Hits Massive Nickel Sulphides Vein In Vietnam
Blackstone Minerals Limited (ASX:BSX) has hit Massive Sulfide Vein (MSV) mineralisation in multiple drill holes from its maiden exploration programme at the King Snake prospect at the Ta Khoa Nickel Project in Vietnam.
Managing Director, Scott Williamson, said immediate success at King Snake reaffirms the prospectivity of the region and the company’s strategy in defining high-grade Nickel targets using Electro-magnetic (EM) geophysical techniques. Multiple EM crews are engaged at several high priority targets across the Company’s developing Ta Khoa Nickel Project in Vietnam.
Blackstone has commenced the maiden resource estimate for the Ban Chang prospect and continues drilling at Ban Phuc, Ban Chang, Ta Cuong, Ban Khoa and King Snake.
Highlights from the initial exploration program at King Snake include:
• New EM targets generated in November 2020 were followed up with diamond drilling, with six of the first seven holes intersecting massive sulphides along with associated disseminated sulphides;
• New intersections together with historic drill results have defined a strike length of over 800m at King Snake which includes MSV, semi-massive sulphide vein (SMSV) and DSS mineralisation, with the mineralisation open in multiple directions;
• Samples from the initial King Snake drill holes are with the laboratory. Due to prolonged delays in assays Blackstone will continue to keep the market informed with visual estimates as required; and
• Following success at Ban Chang, King Snake is poised to add critical mass to the company’s high grade MSV strategy which will see the restart of the existing 450ktpa Ban Phuc Concentrator.
The company expects to provide an update regarding the anticipated King Snake assay results, along with results from ongoing infill drilling at Ban Chang and Ban Phuc DSS over the coming weeks.
Wide nickel sulphide intersections from the maiden drilling program at King Snake include an intersection of 9.4m of sulphide mineralisation including 1.18m of MSV.
“Our investment into targeting higher grade MSV deposits within the Ta Khoa district continues to pay dividends. We will pursue an aggressive drilling program at King Snake as we look to build a high grade MSV mining inventory to support the restart of the existing 450ktpa Ban Phuc concentrator,” Mr Williamson said.
“The drill bit continues to highlight the district scale opportunity at Ta Khoa, which we are confident will provide many years of consistent high-quality nickel-copper-PGE concentrates to our planned downstream refinery business.”
“Our in-house geophysics team has a proven track record with success at Ban Chang following up immediately at King Snake. We look forward to delivering maiden resources at each of these prospects and continuing to systematically assess up to 25 MSV targets in the Ta Khoa pipeline.”
