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- Blackstone Minerals (BSX) has begun drilling massive sulphide vein targets at its Ta Khoa Nickel-PGE Project in northern Vietnam
- Ground electromagnetic work has defined a one-kilometre long massive sulphide target, situated within a 12-kilometre exploration corridor
- This will be tested over the coming months as the company works towards completing a maiden Resource Estimate for the project
- Blackstone Minerals closed 3.45 per cent higher with shares selling for 15 cents each
Blackstone Minerals (BSX) has begun drilling massive sulphide vein (MSV) targets at its Ta Khoa Nickel-PGE Project in northern Vietnam.
The project located 160 kilometres west of Hanoi was operated from 2016 until 2019, before going into care and maintenance as nickel prices continued to decline.
Blackstone commenced maiden drilling at the project in August last year and is now exploring for broader zones of MSV, using modern exploration techniques.
The company is targeting prospects alike to the Ban Phuc MSV, from which the previous owners mined 975 kilotonnes of ore grading 2.4 per cent nickel and one per cent copper.
Ground electromagnetic work has defined a one-kilometre long massive sulphide target, situated within a 12-kilometre exploration corridor.
At present, Blackstone is drilling at depth at the King Cobra discovery zone and a second drill rig has now commenced drilling district-scale massive sulfide targets.
This second rig will be used to target 25 MSV prospects identified by Blackstone’s geophysics team, and initially the Ban Chang prospect.
Blackstone Minerals Managing Director Scott Williamson said the company was pleased to commence the massive sulphide exploration at Ta Khoa.
“By using our in-house geophysics crew and our own drill rigs, we can cost-effectively explore this globally significant nickel sulphide district using modern geophysical techniques to unlock the significant potential of the world-class geology.”
“We see potential to increase annual nickel production from the Ta Khoa Nickel-PGE project through targeting high-grade massive sulphide veins to complement the baseload nickel sulphide feed to be potentially mined from the Ban Phuc DSS and King Cobra discovery zone.”
The maiden resource estimate for the project is expected to be completed in the third quarter of the current calendar year. A scoping study on the downstream processing facility is also expecting to be completed in that period.
Blackstone Minerals closed 3.45 per cent higher with shares selling for 15 cents each at market close.
