Impact Minerals Pursues Major Discoveries Through Innovation and Persistence in Australia

Company Overview- Dr. Mike Jones, the managing director of Impact Minerals, introduces the company as a junior explorer and project developer listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. They manage a portfolio of projects across the eastern and western states of Australia.
Risk and Exploration - Mike Jones emphasizes that investing in exploration companies like Impact Minerals is speculative due to the high risks associated with finding world-class ore bodies. Exploration success rates are extremely low, with only about one in 2,700 drilling targets in Canada and Australia resulting in discoveries over the last decade.
Project Generation and Technical Expertise - Impact Minerals identifies as a project generator, which means they generate numerous targets at low costs, advance them up the value chain, and aim to share the financial risks with partners. The company prides itself on technical excellence and uses scientific methods to reduce exploration risks, aided by a team of experienced geologists.
Financials and Capital Structure - The company's last quarterly cash figure stood at 2.2 million Aussie dollars. Mike Jones hints at potential joint ventures for some of their projects and the importance of securing funding to continue exploration activities.
Future Plans and Exploration Targets - They are planning to conduct drilling activities in Western Australia, with a focus on various metals, including nickel, copper, PGEs, lithium, and rare earths. The company utilizes new geophysical technology for target generation, resulting in successful hits in some areas.
Impact Minerals is a Perth-based mineral exploration company focused on making high-value discoveries of precious and base metals across multiple projects in Australia. Led by an experienced team of geologists and technical experts, the company leverages innovation, persistence and portfolio diversification to try to beat the long odds inherent in exploration.
Technical Excellence and Innovation Underpin Strategy
In a video interview, Managing Director Dr. Mike Jones explains that Impact aims to reduce exploration risks and make transformational discoveries through technical excellence and innovation. While the odds of exploration success are low, with only around 1 in 2,700 early-stage drill targets becoming an economic discovery, Impact's philosophy of "doing the proper work properly" helps improve outcomes.
The company exemplifies this approach through proprietary techniques like the metal ratio analysis developed at its Broken Hill platinum group element (PGE) project in New South Wales. By analyzing assay data, Impact defined a ratio involving particular metals detectable with portable XRF devices that directly correlates with high PGE grades. This allowed more targeted drilling and contributed to some exceptional recent intercepts including 60cm at 15% combined nickel and copper, 1.5 g/t gold, and 22 g/t PGEs.
Impact also uses the latest geochemical and geophysical technologies to generate and assess exploration data, while leveraging skills and experience gained working at major miners like Western Mining Corporation. The technical team includes Dr. Jones, who has a PhD in ore deposit geology, along with seasoned geologists and consultants.
Strategic Portfolio in Australia's Most Prospective Terranes
The company has accumulated a significant portfolio of wholly-owned exploration projects in proven mineralized districts across several Australian states. This provides commodity diversification, with targets ranging from precious metals like gold and PGEs to battery metals like nickel and lithium. According to Dr. Jones, holding ground in known productive areas is key, as this greatly improves the odds of exploration success compared to less prospective regions.
The flagship Broken Hill PGE-nickel-copper project is located near the famous Broken Hill lead-zinc-silver mine in NSW. Impact defines multiple prospects along 16km of interpreted layered mafic-ultramafic intrusions with demonstrated high PGE grades up to 22 g/t. Further north in the prolific Lachlan Fold Belt, the Commonwealth project hosts an inferred resource of 720,000 tonnes at 2.8 g/t gold, 48 g/t silver, 1.5% copper, 0.6% zinc and 0.2% lead.
In Western Australia, activity is focused on the emerging Julimar region northeast of Perth, where Impact's Arkun project lies along trend from Chalice Mining's major nickel-PGE discovery. The company also holds the Dunya gold project in the Wheatbelt region, where a 3,000m drill program is imminent. Additional projects provide exposure to lithium in the Pilbara region and uranium in Botswana.
Systematic Exploration and Persistence to Unlock Potential
Impact's strategy is to methodically explore its projects while managing risks and costs. Initial work like geophysics, soil sampling and limited drilling helps refine targets, before seeking partners to fund more extensive drilling. This exploration pipeline aims to systematically test projects over time to try to achieve a discovery.
Persistence through market ups and downs has been key, with Impact continually attracting investor support. As Dr. Jones notes, big discoveries rarely happen quickly or easily. Major miners often spend decades searching before major successes. Impact has likewise been active at some project areas since its 2006 listing, methodically collecting data and periodically drilling targets.
While not every program succeeds, each adds knowledge to inform future work. Impact's portfolio and technical capabilities provide further flexibility to focus resources on whichever projects show the most potential as exploration progresses.
Upcoming Activity and Catalysts
After a period focused on its eastern state projects, Impact is pivoting attention back to Western Australia, where there is significant activity underway:
- A major joint venture deal covering one of Impact's projects is at an advanced stage. Finalization in the coming weeks would mean a significant investment by the partner to fund downstream exploration.
- At the 100% owned Arkun project, follow-up work is planned on multiple strong drill targets identified earlier this year using a new proprietary geophysical targeting technique. Highly successful in initial testing, this could be a game-changer for identifying areas prospective for nickel and PGEs.
- Drilling will commence this month at the Dunya gold project to test a large gold-in-soil anomaly. The initial 3,000m program aims to determine if Dunya holds an intrusion-related gold system similar to Chalice's Julimar discovery. Results from this drilling expected Q1 2023 could act as a near-term catalyst.
Impact Minerals controls highly prospective exploration ground, has an innovative technical approach, and persists in systematically exploring and testing targets over the long-term. With active programs commencing, investors have the opportunity to position in anticipation of potential high-impact drill results. As a speculative investment, the company reminds us that success is not guaranteed and investors should view holdings as higher risk. However, Impact's expertise and portfolio provide backing to take a calculated shot at a transformational mineral discovery in Australia.
Impact Minerals could be a good speculative investment
- Highly experienced management team with a track record of exploration success and technical innovation - increases chances of making a discovery
- Portfolio diversification across multiple projects and commodities in proven Australian mineral belts - provides multiple shots on goal
- Leveraging new proprietary exploration technologies to improve targeting and reduce risks
- Systematic exploration strategy to methodically test targets - maximizes the chance of eventually drilling the right spot
- Recent exploration has yielded exceptionally high-grade drill intercepts demonstrating upside potential
- Near-term exploration catalysts from drill programs commencing shortly at Dunya and other projects
- Tight capital structure with long-term supportive shareholders means funding risks minimized
- Company philosophy favors retaining projects to make discoveries themselves rather than early partnering or divestment
- Recent renewed interest and positive sentiment in the mining/exploration sector and high commodity prices
- Any significant discovery could lead to a dramatic re-rating of share price given the current low valuation
Impact Minerals provides exposure to potential high-reward exploration success in Australia through a combination of technical expertise, innovative methods, strategic assets, and persistent systematic programs. Investors with a higher risk tolerance could benefit through involvement at the early pre-discovery stage.
Analyst's Notes


