Special Report: Blackstone Minerals (ASX: BSX) has identified a major 200m-long high-grade nickel-copper zone at its Ban Chang nickel-copper project in northern Vietnam.

 The discovery paves the way for Blackstone’s scoping study for a downstream processing plant to produce nickel sulphate for the lithium-ion battery market.

Maiden drilling of four drill holes at Ban Chang has enabled Blackstone to delineate a 200m-long zone of high-grade nickel-copper within a 1.2km massive sulphide target zone at Ban Chang, part of its Ta Khoa nickel-copper-platinum project.

The drilling results include 2.3m at 1.6 per cent nickel, 1.09 per cent copper, 0.09 per cent cobalt and 0.43 grams per tonne of platinum group metals from 86m.

“Our latest assays confirm further high-grade mineralisation at Ban Chang,” managing director Scott Williamson said.

“We continue to demonstrate strong potential for a bulk underground mining scenario at Ban Chang which could be significantly larger scale than the previously mined Ban Phuc massive sulphide underground mine,” he added.

Blackstone is targeting a massive sulphide vein that is comparable to one at the Ban Phuc nickel mine that was in operation for three years until 2016.

The Ban Phuc mine produced 975,000 tonnes of high-grade ore with an average grade of 2.4 per cent nickel and 1 per cent copper.

The company is continuing to drill targets throughout the Ta Khoa nickel sulphide district in Vietnam, including its King Cobra discovery zone, and Ban Chang East and West prospects.

Results are pending for a drill hole that hit 15.4m of sulphide vein mineralisation at Ban Chang, located 160km west of Hanoi.

A maiden resource for Ban Chang is on track for release in Q3 2020.

Location of Ban Chang nickel-copper zone in Blackstone Minerals’ Ta Khoa project. Pic: supplied

 

This story was developed in collaboration with Blackstone Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This story does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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