Always post interesting articles, or at least the citation (journal/volume/pages/year/abstract).
Imines will form in slightly basic solution, see fore example the Al/Hg reductive amination in Pihkal #109 (http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal109.shtml)
(http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal109.shtml)
But - as you probably have heard before - imines with ammonia are very unstable and will always give very low yield, you need to form the imine with hydroxylamine (the oxime) and then reduce that all the way to the amine to be able to reductively aminate your way from a ketone to a primary amine. Alternatively form the imine with a benzylamine and remove the N-benzyl group to get the primary amine. UTFSE for references.