Blackstone nails new nickel target in Vietnam

ASX-listed Blackstone Minerals has landed a new massive sulphide discovery with portable-XRF readings of up to 20 per cent nickel at its Flagship Ta Khoa nickel project in northern Vietnam. Several nickel targets have been identified at the project, including massive and semi-massive and net-textured sulphides.

The standout nickel grades were encountered at Blackstone’s Suoi Phang prospect at the far western end of Ta Khoa where a drill hole intersected 2.95m of sulphides, with portable XRF readings indicating the presence of up to 20 per cent nickel.

Massive sulphides were observed in historical workings at the prospect and two gossans were exposed in historical trenching with assays up to 5.9 per cent nickel. The northern gossan measures 120m in strike length and the south part of the gossan is 100m long.

The explorer is following up on targets generated from surface electromagnetic surveys.

At Blackstone’s Suoi Chanh prospect, about 20km to the east of Suoi Phang, a second drill hole has intersected a dyke containing semi-massive sulphides consistent with the explorer’s electromagnetic targeting.

The hit of semi-massive sulphides indicates to the company the prospect has the potential to host the massive sulphide veins common to the district.

Blackstone Minerals Managing Director, Scott Williamson said: “It is an exciting phase of exploration for the company as we start to look at massive sulphide opportunities in addition to Blackstone’s established resources at Ban Chang and King Snake. Suoi Chanh is yet another example of our in-house geophysics team’s proven track record, with success being achieved from the second drill hole.”

Blackstone has continued to drill its most advanced, higher-grade, massive sulphide deposits Ban Chang and King Snake that complement its cornerstone, lower-grade, disseminated sulphide Ban Phuc deposit of 123 million tonnes at 0.37 per cent, containing 452,000 tonnes of nickel.

King Snake has a resource of 0.43Mt at 1.3 per cent, containing 5500t of nickel and Ban Chang has a resource of 0.7Mt at 1.2 per cent, containing 8300t of nickel.

The infill drilling at the two advanced deposits is primarily focused on upgrading the current resources into a higher confidence category.

Highlights from one hole at Ban Chang include 4.8m at 3.38 per cent nickel, 3.07 per cent copper, 0.16 per cent cobalt and 5.29 grams per tonne PGE within a broader 9.6m at 2.02 per cent nickel, 1.92 copper, 0.1 per cent cobalt and 3.04 g/t PGE from 60.1m.

Another hole yielded 3.65m at 2.58 per cent nickel, 2.1 per cent copper, 0.15 per cent cobalt and 1.21 g/t PGE from 30.8m.

The work at King Snake indicates potential for the deposit to plunge further west and at depth.

Highlights from a single hole at King Snake were a 6.02m hit running 2.18 per cent nickel, 0.62 per cent copper, 0.08 per cent cobalt and 2.97 g/t PGE within a broader 15.7m at 1.25 per cent nickel, 0.69 per cent copper, 0.05 per cent cobalt and 1.66 g/t PGE from 249.5m.

Infill drilling is underway at Blackstone’s Ban Khoa disseminated sulphide deposit of 6.2Mt at 0.31 per cent, containing 20,000t of nickel.

The company aims to build an upstream and downstream nickel processing business to provide precursor products to Asia’s growing lithium-ion battery industry.

Blackstone has gone to great lengths to secure supplies of nickel for its proposed operation, even making strategic investments in distant places such as Australia and Canada, far from its proposed processing hub in Vietnam.

However, from its recent efforts with the drill bit, it appears the company could have a whole lot more nickel on its doorstep.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au