Blackstone Minerals Ltd (ASX:BSX) is an explorer/developer with an international portfolio of battery and precious metals exploration projects. These include the Ta Khoa Project (Nickel-Copper-Cobalt-PGE) in Vietnam, The BC Project (Cobalt-Gold) in Canada, the Silver Swan South Project (Gold-Nickel) in Western Australia and the Middle Creek Project (Gold) in Western Australia.
The company's core focus is the Ta Khoa Project, located 160km west of Hanoi in the Son La Province of Vietnam, in South East Asia's premiere nickel sulfide district. Maiden drilling commenced at the Ta Khoa Nickel Project in August 2019 with the initial diamond drilling intersecting substantial disseminated nickel sulfide mineralisation, including 45.5m @ 1.2% nickel sulfides.
Previous project owners invested more than US$136m into the project 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 450ktpa processing plant connected to local hydro grid power, with a fully-permitted tailings facility and a modern 250-person camp.
Blackstone is investigating the potential to develop downstream processing infrastructure in Vietnam to produce a downstream nickel and cobalt product to supply Asia’s growing lithium-ion battery industry.
The company has a well-credentialed management team with a proven track record of discovery and creating shareholder wealth, including Hamish Halliday (Non-Executive Chairman), Scott Williamson (Managing Director), Andrew Radonjic (Technical Director) and Steve Parsons (Non-Executive Director).
