Impact Minerals Limited: Company Update - Conglomerate-Hosted Gold Projects

Perth - Impact Minerals Ltd. (ASX:IPT) is pleased to announce that it has acquired an option to purchase 95% of an advanced conglomerate-hosted gold project from Rock Solid Holdings Pty Ltd with previous production of about 185,000 ounces of gold from small shafts and related underground workings close to the company's 100% owned Clermont epithermal gold project in central Queensland (see Figure 2 in link below). In addition Impact has applied for one adjacent 100% owned exploration licence for a total area of 91 square kilometres and together called the Blackridge Gold Project.

- Option to Acquire Advanced Conglomerate-Hosted Gold Project near Clermont in Queensland

- Sale of Pilbara Gold Project to Pilbara-focussed Pacton Gold Inc.

The acquisition of this new project follows a search by Impact for conglomerate-hosted gold projects outside of the Pilbara utilising the Company's in-house understanding of such deposits.

In addition, Impact has reached an agreement to sell its Pilbara gold project following an approach by Pacton Gold Inc., a company listed on the Toronto Venture Exchange (CVE:PAC) and focussed on conglomerate-gold exploration in the Pilbara.

Impact Minerals' Managing Director Dr Mike Jones said: "These transactions confirm our belief in the potential for the discovery of another major conglomerate-hosted gold deposit in Australia following the extraordinary discovery by Novo Resources Corp. and Artemis Resources Ltd. in the Pilbara, the magnitude of which is still poorly understood by most."

"In the late 1800's and early 1900's the Blackridge area in Queensland produced over 185,000 ounces of gold from Permian conglomerates down to about only 70 metres below surface and we believe, based on the on-going work in the Pilbara by Novo, previous explorers have potentially significantly underestimated the nugget effect. This is an excellent acquisition for Impact's shareholders" he said.

"In addition we have recently met with the management and backers of Pacton Gold and were impressed with their track records, their business plan for conglomerate-gold exploration in the Pilbara and also their ability to raise significant capital. This includes CAD$2 million from Eric Sprott, a major direct and indirect shareholder in Novo Resources, as part of a CAD$5.5 million raising" Dr Jones said.

"Given the advanced nature of our new Queensland project, it is only appropriate that we focus our conglomerate-gold exploration activities there whilst still retaining significant upside in the Pilbara in the form of a valuable shareholding in Pacton, a potential Discovery Bonus and a royalty."

Highlights of Option to Acquire the Blackridge Project, QLD

- Option to acquire 95% of 4 Mining Lease Applications and 1 Exploration Licence from Rock Solid Holdings Pty Ltd, an unrelated private company.

o $30,000 option fee for 18 month exclusive evaluation.

o $200,000 to purchase a 95% interest in the licences.

- Impact also stakes one new adjacent 100% owned licence for a combined area of 91 sq km and together called the Blackridge Gold Project.

- Previous production >185,000 ounces of gold from basal conglomerates from surface to depths of up to 70 metres in old shafts.

- Gold nuggets panned from the basal conglomerate by Impact at surface (see Figures 1 and 3 in link below).

- Extensive areas of poorly explored basal conglomerate at surface.

- Previous drilling demonstrates gold-bearing conglomerates and black shale beds at about 100 metres below surface and at least 2 kilometres down dip from surface.

- 23 kilometres of strike and 37 square kilometres of prospective basal conglomerate on Impact's licences.

- Previous exploration has potentially greatly underestimated the nugget effect.

- Bulk sampling programmes required.

Key Points of Sale of Pilbara Gold Project to Pacton Gold Inc.

- Sale of 100% of Pilbara gold project (E45/4971-72-73; E46/1171-72; and E46/1188-89) to Pilbara-focussed Pacton Gold Inc.

- CAD$350,000 cash to Impact and 2.125 million shares in Pacton (current value A$1.7 million).

- CAD$500,000 cash for discovery of an Inferred Resource >250,000 oz of gold.

- 2% NSR: Pacton have the right to buy-back 1% for CAD$500,000.

- Subject to a Final Share Sale Agreement and Approval by the TSX:V.

