Blackstone Minerals Ltd (ASX:BSX) (OTCMKTS:BLSTF) (FRA:B9S) has hit massive sulfide vein (MSV) mineralisation in multiple drill holes from its maiden exploration program at the King Snake prospect at its Ta Khoa Nickel Project in Vietnam.
Immediate success at King Snake reaffirms the prospectivity of the region and the company’s strategy in defining high-grade nickel targets using electromagnetic (EM) geophysical techniques.
Multiple EM crews are engaged at several high priority targets across its developing Ta Khoa Nickel Project.
Blackstone has commenced the maiden resource estimate for the Ban Chang prospect and continues drilling at Ban Phuc, Ban Chang, Ta Cuong, Ban Khoa and King Snake.
Aggressive drilling program at King Snake
Blackstone Minerals managing director Scott Williamson said: “Our investment into targeting higher grade MSV deposits within the Ta Khoa district continues to pay dividends.
“We will pursue an aggressive drilling program at King Snake as we look to build a high-grade MSV mining inventory to support the restart of the existing 450,000 tonnes per annum Ban Phuc concentrator.
“The drill bit continues to highlight the district-scale opportunity at Ta Khoa, which we are confident will provide many years of consistent high-quality nickel-copper-PGE concentrates to our planned downstream refinery business.
“Our in-house geophysics team has a proven track record with success at Ban Chang following up immediately at King Snake.
“We look forward to delivering maiden resources at each of these prospects and continuing to systematically assess up to 25 MSV targets in the Ta Khoa pipeline.”
Exploration program
Highlights from the initial exploration program at King Snake include:
- • New EM targets generated in November 2020 were followed up with diamond drilling, with six of the first seven holes intersecting massive sulfides along with associated disseminated sulfides (DSS);
- • New intersections together with historic drill results have defined a strike length of over 800 metres at King Snake, which includes MSV, semi-massive sulfide vein (SMSV) and DSS mineralisation, with the mineralisation open in multiple directions;
- • Samples from the initial King Snake drill holes are with the laboratory. Due to prolonged delays in assays, Blackstone will continue to keep the market informed with visual estimates as required; and
- • Following success at Ban Chang, King Snake is poised to add critical mass to its high-grade MSV strategy, which will see the restart of the existing Ban Phuc concentrator.
Blackstone expects to provide an update on the anticipated King Snake assay results, along with results from ongoing infill drilling at Ban Chang and Ban Phuc DSS over the coming weeks.
Integrated upstream and downstream nickel
Blackstone is focused on building an integrated upstream and downstream processing business in Vietnam that produces precursor nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) products for Asia’s growing lithium-ion battery industry.
Blackstone will conduct further geophysics on the MSV and DSS targets and continue an aggressive drilling campaign.
By combining its existing mineral inventory (Ban Phuc), exploration potential presented by high priority targets such as Ban Chang and King Snake and the ability to source third party concentrate, Blackstone will be able to increase the scale of its downstream business to meet the rising demand for downstream nickel products.
It has completed a scoping study, which includes mining the company’s maiden resource at the Ban Phuc Disseminated ore body and the construction of one downstream refinery.
The company is now advancing the Ta Khoa Project through to a pre-feasibility study, which will contemplate the option to mine higher grade MSV deposits, with the potential to reduce upfront capital requirements by enabling the company to restart the existing Ban Phuc concentrator.