Blackstone Intersects Massive Sulfide Nickel At Ban Chang

Blackstone Minerals Limited (ASX:BSX) has intersected massive nickel sulfide in two maiden drill holes at the Ban Chang Prospect, part of its Ta Khoa Nickel-PGE Project, Vietnam;

• Maiden drill holes were 200m apart and along strike within a 1.2km-long massive sulfide target zone defined by high priority electromagnetic (EM) plates;
• Blackstone’s drilling has intersected massive sulfide within a few metres of the modelled EM plate, providing confidence and proof of concept that EM will be an important tool to unlock the world-class magmatic nickel sulfide geology throughout the Ta Khoa nickel sulfide district;
• Drilling continues at the King Cobra Discovery zone (KCZ) at depth and a second drill rig has commenced drilling the district-scale massive sulfide targets generated by Blackstone’s in-house geophysics team;
• Blackstone’s second drill rig will continue testing high priority EM targets generated from 25 MSV prospects already identified within the Project including, King Snake, Ban Khoa, Ban Chang, and Ban Khang;
• 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 20.7kt Ni, 10.1kt Cu and 0.67kt Co1;
• A Scoping Study focused on downstream processing to produce nickel sulfate for the lithium-ion battery industry and 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.

Blackstone Minerals’ Managing Director Scott Williamson commented:

“It’s exciting to be targeting massive sulfide veins and achieving intersections within a few metres of the modelled EM plates – this is a great sign for the future of the Ta Khoa Nickel-PGE project. With the advantage of an in-house geophysics team, we are extremely well positioned to unlock this world-class geology and understand the full potential of our flagship asset.

“Our second drill rig will continue to drill high priority EM plates and look to delineate potential high-grade massive sulfide orebodies, akin to the successful Ban Phuc nickel mine, which was mined economically during some of the lowest nickel prices seen in the past decade. Our main drill rig continues to drill the King Cobra discovery zone at depth.”

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