IMPACT'S CORPORATE STRATEGY

Over the past few years Impact has generated and acquired a first class portfolio of 100% owned exploration projects in some of Australia's most prolific mining regions as follows:

Commonwealth Project: 1,000 sq km in the Lachlan Fold Belt in New South Wales prospective for gold and copper deposits and where drilling will commence by the end of June.

Clermont Project and the new Blackridge Project: 161 sq km in the Drummond Basin (and underlying basement) in Queensland and prospective for epithermal and conglomerate-hosted gold deposits (see Figure 2 in link below).

Broken Hill Project: 718 sq km in the Broken Hill region prospective for deposits of silver-lead-zinc, nickel-copper platinum group metals and copper-cobalt-gold.

Mulga Tank Project: 510 sq km in the Yilgarn region of Western Australia prospective for gold and nickel deposits.

Pilbara Gold Project: 1,126 sq km in the Pilbara region of Western Australia prospective for conglomerate-hosted gold in the Hardey Formation and sub-Mt Roe Basalt position.

Impact's intention has always been to add value to these projects, focus on the most advanced and, where appropriate, search for well funded partners on the least advanced. The requisite partners were not available during the recent 5 to 6 year downturn in the resources sector.

The sale of the Pilbara project, following an approach by Pacton Gold, is now a justification of Impact's longer term strategy. Pacton is very focussed on gold exploration in the Pilbara and has assembled a large prospective ground-holding in the region. In addition Pacton is well funded for its work following a recent CAD$5.5 million capital raising which includes a CAD$2 million investment from well known mining investor Eric Sprott, who is also a major direct and indirect holder of shares in Novo Resources Corp.

Impact's funds will be directed in the short term to immediate follow up drilling at the Commonwealth Project, scheduled to start by the end of June, as well as drilling at the Clermont Project and initial exploration at Blackridge, both in Quarter 3 this year.

Partners are being sought for Impact's other projects with some exploration continuing where appropriate and to maintain the licences in good standing.

DETAILS ON THE BLACKRIDGE GOLD PROJECT

Impact Minerals has acquired an option from Rock Solid Holdings Pty Ltd, an unrelated private company,to purchase a 95% interest in one exploration permit (EPM 26066) and four mining lease applications (ML 100158, 59, 60 and 61) that cover the Blackridge and Springs gold mining camps which were discovered as part of an early gold rush north of Clermont commencing in about 1862 (see Figures 2 and 3 in link below).

Recorded production from the Blackridge area from 1879 to the early 1900's is reported by the Geological Survey/Department of Mines in Queensland to be at least 185,000 ounces of gold. Virtually all of this gold has come from within the licences optioned by Impact or within the Company's new exploration licence application (see Figure 3 in link below). Further discoveries were made in the Clermont region including the Springs field in the 1930's and the total production from conglomerates in the region is estimated by the Survey to be more than 300,000 ounces of gold.

The gold was mostly hosted in basal conglomerates of Permian-aged sedimentary basins which include the mined coal measures that unconformably overlie the Anakie metamorphic rocks of Middle Ordovician age and older (see Figures 2 and 3 in link below).

The basal conglomerates at the unconformity are reported to contain most of the gold. Average mining grades at Blackridge were between 10 g/t and 20 g/t gold with higher grades of up to 10 ounces per tonne (320 g/t) gold in places, for example at the Bantam shaft (see Figure 3 in link below) as recorded by Lionel Ball of the Geological Survey of Queensland. Ball completed detailed studies of the gold field at Blackridge in a report published in 1905 (Geological Survey of Queensland Publication No. 201: publicly available).

Figure 4 (see link below) is a coloured reproduction of a figure from Ball's report showing the distribution of gold within the basal six feet (1.8 metres) of sedimentary rock at the Bantam shaft (see Figure 3 in link below). There are high grades of gold throughout the sequence with very high grades of up to 10 ounces per tonne in the basal conglomerate "wash" which also contains narrow units of black shale.

These "black shale" layers may be small scale and discontinuous equivalents to some of the "carbon leaders" in the Witwatersrand Basin.

Of note, gold has also been reported in places from the overlying Permian coal beds including Blackridge (see below and Figure 6 in link below) and also including the fly ash from nearby Blair Athol coal mine. However these occurrences have not been systematically evaluated.

