Intersects 147m In North Vietnam
Blackstone Minerals Limited (ASX:BSX) continues to receive promising assay results from the company’s maiden drilling programme at its Ban Khoa Disseminated Sulphide (DSS) prospect at the Ta Khoa Nickel – Copper- PGE Project in Northern Vietnam.
Ban Khoa is a bulk tonnage open pit opportunity that has potential to provide mine life extension and complement mining at the nearby (approximately one km) large Ban Phuc open pit deposit.
Managing Director, Scott Williamson, said the Ban Khoa DSS prospect is being targeted for inclusion in the company’s upcoming Upstream Business Unit (UBU) PFS.
Highlights from the maiden drill programme:
- BK21-11 147.0m @ 0.31% Ni, 0.04% Cu, 0.01% Co & 0.14g/t PGE from 62.0m incl. 34.65m @ 0.55% Ni, 0.08% Cu, 0.01% Co & 0.37g/t PGE from 103.7m incl. 10.6m @ 1.06% Ni, 0.11% Cu, 0.02% Co and 0.88g/t PGE from 123.3m
- BK21-10 67.7m @ 0.33% Ni, 0.04% Cu, 0.01% Co & 0.19g/t PGE from 105.3m and 32.1m @ 0.48% Ni, 0.08% Cu, 0.01% Co & 0.33g/t PGE1 from 193.1m
- BK21-08 60.2m @ 0.37% Ni, 0.07% Cu, 0.01% Co & 0.09g/t PGE from 208.6m incl. 10.8m @ 1.03% Ni, 0.13% Cu, 0.02% Co & 0.39g/t PGE from 210.2m
“We are pleased to present the results of Blackstone’s first drill programme at the Ban Khoa prospect,” Mr Williams said.
“Ban Khoa is a bulk tonnage disseminated opportunity with excellent potential to completement mining and processing of material from the large Ban Phuc open pit orebody.
“We look forward to presenting a maiden resource for Ban Khoa as part of Blackstone’s UBU PFS. We are confident that the current reported drilling results are indicative of the significant geological upside that Blackstone will continue to unlock at our flagship Ta Khoa Nickel-Copper-PGE project.”
Ban Khoa is located on a hill, similar to the Ban Phuc DSS deposit, which is expected to be advantageous for mining.
Mr Williamson said Ban Khoa presents another bulk tonnage DSS opportunity which has potential to extend mine life and/ or increase throughput, noting that a 4Mtpa concentrator was contemplated as the base case scenario by the Company in its Scoping Study.
Further, the company is currently performing metallurgical test work to determine the blending characteristics for Ban Phuc and Ban Khoa ore.
For further information please visit: https://www.blackstoneminerals.com.au/
