Rooster Talk: Blackstone Minerals'
nickel sulphide downstream story
in Vietnam - Ta Khoa Project

The Ta Khoa Nickel-PGE Project has existing modern mine infrastructures built to International Standards including a 450,000 tonnes per annum processing plant and permitted mine facilities.

Samso chats with Blackstone Minerals managing director Scott Williamson

Blackstone Minerals Limited (ASX:BSX) is busy drilling away at the Ta Khoa Nickel-PGE Project while creating a downstream strategy that will add significant shareholder value.

Scott Williamson, Managing Director of Blackstone sat with us at the RIU Sydney Conference to give an update on the drilling that is happening in Ta Khao and how the downstream business is progressing.

Many companies are playing the downstream business but I feel that the key ingredient is to have a practical source that can be delivered profitably. I think this vital element has been downplayed by many other stories that are out there in the marketplace.

I have been a champion of the Ta Khoa project since it was on the very first Coffee with Samso many moons ago - (Blackstone Minerals Limited - Not just mining Nickel). I believe that in time, this will be well resourced and the ability to extract the nickel will proceed. To me, this is a critical element in ensuring that the downstream business is well fed.

This is why I feel that Blackstone will be an investment that will become safer and clearer to those that are still sitting on the side lines. The other important element of the business is the geographic location. The third is the existing partners that are already in play.

Watch this episode and I hope valuable insights will be your takeaways. Please continue to interact with Samso and let us know your thoughts on this episode and other upcoming episodes of Rooster Talks and Coffee with Samso.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

00:35 What is happening in Vietnam

01:36 Downstream Business is here to stay

03:44 The importance of your own product source

05:50 The busy drilling program in Vietnam

07:07 Low cost of working in Vietnam

08:43 News flow for Blackstone

10:34 What is a "Train" ?

12:16 Spin out from Blackstone Minerals - Codres Resources Limited (ASX: CDR)

12:49 Conclusion

PODCAST

About Scott Williamson

Managing Director

Blackstone Minerals Limited Qualifications: BEng (Mining), BCom, MAusIMM

Scott Williamson is an experienced Managing Director with a demonstrated history of working in the mining and metals industry. He is skilled in Open Pit and Underground Mining, Corporate Finance, Investor Relations and Project Planning. A strong business development professional with equity capital markets experience, Scott graduated from West Australian School of Mines and Curtin University of Technology. Scott holds a WA First Class Mine Manager’s Certificate and is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

About Blackstone Minerals Limited

Blackstone Minerals Limited (ASX: BSX) is developing the district-scale Ta Khoa Project in Northern Vietnam where the company is drilling out the large-scale Ban Phuc Nickel-PGE deposit. The Ta Khoa Nickel-PGE Project has existing modern mine infrastructures built to International Standards including a 450ktpa processing plant and permitted mine facilities.

Blackstone Minerals also owns a large landholding at the Gold Bridge project within the BC porphyry belt in British Columbia, Canada with large scale drill targets prospective for high-grade gold-cobalt-copper mineralisation. In Australia, Blackstone Minerals is exploring for nickel and gold in the Eastern Goldfields and gold in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Blackstone Minerals has a board and management team with a proven track record of mineral discovery and corporate success.

The Ta Khoa Nickel-Copper-PGE Project

The Ta Khoa Nickel-Copper-PGE Project is located 160 km west of Hanoi in the Son La Province of Vietnam and includes an existing modern nickel mine built to Australian standards, which is currently under care and maintenance. The Ban Phuc nickel mine successfully operated as a mechanised underground nickel mine from 2013 to 2016. In the Ta Khoa Nickel-Copper-PGE Project, previous project owners invested more than US$136m in capital and generated US$213m in revenue during a 3.5-year period of falling nickel prices. The project was placed into care and maintenance in mid-2016 during some of the lowest nickel prices in the past 10 years.

Existing infrastructure associated with the project includes an internationally-designed 450 ktpa processing plant connected to local hydro grid power with a fully-permitted tailings facility and a modern 250-person camp.

Since commencing maiden drilling in August 2019, Blackstone Minerals has made significant progress at Ta Khoa, drilling over 9,000 m of diamond core in more than 47 holes into the Ban Phuc DSS deposit and the highly prospective King Cobra discovery zone. An initial scoping study evaluating mining and processing options is well advanced, including potential in-country downstream processing to deliver high-value nickel sulfate into Asia’s rapidly expanding electric vehicle (EV) industry. The recently announced MOU with Asia’s largest and the world’s second-largest EV battery cathode manufacturer, Ecopro BM Co Limited represents a significant step towards making this a reality.

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