ASX Green Energy stocks: Blackstone lifts nickel resources by 73%, Genex signs connection agreement with Powerlink

Blackstone Minerals (ASX:BSX) — a nickel co looking to head downstream by producing nickel-cobalt-manganese precursor for battery and EV makers – has posted a massive 73% increase to resources at its Ta Khoa Project in northern Vietnam to 485,000t of nickel.

After an aggressive drill out over the past 12 months, BSX said its mineral resource is an early indication of the potential of the Ta Khoa nickel sulphide district – and better yet, further testing is already ongoing.

This new estimate includes the Ban Phuc and Ban Khoa disseminated sulphide as well as the Ban Chang and King Snake massive sulphide vein deposits, equating to a total combined resource of 130Mt at 0.37% nickel for 485,000t.

At Ban Phuc the resource has been updated to 123Mt grading 0.37% for 452,000t of nickel – and of this, 102Mt at 0.38% nickel is in the indicated category while 21Mt at 0.33% nickel is inferred.

Blackstone managing director Scott Williamson said: “Ban Phuc, our large bulk tonnage disseminated sulphide deposit, will underpin baseload feed to a large concentrator that is being examined in our upstream pre-feasibility study.

“Ban Chang and King Snake are the first of many high-grade massive sulphide opportunities and the company continues to work diligently to increase surety of nickel supply for our downstream refinery in Vietnam, with exploration and resource delineation at Ta Khoa being a core part of our strategy.”

Genex Power signs connection agreement with Powerlink for Bouldercombe

Genex Power (ASX:GNX) has entered into a binding Bi-directional Service Provider Connection and Access agreement with Powerlink Queensland for the 50MW/100MWh Bouldercombe Battery Project in central Queensland.

This agreement allows for the connection of Bouldercombe into the National Electricity Market through Powerlink’s network and with the connection point located at the existing Bouldercombe Substation, GNX says cost savings and a decrease in energy losses between the project and the point of connection will result.

This also means the project is classified as a ‘committed generator’, with its position secured within the NEM.

Being confirmed as a ‘committed generator’ enables Genex to focus its attention on remaining activities associated with achieving financial close for Bouldercombe.

Genex CEO James Harding said the company has developed “a strong relationship” with Powerlink over the course of the development of the 250MW Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project in far north Queensland as well as Bouldercombe.

“We look forward to working together over the coming months to deliver this exciting project,” he said.

“Once connected, the Bouldercombe Battery Project will provide a number of network benefits through the provision of frequency control ancillary services, facilitating the further deployment of renewable energy projects in Queensland.

Genex has a portfolio of more than $1 billion of renewable energy generation and storage projects across Australia.

The Kidston Clean Energy Hub will integrate large-scale solar generation with pumped storage hydro, including the operation of a 50MW stage 1 Solar Project (KS1) and the 250MW Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project (K2-Hydro) with potential for further multi-stage wind and solar projects.

Its other project is the fully operational 50MW Jemalong Solar Project in NSW.