Financial expertise on board at Blackstone

Special Report: Blackstone Minerals has strengthened and broadened its board of directors, appointing Peter Plakidis in a non-executive position.

Sydney-based Plakidis brings extensive financial experience to the Blackstone board, having built up 20 years of experience in investment banking and corporate experience in senior leadership roles.

His experience includes time as head of Financial Sponsors Group Asia Pacific for Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, as well as investment banking roles with Credit Suisse, ABN Amro and Lehman Brothers.

Plakidis has originated and executed a number of deals across the Asia Pacific and has spent time based in Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore.

His deal experience includes working across industry groups and a wide range of products including acquisitions, equity capital raisings and leveraged finance.

Blackstone chairman Hamish Halliday said he would be a welcome addition to the board.

“We would like to welcome Peter to the board of Blackstone Minerals and we are excited to have someone of Peter’s calibre join us to help drive the company forward, ahead of an exciting 2021 for the company,” he said.

Steve Parsons has also resigned from the Blackstone board with immediate effect after three years, and was thanked for his service over the time.

In addition to Plakidis and Halliday, Blackstone’s board comprises managing director Scott Williamson and non-executive directors Andrew Radonjic and Hoirim Jung.

Latest developments

With projects in Vietnam, Australia and Canada, Blackstone recently listed on the US over-the-counter market OTCQB on the back of strong North American investor interest in the scoping study for the Ta Khoa nickel-copper-platinum group elements project.

The Vietnamese project’s scoping study for development and restart was released in October and revealed a project with a robust net present value of $US665 million and an internal rate of return of around 45 per cent.

Ta Khoa has been on care and maintenance since 2016, when low nickel prices shuttered the operation.

Blackstone Plakidis — The Ta Khoa project has been on care and maintenance since 2016. Pic: Supplied

Since the scoping study’s release, further infill and extensional drill results have come out of Ta Khoa, with the assays among the best recorded at the project to date.

The top hit at the King Cobra Zone within the Ban Phuc disseminated sulphide deposit was a thick 127.6 interval grading 1.17% nickel, 0.22% copper, 0.02% cobalt and 0.24 grams per tonne PGE – from just 14m.

This article was developed in collaboration with Blackstone Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.