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Blackstone’s regional drilling hits massive nickel sulphides on the first go

Scoring a hit Pic: Getty Images

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Special Report: Blackstone’s regional drilling program in Vietnam is off to a flying start with the first two holes intersecting massive nickel sulphides at the Ban Chang prospect.

The maiden holes, which were 200m apart and along strike within a 1.2km long massive sulphide target zone, intersected massive sulphides within a few metres of the modelled electromagnetic (EM) plate.

Blackstone Minerals (ASX:BSX) says the result provides confidence and proof of concept that EM will be an important tool to unlock the world-class magmatic nickel sulphide geology that is present throughout the Ta Khoa district.

Shares in the company were up 6.25 per this morning to 17c on the news.

 

A second rig will follow the in-house geophysics team to test high priority EM targets generated from 25 massive sulphide vein (MSV) prospects already identified within the project including King Snake, Ban Khoa, Ban Chang, and Ban Khang.

The MSV prospects are analogous to the previously mined Ban Phuc MSV, where previous owners had successfully mined 975,000 tonnes of high-grade ore grading 2.4 per cent nickel and 1 per cent copper between 2013 and 2016.

Drilling is also continuing at the King Cobra discovery zone at depth.

Maiden drill holes at the Ban Chang target Pic: Supplied

“It’s exciting to be targeting massive sulphide veins and achieving intersections within a few metres of the modelled EM plates – this is a great sign for the future of the Ta Khoa nickel-PGE project,” managing director Scott Williamson said.

“With the advantage of an in-house geophysics team, we are extremely well positioned to unlock this world-class geology and understand the full potential of our flagship asset.”

Ban Chang is 2.5km southeast of the processing facility and the Ban Phuc deposit.

Its mineralisation style is mainly veins and lenses of massive sulphides as well as disseminated sulphides (DSS) hosted within tremolite dykes.

Mapping and trench sampling by Vietnamese geologists in the 1960-63 period returned results including 3.9m at 1.07 per cent nickel and 0.95 per cent copper as well as 1.1m at 1.62 per cent nickel and 1.48 per cent copper.

Blackstone’s scoping study focused on downstream processing to produce nickel sulphide for the lithium-ion battery sector and a maiden resource remains on track for completion in the third quarter of 2020.

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.
Categories: Mining

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