Blackstone Minerals Ltd (ASX:BSX) (OTCMKTS:BLSTF) (FRA:B9S) has received further high-grade assay results from drilling at its King Snake massive sulphide vein (MSV) prospect in Vietnam.
The King Snake prospect forms part of the wider Ta Khoa nickel-copper-platinum group element (PGE) project in the country’s north.
This follows promising MSV nickel results from drilling at the project released in mid-May.
King Snake’s “excellent results”
Blackstone managing director Scott Williamson said the latest results added to the company’s faith in the King Snake prospect.
“King Snake is our most exciting active MSV drill target and we are pleased that it continues to deliver excellent results,” he said.
“The latest drill results have extended strike at the King Snake prospect and we look forward to assessing the outcomes of downhole electro-magnetic surveys currently being performed by our in-house geophysics team.”
The highlights
The continuous series of drill holes reported returned the following significant intercepts:
- 2.62 metres at 1.54% nickel, 2.01% copper, 0.06% cobalt and 5.16 g/t PGE from 254.08 metres including 0.62 metres at 3.00% nickel, 0.84% copper, 0.11% cobalt and 3.36 g/t PGE from 254.08 metres;
- 2.92 metres at 0.90% nickel, 0.54% copper, 0.04% cobalt and 1.60 g/t PGE from 267.63 metres including 1.67 metres at 1.33% nickel, 0.67% copper, 0.05% cobalt and 1.17 g/t PGE from 267.63 metres;
- 1.9 metres at 1.00% nickel, 0.27% copper, 0.04% cobalt and 1.48 g/t PGE from 349.90 metres including 0.85 metres at 1.45% nickel, 0.41% copper, 0.05% cobalt and 1.91 g/t PGE from 349.9 metres; and
- 1.12 metres at 0.48% nickel, 0.20% copper, 0.02% cobalt and 0.71 g/t PGE from 243.58 metres including 0.32 metres at 1.09% nickel, 0.45% copper, 0.04% cobalt and 0.93 g/t PGE from 243.58 metres.
The new intersections together with historic drill results have defined a strike length of about 900 metres at King Snake which includes MSV, semi-massive sulphide vein (SMSV) and disseminated sulphides (DSS).
Recent step-out drilling has extended the mineralisation down the plunge west of historic drilling and the company has mobilised its in-house geophysics crew at King Snake to now perform downhole electro-magnetic (DHEM) surveys.
The DHEM surveys will inform infill drilling at King Snake prospect as well as potentially identifying new sulphide targets at depth.
The future
The King Snake MSV prospect remains on track for inclusion in Blackstone’s pre-feasibility study due later this year.
Blackstone is building an integrated upstream and downstream processing business in Vietnam that produces nickel: cobalt: manganese (NCM) precursor products for Asia’s growing lithium-ion battery industry.
Its plan is to conduct pre-feasibility studies at Ta Khoa for both the upstream and downstream business units, with the downstream PFS to consider expanded downstream refinery capacity, for which feedstock will be met from the Ta Khoa Nickel-Copper-PGE mine as well as third-party concentrate.
The upstream PFS will contemplate the option to mine several higher grade MSV deposits, which has the potential to reduce initial upfront capital requirements by enabling the company to restart the existing Ban Phuc Concentrator.
- Daniel Paproth