Impact Minerals’ Alluminous Study Delivers A$518M NPV for US HPA Project
Key Takeaways
- Alluminous's preferred Case 4 models a post-tax NPV₈ of A$518 million (US$362.4 million) and IRR of 42.3% for a staged 2,000–4,000 tpa HPA facility on the Texas Gulf Coast — all figures on a 100% project basis, not Impact's 50% share.
- This is a FEL-0, AACE Class 5 order-of-magnitude study with a cost accuracy range of +50%/–30%, meaning it is a preliminary screening estimate, not a feasibility study or profit forecast.
- Initial capital to first production is estimated at US$58.2 million, with a further US$15.8 million of expansion capital in Year 3, bringing total installed capital to US$74.0 million — or approximately US$18.5 million per 1,000 tpa of HPA capacity.
- Impact's total investment in Alluminous to date is A$2.85 million, comprising A$1.1 million toward the technology acquisition and A$1.75 million in ongoing development and pilot plant commissioning since April 2025.
- Two recent technical milestones validate the dual-platform strategy: Lake Hope HPA recorded uranium below 1 ppb without a dedicated removal stage (10 August 2026), and Alluminous engineered HPA to battery-separator-coating particle-size specifications while maintaining purity (24 July 2026).
Alluminous scoping study delivers A$518M NPV for Impact Minerals’ preferred US development case
Impact Minerals (ASX: IPT) has announced a positive scoping study for its 50%-owned associate Alluminous Pty Ltd, modelling a post-tax NPV₈ of A$518 million (US$362.4 million) and an IRR of 42.3% for a staged US High Purity Alumina (HPA) facility. The preferred development pathway ramps production from 2,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) to 4,000 tpa at a facility on the Texas Gulf Coast.
Investors should note upfront that this is an early-stage FEL-0, AACE Class 5 order-of-magnitude study (meaning it is a preliminary screening estimate, not a feasibility study) with a cost accuracy range of +50%/–30%. It does not constitute a profit forecast, production forecast, or basis for an investment decision.
Impact’s total investment in Alluminous to date stands at A$2.85 million: A$1.1 million paid as its share of the A$2.2 million acquisition of the Alluminous technology, plus a further A$1.75 million contributed toward ongoing development and pilot plant commissioning since April 2025.
It is also important to note that all NPV and IRR figures are presented on a 100% project basis and do not represent the value attributable to Impact’s 50% interest in Alluminous.
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Case 4: the preferred staged US development pathway
Alluminous selected Case 4 over Case 3 (which modelled the highest NPV at US$389.1 million and IRR of 47.0%) because HPA is not a bulk-traded commodity. New products typically require customer qualification before significant volumes can be contracted, creating a persistent financing challenge: lenders generally require binding offtake before financing scale-up, while customers want supply certainty before committing to long-term volumes.
Dr Mike Jones, Managing Director
“The preferred case offers a practical pathway through that problem, with a staged ramp-up from 2,000 tonnes per annum to 4,000 tonnes per annum as technical performance, product qualification, offtake and sales progress.”
The Texas Gulf Coast, centred on the Houston and Freeport industrial corridor, has been identified as the preferred commercial region, pending a formal site-specific assessment. Under Case 4, initial capital to first production is estimated at US$58.2 million, with a further US$15.8 million of expansion capital in Year 3, bringing total installed capital to US$74.0 million, or approximately US$18.5 million per 1,000 tpa of HPA capacity.
The four modelled cases compared across the key financial metrics are set out below.
| Metric | Case 1 – Perth | Case 2 – Houston | Case 3 – Houston | Case 4 – Houston (staged) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Configuration | 2,000 tpa | 2,000 tpa | 4,000 tpa | 2,000 tpa expanding to 4,000 tpa |
| Total installed capital | US$66.2M | US$48.8M | US$74.0M | US$74.0M |
| Post-tax NPV₈ | US$87.8M | US$157.6M | US$389.1M | US$362.4M |
| Post-tax IRR | 18.5% | 32.4% | 47.0% | 42.3% |
| Capital payback | 6.0 years | 3.8 years | 3.0 years | 3.8 years |
| Modelled AMSUL revenue credit | US$2,319/t HPA | US$2,319/t HPA | US$2,319/t HPA | US$2,319/t HPA |
| Net operating cost after AMSUL revenue | US$12,895/t HPA | US$10,208/t HPA | US$8,874/t HPA | US$8,901/t HPA |
All figures on a 100% project basis. NPV and IRR are post-tax, use an 8% real discount rate, and assume 100% equity funding with no debt. Case 4 total capital includes deferred expansion capital.
What is High Purity Alumina and why does it matter for investors?
High Purity Alumina (HPA) is an ultra-pure form of aluminium oxide (purity of 99.99% or higher) used in LED lighting, lithium-ion battery separator coatings, semiconductor packaging, and synthetic sapphire for phone screens and industrial applications. Because it requires sophisticated manufacturing processes to achieve that level of purity, it commands significant price premiums over standard alumina. The study uses a modelled HPA sale price of US$22,000 per tonne.
