Blackstone’s King Snake prospect is living up to its name with drilling intersecting more massive nickel sulphides.

All five additional drill holes to date have intersected massive sulphide vein (MSV) mineralisation with one hole – KS21-06 – returning 19.55m of continuous mineralisation including disseminated sulphide (DSS), semi-massive sulphide vein (SMSV) and MSV.

Earlier this month, the company announced that six of the first seven holes drilled at King Snake within the Ta Khoa project in Vietnam had intersected MSV and associated DSS.

When combined with historical drill results, King Snake has now been defined over an 800m strike with mineralisation open in multiple directions.

Blackstone Minerals (ASX:BSX) added that with resource estimation currently underway at Ban Chang, King Snake is now its highest priority MSV exploration target with multiple rigs on site.

It is targeting a maiden resource this year and expects to incorporate the prospect into its ongoing mining and processing studies given the exploration success to date.

“We are pleased by the rate of drilling at King Snake and the success of our exploration strategy in following up EM targets defined by our in-house geophysics team,” managing director Scott Williamson said.

“King Snake features multiple EM plates and is proving to be one of Blackstone’s best massive sulphide nickel opportunities to date.”

“We look forward to further aggressive drilling, reporting assays as they become available and being able to incorporate King Snake into our massive sulphide strategy.”

blackstone minerals king snake drill core
MSV, SMSV and stringer zones in KS21-06. PIc: Supplied

King Snake prospect

King Snake is one of a number of prospects for Blackstone at Ta Khoa with the company’s drilling focusing on new electromagnetic targets that extend down plunge to the west of historical drilling.

This appears to have been a wise decision given that initial visual results suggest greater thickness of sulphide mineralisation are present down plunge.

Blackstone believes that King Snake could materially add to its MSV mining inventory and support the restart of the existing 450,000tpa Ban Phuc concentrator.

This plays a key role in its ambition to become a significant supplier of nickel products for the lithium-ion battery sector.

 

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.