Susanne Bunnenberg, a German investor, has increased her ownership in Impact Minerals, an Australia-based rare earths explorer. She acquired an additional 450.2 million shares, elevating her stake from 15.83% to 16.85%.

This move follows Impact Minerals’ receipt of a $180,000 grant from the Western Australian government, designated for drilling activities at the Caligula copper target within the company’s Arkun Project. The drilling program, spanning 40 holes over 2,000 meters, aims to investigate a rare earths soil geochemistry anomaly at Hyperion, where promising results have been observed, with up to 5,880 parts per million of total rare earth oxide and yttrium.

Covering 1,900km2 and situated 200km southeast of Perth, the Arkun Project comprises eight tenements, primarily focused on an 850km2 area between York and Corrigin, 100km east of Perth. Initially identified through public regional geochemistry datasets revealing nickel-copper-gold anomalies, the project also exhibits several geochemical anomalies for nickel.

These anomalies, identified through regional datasets and proprietary soil geochemistry datasets from Impact’s consultants, Milford Resources, attracted the attention of Anglo American, which staked a significant area surrounding Impact’s project on three sides.

Impact managing director Dr. Mike Jones commented on the significance of Anglo American’s presence, seeing it as an endorsement of their exploration targeting criteria at Arkun and the concept of a new emerging nickel-copper-PGE province in the Western Australian wheat belt, following recent discoveries at Julimar and Yarawindah.