope project is situated. It is the company’s intention to help the Ngadju benefit to the best of its ability as the project moves into production over the next few years.
10. Impact Minerals has a history of supporting educational initiatives like the Young Australian and Indigenous Art and Literacy Program. Why is community involvement important to the company, and how do these initiatives benefit the broader community?
Community involvement is integral to Impact Minerals, as it strengthens relationships with local communities and demonstrates corporate social responsibility. Initiatives like the Young Australian and Indigenous Art and Literacy Program exemplify this commitment.
These efforts benefit the broader community by enhancing education and skill development, preserving cultural heritage, fostering engagement, and promoting long-term sustainability. Through such initiatives, Impact Minerals aims to create shared value and positively impact the communities where it operates.
11. Looking forward, what are the primary corporate objectives for Impact Minerals, and how do you plan to achieve growth and value for your shareholders?
Impact is committed to finishing the Pre-Feasibility Study on the Lake Hope High Purity Alumina Project by the end of 2024. As part of that journey the company will be lodging a mining lease application, designing proto-type processing plants and looking to source off take partners and customers for its products. Each of these steps should add value as the project progresses.
Where can people find you?
We encourage all investors and shareholders to register on our Investor Hub, where you will be kept up to date on Impact activities.
Or visit our website landing page at www.impactminerals.com.au
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