Previous Modern Exploration at Blackridge

Extensive exploration occurred at Blackridge in the late 1980's and early 2000's but with little completed since that time.

The most comprehensive exploration work was completed by Denison Resources Limited (Herbert, 1989: Geology and Gold Potential, Blackridge, Clermont, Queensland #CR20347) and included extensive RC drilling, opening up of some of the underground workings, bulk testing, mineralogy, geochemistry and isotope analysis.

A key outcome of Denison's work is that the gold may be related to a delicate interplay between sedimentary and hydrothermal processes. Figure 1 (see link below) shows that many of the nuggets have water and or wind worn edges to them and these are clearly transported clasts. They are similar in some respects, although generally smaller than, some of the nuggets from the Pilbara discovered by Novo-Artemis.

However Dension also presented evidence of hydrothermal alteration throughout the lower sedimentary pile and this may have played a role in the formation of some of the gold.

Impact is now undertaking a synthesis and review of this and other previous exploration data. Some pertinent details and previous Exploration Results are given below.

Cautionary Statement

Investors should note that all previous Exploration Results at Blackridge were completed in the 1980's and early 2000's and accordingly were not reported in accordance with the 2012 JORC Code.

Impact' Competent Person has not done sufficient work to disclose the Exploration Results in accordance with the JORC Code 2012. It is possible that following further evaluation and/or exploration work that the confidence in the prior reported Exploration Results may be reduced when reported under the JORC Code 2012.

Nothing has come to the attention of Impact that causes it to question the accuracy or reliability of the previous Exploration Results. However Impact has not independently validated the previous results and therefore is not to be regarded as reporting, adopting or endorsing those results.

However, it is Impact's opinion that the work was done diligently and in accordance with best practices at the time. Indeed, the associated reports lodged by Denison (#CR20347) are some of the most comprehensive company reports submitted to any state Government department Impact has come across.

Accordingly it is Impact's view that these are material Exploration Results that require reporting. The Exploration Results have not been used in any estimate of Mineral Resources, of which there are none at Blackridge.

Evidence for a Significant Nugget Effect at Blackridge

Impact's evaluation of the Blackridge Project suggests that there may be a significant nugget effect in previous exploration drilling results which may have potentially led to an underestimate of the gold present in the sedimentary units there.

Work by Novo Resources in the Pilbara has demonstrated an extreme nugget effect associated with the conglomerate-hosted gold in that region and indeed exploration is more akin to diamond exploration with a requirement for very large bulk samples (currently in excess of several tons).

Denison completed a number of Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes on several traverses ay Blackridge. On selected one metre samples, a split of about 25% of the sample was sent for Screen Fire Assay for gold. The remaining 75% of the sample was processed manually by sluicing and panning to produce a concentrate with the number of gold "colours" then counted for each 1 metre interval sampled. The grade of each sample was back-calculated by accurately weighing the hand picked recovered gold colours and comparing that to the original weight of the sample.

Figure 5 in link below shows a comparison of the two methods for the 66 samples where both methods were completed by Denison. It is clear that there is a very poor correlation between the two methods which demonstrates the extreme "nugget effect" typical of gold deposits containing coarse gold.

In detail, there are 55 screen fire assay samples below detection limit 0.01 g/t (shown as 0.002 g/t gold) which returned gold values above 0.01 g/t and up to 12.5 g/t gold by the calculated method. This is most likely because more nuggets are recovered from the larger sample size in the calculated method.

In addition, the entire RC drilling-sluicing-panning method was probably very prone to poor sampling quality for reasons including, but not limited to: poor weighing procedures; poor sample/nugget recovery from the RC process; loss of fine gold not visible to the eye or inaccurately identified; and poor chain-of-security measures during the panning process.

In all these cases there is the potential for an underestimation of the gold grade.

Despite these sampling issues, Figure 6 (see link below), taken from Denison's report, shows that the RC drilling demonstrated the presence of reasonably continuous gold-bearing sedimentary units over a distance of 1.2 kilometres on a cross-section which itself lies about 2 kilometres down dip to the northwest from the surface outcrops. Evidently the conglomerate that hosts the gold is present over a very large area within Impact's licences. The relevant drill collars for this section are given in the table at the end of this report (see link below).

