What's happened?
Blackstone Minerals Ltd (ASX: BSX, “Blackstone”) has commenced drilling regional massive sulfide vein (MSV) targets at its Ta Khoa Nickel PGE project in northern Vietnam.
What are the key highlights?
- Blackstone is targeting MSV prospects analogous to the previously mined Ban Phuc MSV, where previous owners successfully mined 975kt of high grade ore at average grades of 2.4% Ni & 1.0% Cu from an average vein width of 1.3m for 3.5 years between 2013 and 2016, producing 20.7ktNi, 10.1kt Cu and 0.67kt Co1.
- Blackstone’s ground-based electromagnetics (EM) geophysics crew recently generated a 1km long massive sulfide target within a 12km long district-scale exploration corridor which Blackstone will test over the coming months (see images below).
- The current Scoping Study is focused on downstream processing to produce nickel sulfate for the lithium-ion battery industry with the maiden resource on track for completion in Q3, CY20.
- Downstream processing potential supported by $6.8 million investment from EcoPro Co Limited, the world’s second largest nickel-rich cathode materials manufacturer, completed in April 2020.
For further details, please see the announcement linked below.
