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- Blackstone Minerals (BSX) increases the mineral resource by 73 per cent for its Ta Khoa Nickel Project in Vietnam
- The resource estimate comes from the Ban Phuc and Ban Khoa deposits as well as the Ban Chang and King Snake massive sulphide veins
- Overall, the combined mineral resource reads 130 million tonnes at 0.37 per cent nickel for 485,000 tonnes of nickel
- Further drilling is now underway at Ban Khoa, Ban Chang and King Snake to update the resources
- Blackstone is up 2.70 per cent on the market with shares trading at 57 cents
Blackstone Minerals (BSX) has increased the mineral resource by 73 per cent for its Ta Khoa Nickel Project (TKNP) in Vietnam.
The resource estimate comes from the Ban Phuc and Ban Khoa deposits as well as the Ban Chang and King Snake massive sulphide veins (MSV).
Overall, the combined mineral resource reads 130 million tonnes at 0.37 per cent nickel for 485,000 tonnes of nickel.
Ban Phuc
The Ban Phuc mineral resource increased from 58.7 million tonnes at 0.48 per cent nickel in June 2020 to 123 million tonnes at 0.37 per cent nickel.
Of this, 102 million tonnes are in the indicated category, while 21 million tonnes are in the inferred category.
This update is expected to underpin higher throughputs with an eight million tonnes per annum concentrator now on route for the upcoming TKNP pre-feasibility study.
Ban Khoa
The maiden inferred resource at Ban Khoa reads 6.2 million tonnes at 0.31 per cent nickel, and the deposit has the potential to increase operational flexibility due to the high sulphur content of the mineralisation.
Drilling is ongoing and the resource will be updated once all data has been received.
Ban Chang
A maiden inferred resource of 700,000 tonnes at 1.2 per cent nickel has been released for the Ban Chang while a maiden inferred resource of 430,000 tonnes at 1.3 per cent nickel has been released for King Snake.
Additionally, both Ban Chang and King Snake feature strong copper, cobalt, gold, palladium and platinum mineralisation.
Significant drilling is also underway, with the resources to be updated once all the information has been received.
Managing Director tor Scott Williamson said an aggressive drill out over the past twelve months has culminated into a global Ta Khoa Mineral Resource of enviable scale and increased confidence.
“Our Mineral Resource is an early indication of the potential of the Ta Khoa nickel sulphide district, with further aggressive testing already ongoing,” he said.
Blackstone was up 2.70 per cent on the market, with shares trading at 57 cents at 11:16 am AEDT.
