Thanks ice, great to read, a lot of useful information!
Some comparison with (older) peers: (Notice: I like to do these comparisons; so one can learn what can and has been made better; potential advantages/disadvantages compared to other projects)
From Yendon Kaolin deposit / HPA project / Peak Minerals (PFS 2018)
Additional information:
https://hotcopper.com.au/threads/yendon-hpa.6093580/Capex was about 270 m USD and Opex 7600 USD/ton HPA (4N); proposed was also a shallow pit with no crushing, blasting or grinding; they also had an idea about an acid regeneration plant (increases capex but reduces opex), hydrometallurgy was based on HCL (hydrochloric acid) though and a kaolin resource
So basically they have the opex of Alpha HPA (claimed it was lowest at their time), but still the project was never developed further.
The biggest advantages of Impact Minerals:
- huge advantage over kaolin
- new hydrometallurgical (water based) process (even 2 different routes, and sulphuric acid instead of hydrochloric acid) thanks to Roland Gotthard
- maybe Impact Minerals could consider an acid regeneration plant too (for sulphuric acid process approach; if LTL process is not chosen) -> would increase capex but reduce opex even further
-> for many investors the metallurgy part is quite boring; in this case (new approach) its a key for success; like Alpha HPA (solvent extraction is a new step too, for HPA production) Impact Minerals has a completely other approach to conventional/old school HPA producers/developers (LTL: low temperature leach process and/or sulphuric acid process)
->Another peer (Cadoux limited) has now an capex of ~ 200 m USD, opex 6200 USD per ton HPA; would be great if Impact Minerals can further reduce capex (to like 180m)
Overall my conclusion:
Impact Minerals has all the right ingredients to push this forward and be successful
1. Starting with project manager Roland Gotthard, who worked on this lifetime opportunity very long and very hard on his own
2. Great synergy with the Doctor (Mike Jones), has a lot of experience to steer the flagship, marketing and very important the coming discussions with offtake partners; they were chosen as BHP exploration cohort part -> credibility in the exploration field with the big boys; one might critisize the doctor for the past, but he kept the company alive, also good in current market conditions (getting rebates, grants...)
3. Unique HPA resource (easiest mining ever)
3. Elegant novel hydrometallurgical approaches to HPA
4. Numbers (Capex, opex...) already fantastic -> still good upside potential! I would like to see capex still down to 150-180 m
Great would be a slide/comparison in the presentations from the company with other peers (no upfront calcining compared to kaolin based HPA-> less energy used/maybe with renewables in future; less carbon dioxide emitted, low environmental impact from mining)
Really good in-depth analysis! Great work!
I was into Peak for a while.
(20min delay)