What differentiates the Alluminous process is its feedstock. Rather than relying on a mined mineral resource, it uses commercially available alumina-based chemical feedstocks. That means the plant can be located near customers and infrastructure in major HPA-consuming markets, enabling a modular, location-flexible deployment model.
The process also generates ammonium sulphate (AMSUL) as a by-product, a commercially sold fertiliser. The study models approximately 7.73 tonnes of AMSUL per tonne of HPA at a price of US$300 per tonne, equivalent to a revenue credit of US$2,319 per tonne of HPA. That credit meaningfully reduces net operating costs, with Case 4 modelling a net operating cost of US$8,901/t HPA against a gross operating cost of US$11,220/t HPA. It is worth noting that saleability, specification, and realised pricing for AMSUL remain to be demonstrated.
Two complementary HPA platforms: how Lake Hope and Alluminous work together
Impact’s strategy involves two distinct HPA development pathways that management describes as complementary, not competing. The key differences between the platforms are:
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Lake Hope (80% owned): Feedstock is Lake Hope aluminous lake sediments via an integrated Western Australian resource-to-product pathway. Products and intermediates include sulphate of potash (SOP), a potentially saleable aluminium chloride hexahydrate (ACH) intermediate, and HPA. Current differentiation is naturally low uranium and thorium, supporting a semiconductor packaging and thermal management market pathway. Development is based in Western Australia.
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Alluminous (50% owned): Feedstock is commercially available alumina-based chemicals, making the process technically location-flexible and suited to modular deployment. Products include aluminium trihydroxide (ATH) intermediate, HPA, and potentially additional high-purity aluminium products. Market pathways include battery separator coatings and other HPA markets, with ATH offering optionality as a precursor for aluminium-based Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) sorbents. First full-scale commercial plant planned for the United States, with an Australian pilot and demonstration hub also being assessed.
Two recent technical milestones have validated each platform. For Lake Hope, independent testing announced on 10 August 2026 recorded uranium below 1 part per billion (ppb) and thorium at or below 1 ppb in three of four HPA samples, achieved without a dedicated uranium or thorium removal stage. For Alluminous, the first technical milestone in the Alluminous–C4V development programme was completed (announced 24 July 2026): HPA was engineered to battery-separator-coating particle-size specifications while maintaining purity, and a stable sodium-free, water-based slurry was prepared. These milestones do not constitute customer qualification or offtake agreements.
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Next steps: from scoping study to pre-feasibility
The immediate objective is to convert the positive but assumption-heavy scoping study into a more technically validated, customer-supported, and site-specific Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS). The next steps outlined in the announcement are:
- Advance a FEL-1 Feasibility Study for the preferred staged US case, retaining Case 3 as the reference high-capacity economic case.
- Complete integrated pilot and demonstration-scale testwork at the Perth facility, through precipitation, filtration, washing, drying, calcination, and product finishing.
- Validate the AMSUL crystallisation process, product specification, market, logistics, and wastewater strategy.
- Confirm repeatable HPA chemical purity and application-specific physical properties, including continued C4V battery validation and work on uranium and thorium reduction.
- Complete a formal Texas Gulf Coast site-selection study covering feedstocks, utilities, infrastructure, customers, incentives, permitting, environment, labour, and natural hazards.
- Obtain firm vendor quotations, engineering packages, performance guarantees, and delivery schedules for the major technology packages.
- Strengthen the financial model through downside sensitivities for price, utilisation, qualification delay, reagents, energy, capital escalation, exchange rates, tax, financing, and working capital.
- Progress customer qualification and seek progressively stronger offtake commitments before committing to the full 4,000 tpa downstream capacity.
- Assess the design, funding, and approval pathway for expansion of the Perth pilot plant into an Australian demonstration and technology development hub.
Subject to design, funding, and approvals, Alluminous plans to expand the Perth pilot plant into a demonstration and R&D hub potentially capable of producing up to 200 tpa, with a focus on process optimisation, qualification sample production, and customer-specific product development.
Dr Mike Jones, Managing Director
“…They are complementary, not duplicate, processes. Lake Hope offers sulphate of potash, a potentially saleable ACH intermediate, and naturally low-radiogenic HPA with a strong semiconductor pathway. Alluminous offers a modular, location-flexible, capital-light platform with an advanced battery pathway supported by battery technology company C4V, as well as the potential to produce ATH for the direct-lithium-extraction markets.”
Dr Mike Jones, Managing Director
“Together, the two platforms give Impact exposure to a broader range of high-purity aluminium products, markets and customers than either could reach alone.”
For readers interested in the background to Impact’s dual-platform HPA strategy, our detailed coverage of the Lake Hope project acquisition explains how Impact secured its 80% stake and the strategic rationale behind building two complementary HPA development pathways in parallel.
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