THE DRILL SERGEANT: Blackstone Minerals (ASX: BSX) reported a hattrick of drilling results from its Massive Sulphide Vein (MSV) prospects at the company’s Ta Khoa nickel-copper-PGE project in North Vietnam.
At the Taipan Discovery Zone (TDZ), aka Ta Cuong, the discovery hole TC21-03 returned assays for nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group elements (PGEs) across 35.25m of continuous mineralisation.
TC21-03
35.25 metres at 0.9 per cent nickel, 0.6 per cent copper, 0.05 per cent cobalt and 0.5 grams per tonne PGE from 18.35m, including 20.4m at 1.35 per cent nickel, 0.8 per cent copper, 0.07 per cent cobalt and 0.72g/t PGE from 27m.
Further assays were received from King Snake, following several visual occurrences of high-grade MSV, as well as initial confirmation of high-grade nickel, copper and PGEs.
Results targeting resource extensions at King Snake confirm its potential to add to Blackstone’s MSV mining inventory and supports the restart of the existing 450,000 tonnes per annum concentrator.
Results from King Snake include:
KS20-03
5.55m at 1.35 per cent nickel, 0.45 per cent copper, 0.05 per cent cobalt and 1.28g/t PGE from 204m, including 1.19m at 3.56 per cent nickel, 0.98 per cent copper, 0.13 per cent cobalt and 3.1g/t PGE from 205.38m;
KS21-04
10.45m at 0.32 per cent nickel, 0.22 per cent copper, 0.02 per cent cobalt and 0.33g/t PGE from 194m, including 0.63m at 3.77 per cent nickel, 2.11 per cent copper, 0.15 per cent cobalt and 2.33g/t PGE from 202.8m; and
KS21-06
3.13m at 1.23 per cent nickel, 0.75 per cent copper, 0.04 per cent cobalt and 2.03g/t PGE from 184.87m, including 1.12m at 2.19 per cent nickel, 0.93 per cent copper, 0.07 per cent cobalt and 2.72g/t PGE from 185.18m.
Infill drilling has been ongoing at the Ban Chang MSV prospect to support resource estimations and mining studies that will be incorporated into the Upstream Business Unit Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS).
Assay results for the Ban Chang MSV prospect include:
BC21-09
18.28m at 0.44 per cent nickel, 0.41 per cent copper, 0.03 per cent cobalt and 0.31g/t PGE from 64.72m, including 5.65m at 1.07 per cent nickel, 0.53 per cent copper, 0.06 per cent cobalt and 0.51g/t PGE from 68.75m;
BC21-10
15.3m at 0.72 per cent nickel, 0.45 per cent copper, 0.04 per cent cobalt and 0.36g/t PGE from 42.3m, including 5.01m at 1.67 per cent nickel, 1.01 per cent copper, 0.09 per cent cobalt and 0.95g/t PGE from 50.62m;
BC21-11
12.55m at 0.57 per cent nickel, 0.42 per cent copper, 0.03 per cent cobalt and 0.38g/t PGE from 43.1m, including 3.1m at 1.16 per cent nickel, 0.95 per cent copper, 0.06 per cent cobalt and 0.67g/t PGE from 46.9m; and
BC21-12
19.27m at 0.35 per cent nickel, 0.23 per cent copper, 0.02 per cent cobalt and 0.16g/t PGE from 23.73m, including 3.75m at 1.02 per cent nickel, 0.67 per cent copper, 0.06 per cent cobalt and 0.43g/t PGE from 37m.
“Ban Chang, King Snake and Ta Cuong are targeted for inclusion in the Upstream Business Unit PFS, which will incorporate restarting the existing 450,000 tonnes per annum concentrator on higher grade MSV feed,” Blackstone Minerals managing director Scott Williamson said in the company’s ASX announcement.
“This will enable significant capital expenditure to be deferred for the 4 to 6 million tonnes per annum concentrator designed to treat our larger bulk disseminated orebodies such as Ban Phuc.
“We will continue to test additional MSV targets throughout the Ta Khoa district to build an inventory of high-grade feedstock for our downstream refinery business.”
