Blackstone Minerals Ltd (ASX:BSX) continues to rise after intersecting more high-grade massive sulphide nickel at Ban Chang prospect within the Ta Khoa Nickel-Copper-PGE Project in Vietnam.
The company has received results from the fourth hole drilled at Ban Chang prospect within a 1.2-kilometre strike defined by high-priority electromagnetic (EM) plates with all four holes intersecting high-grade massive sulphide nickel-copper-platinum group elements (PGE).
This hole returned 13.4 metres at 1.01% nickel, 0.96% copper, 0.05% cobalt and1.14 g/t PGE from 76 metres, including 2.1 metres at 2.53% nickel, 1.36% copper, 0.11% cobalt and 0.76 g/t PGE from 77.6 metres.
Shares up again
Shares have been almost 4% higher today to 39.5 cents, the highest price since May 2018.
Blackstone is targeting massive sulphide vein prospects analogous to the Ban Phuc MSV, where previous owners mind 975,000 tonnes of high-grade ore at average grades of 2.4% nickel and 1% copper from an average vein width of 1.3 metres for 3.5 years.
The 13.4-metre intersection in hole BC20-04 was within 21.5 metres at 0.69% nickel, 0.66% copper, 0.03% cobalt and 0.81 g/t PGE from 71 metres.
Broadest to date
Managing director Scott Williamson said: “Hole 4 has delivered our broadest Ban Chang intersection to date and confirms we have a bulk tonnage opportunity with potential to deliver significant high-grade nickel to our future mine plan.”
Drill holes BC20-01-03 all delivered previous high-grade results including:
- 5.2 metres at 0.66% nickel, 0.73% copper, 0.04% cobalt and 0.79 g/t PGE from 58 metres, including 1.05 metres at 2.98%, 1.22%, 0.18% and 3.43 g/t from 58.5 metres;
- 4.1 metres at 0.92%, 0.69%, 0.05% and 0.26 g/t from 85.9 metres, including 1.8 metres at 2.01%, 1.27%, 0.12% and 0.53 g/t from 86.4 metres; and
- 9.8 metres at 1.45%, 0.9%, 0.08% and 0.70 g/t from 86.4 metres, including 1.85 metres at 3.59%, 1.18%, 0.20% and 1.97 g/t from 63.5 metres.
Blackstone has quickly moved to an aggressive drill-put phase to delineate a maiden resource at Ban Chang to supplement ongoing studies focused on producing nickel sulphide for the lithium-ion battery industry.
Maiden resource targeted
The company is aiming to deliver a maiden resource this quarter, focused on the DSS at Ban Phuc and continues to investigate the potential to re-start the existing Ban Phuc concentrator through focused exploration on both MSV and DSS deposits.
Blackstone has begun a scoping study on the downstream processing facility at Ta Khoa, which will also be announced this quarter.
This will provide details for joint venture partners to formalise the next stage of investment.
Metallurgical testing has also started on the Ban Phuc DSS deposit with an aim to develop a flowsheet for a product suitable for the lithium-ion battery industry.
Further exploration
Blackstone plans to explore both MSV and DSS targets throughout the project, initially within a 5-kilometre radius of the existing process facility.
The company will conduct further geophysics on the MSV and DSS targets and continue its maiden drilling campaign.
