Blackstone Continues to Deliver at King Cobra and Ban Chang

Ban Chang – Massive Sulfide Nickel

• Blackstone continues to target Massive Sulfide Vein (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;
• Following initial drill holes at Ban Chang which intersected high‐grade massive sulfide nickel over a 1.2km strike length, recent drilling success continues to support the Company’s strategy to delineate a maiden resource at Ban Chang to supplement ongoing studies (Refer to Figure 2, 3 & 4 and Tables 1 & 2 and ASX announcements from 11 August 2020 & 2 September 2020);
• Significant intercepts from current reporting at Ban Chang include:BC20-16 5.65m @ 1.04% Ni, 1.16% Cu, 0.05% Co & 0.71g/t PGE from 55.1m
  incl. 1.92m @ 2.1% Ni, 2.56% Cu, 0.11% Co & 1.46g/t PGE from 58.9mBC20-19 15.8m @ 0.47% Ni, 0.25% Cu, 0.03% Co & 0.21g/t PGE from 41.8m
  incl. 1.9m @ 1.21% Ni, 0.48% Cu, 0.07% Co & 0.7g/t PGE from 55.6m

  BC20-20 3.85m @ 0.81% Ni, 0.57% Cu, 0.05% Co & 0.36g/t PGE from 46.0m
  incl. 1.7m @ 1.45% Ni, 1.08% Cu, 0.08% Co & 0.60g/t PGE from 48.15m

  BC 20-26 16.3m @ 0.58% Ni, 0.37% Cu, 0.04% Co & 0.3g/t PGE from 54m
  incl. 0.55m @ 1.49% Ni, 1.63% Cu, 0.09% Co & 0.49g/t PGE from 62.9m

Exploration:

• Blackstone has commenced drilling at the recently announced high priority Ni-Cu-PGE target at the King Snake prospect;

• Nine active drill rigs continuing activity at KCZ, Ban Chang, Ta Cuong and Ban Khoa;

• Further drill programs are being designed to systematically assess 25 massive sulfide opportunities identified by the Company in support of a Ta Khoa Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS).

Exploration:

• Blackstone has commenced drilling at the recently announced high priority Ni-CuPGE target at the King Snake prospect;
• Nine active drill rigs continuing activity at KCZ, Ban Chang, Ta Cuong and Ban
Khoa;
• Further drill programs are being designed to systematically assess 25 massive sulfide opportunities identified by the Company in support of a Ta Khoa PreFeasibility Study (PFS).

Blackstone Minerals’ Managing Director Scott Williamson commented: “Successful infill and extensional drilling at KCZ continues to deliver broad, consistent mineralisation and increases confidence in the compelling metrics presented in our recent Scoping Study. The drilling results reinforce our view that the project benefits from higher grades of the KCZ which can be accessed in the early years.

Blackstone will continue to systematically test our 25 MSV prospects, and a maiden resource at the Company’s first such target, Ban Chang, is being targeted for the first quarter of 2021. Through the delineation of additional MSV deposits, we see potential to increase annual nickel production and reduce initial capital requirements via a staged approach which would involve Blackstone utilising the existing 450ktpa concentrator at Ta Khoa.”
Blackstone Minerals Limited (ASX: BSX / OTCQB: BLSTF / FRA: B9S) recently released a Scoping Study for its flagship Ta Khoa Project (Refer to ASX announcement from 14 October 2020). The Scoping Study which features annual production of ~12.7ktpa Ni over a 8.5 year project life is underpinned by the Ban Phuc DSS deposit, and has robust economics that generates ~US$665m in NPV8, a pre-tax project level IRR of 45% and a capital payback period of 2.5 years (from first production).

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