IPT State of Play
HPA — the recently-quoted full article is here:
mordor intelligence dot com/industry-reports/high-purity-alumina-hpa-market
One critical line that the poster omitted: “On the flip side, the high cost of high-purity alumina is expected to hinder the market's growth.”
And, more selective quoting omitted:
“An increase in electric vehicle sales, increasing demand for lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries and semiconductors, and growing demand for smartphones, watches, and televisions have led the market recovery over the last two years.”
Additionally,
“HPA's applications in scratch-resistant glass for smartphones & watches and its growing applications in manufacturing optical lens is expected to provide ample opportunities for market growth during the forecast period.”
Closed market? That is complete crap.
A CAGR of 22% means the HPA market will triple in the next five years — more than enough time for one of the very lowest cost producers to easily insert 10Kt pa into the HPA market, and with likely funding for Critical Minerals to process that out. (e.g. FYI picked up a $3M WA Govt. grant late last week.)
Backtracking
The original 100-bagger concept was always a what-if scenario and definitely not a predicted determination. It remains a what-if — not because of Lake Hope, that’s just a multi-bagger of unknown quantity at this point in time, but potentially terrific. The 100-bagger comes into play, if & when, the global behemoth orebody at Broken Hill (amongst others) is eventually uncovered. More on BH later.
2021 saw the deliberate IPT corporate strategy of a predetermined pivot away from the New South Wales and Queensland deposits and into the Western Australian battery minerals — smart move to recognise the tailwinds towards critical minerals, and away from difficult Cu-Au porphyrys etc. with complex stratigraphies in those pandemic/ post-pandemic times — and an increased focus in WA following the $18M IGO joint venture at Broken Hill.
LH — Lake Hope:
IPT was always going to remain a pure exploration company, until, I repeat until, they sourced this T1 deposit, established a sizeable and significant resource — signalling the long-awaited shift into the focus on production.
Job done: Lake Hope.
And they’ve done the numbers. The Scoping Report will display the obvious. (Looks like August more than July.)
LH — Already completed:
The lab bench-scale Mets are already at 4N;
the assays at 99.994-6 are with negligible contaminants;
the likely flowsheet is determined;
the alpha-HPA final product is certified;
the high-level review of the mining/chemical processing costs are done;
the preferred development concept of the lake clay-sulphate process is defined;
the Scoping Report is due soonish;
and the PFS is well on the way.
LH — Production
I’ve never seen DJ more focused than this. AFAIK IPT have never gone to the level of scoping report and PFS before. This is a firm commitment planned well ahead of time. These are game changing, transformative, and defining milestones for IPT.
And the infrastructure will come.
Not enough credit is ever given to DJ for maintaining a network of ready suppliers of potential deposits across Oz — he is not just well-regarded in the industry — he is well-respected, well-liked and accessible, and industry people just approach him with opportunities. This time however IPT contacted the geo at Playa One because they knew the work history, and the size of the 238km
2 tenements. No luck was involved. Great team research and beautifully proactive decision-making. And it is a seriously competent team:
Broken Hill — IGO
Over the first year of the farm-in IGO completed their deep penetrating Squid EM surveys over at least very prospective sections of the Moorkai Trend and the Little Broken Hill **bro. IGO are playing the low-priority long game with an underwhelming single drill hole in 2022 into semi-massive pyrrhotite, with the assay incomplete or not reported afaik, and further exploration unknown or unreported.
BH — Broken Hill — BHP
The XPLOR program was designed to build out an exploration concept and be ‘investment ready’ in operations, business and technical skillsets focused on discovering copper, nickel and other critical minerals, with a defined focus on copper ++. Really looking forward into poking around EL9115 that abuts onto the hot zone of the LBHG in EL7390. i.e. it’s a global search to find the next big exploration opportunity and obtain a more diversified and broader generative funnel for BHP and partners. And size matters in the resources game.
No-one on the planet knows the BH potential as comprehensively as BHP. So when I hear DJ casually dropping a line that we’ll have results coming from XPLOR ‘over the next few months’, I start grinning from ear-to-ear. At the very least it will be based on a completed 3D geological modelling, extending towards funding or a JV. Bring it on.
IPT is looking more secure and better positioned than they ever have.
Go Matildas!
cheers,
Ice
(20min delay)