Gold grades reported by Denison in the basal units near the unconformity of up to 1 m at 11.9 g/t gold are good evidence for high grade lenses at depth as illustrated at the Bantam shaft (see Figure 4 in link below). In addition, there is significant potential closer to surface for gold hosted by carbonaceous black shale horizons which returned calculated gold grades of up to 2 m at 12.6 g/t gold (see Figure 6 in link below). The screen fire assay for these samples returned 0.75 g/t gold and less than the detection respectively (see Figure 5 in link below).

In addition the time and cost involved in the nature of the sampling caused Denison to be selective in their sampling and there are clear indications in Figure 6 (see link below) of multiple gold-bearing horizons that have not been sampled.

Accordingly it is possible that previous work has significantly underestimated the amount of gold present at Blackridge and that higher grades may be delineated with an appropriate sampling methodology. Many of these procedures are currently being developed by Novo Resources in the Pilbara with good success.

Refining sampling and drilling techniques at depth will be the key to successfully delineating significant gold resources at the Blackridge Project.

Exploration Potential Along Strike

In addition to the option to acquire Exploration Permit 26066 which covers 9.6 square kilometres and four mining lease applications ML's 100158, 59, 60 & 61 that cover 2.7 square kilometres at Blackridge, Impact has lodged Exploration Permit Application 26806 that covers a further 79.3 square kilometers over the Springs gold mining area and extensions to the conglomerate channel beneath recent sand and gravel and Tertiary basalt along strike to the southeast (see Figure 3 in link below).

This tenement holding now covers at least 23 strike kilometres of Permian basins with the highly prospective gold-rich basal unconformity interpreted to be preserved at depth over at least 37 square kilometres. Most of this area has never been drilled.

Next Steps at Blackridge

The review and synthesis of previous exploration data at Blackridge is on-going. In addition compilation of previous production data and historical maps from the early 1900's is in progress to more accurately assess the likely positions of the richer portions and palaeochannels of the Blackridge gold field. Once complete, areas will be selected for detailed mapping and bulk sampling.

This work will be undertaken concurrently with the drill programmes scheduled for Commonwealth and Clermont over next few months.

TERMS OF THE SALE OF THE PILBARA GOLD LICENCES

Under the terms of the binding Letter Of Intent (LOI) with Pacton Gold Inc., a Share Sale Agreement will be formalised between Pacton and Impact for the purchase by Pacton of a 100% ownership interest in Impact's wholly owned subsidiary Drummond East Pty Limited. Drummond East holds seven 100% owned granted Exploration Licences E45/4971-72-73; E46/1171-72; and E46/1188-89. The total consideration to be paid by Pacton to Impact for the purchase will be CAD$350,000 and 2,125,000 common shares of Pacton as follows:

- CAD$25,000 on signing of the LOI (completed);

- CAD$75,000 on the later of the signing of the formal agreement or approval by the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX:V);

- CAD$250,000 and 2,125,000 common shares in Pacton Gold Inc. on Completion of the Share Sale Agreement. The Pacton shares will be subject to a four month escrow period;

- CAD$500,000 if an Inferred Resource of 250,000 ounces or greater is discovered on the licences;

- A 2% NSR with Pacton retaining the right to buy back 1% of the royalty for CAD$500,000 at anytime.

This transaction is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. It is anticipated that Completion will occur within two months.

Impact also will provide on-going technical advice to Pacton's team and looks forward to working with them as exploration in the Pilbara progresses.

To view tables and figures, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/NSGDG69R

About Impact Minerals Limited:

Impact Minerals Ltd. (ASX:IPT) is an exploration company listed on the ASX in November 2006. The Company manages extensive tenement holdings (>2,000 km2) within Australia featuring significant potential for high-grade mineral deposits of gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, nickel and PGM's. The Directors of the Company have extensive experience in mineral exploration and a strong history of exploration success, business development and corporate management. Impact Minerals intends to build wealth for its shareholders through a vigorous campaign of project generation and evaluation with a view towards profitable mining operations. Impact Minerals intends to build wealth for its shareholders through a vigorous campaign of project generation and evaluation with a view towards profitable mining operations.



Contact:

Dr Michael G Jones Managing Director
Impact Minerals Ltd.
T: +61-8-6454-6666
E: info@impactminerals.com.au