Blackstone Minerals Ltd - Blackstone Generates New High Grade Nickel-Copper-PGE Target

What happened?

What's happened?

Blackstone Minerals Ltd (ASX: BSX, “Blackstone”) has announced that its geophysics crew is mobilising to the newly generated "Ta Cuong" target, which is associated with the highly prospective Ban Khang ultramafic intrusion.

What are the key highlights?

Ta Cuong is located 6km along strike from Ban Chang and proximal to a major regional structure that is also close to the Ban Phuc and Ban Chang prospects.
The Ta Cuong prospect is analogous to the recently drilled Ban Chang prospect and the flagship Ban Phuc orebody where the company has delivered the King Cobra discovery and delineated the maiden Ban Phuc DSS resource.
Drilling at Ta Cuong by previous owners was not targeting electromagnetic (EM) plates and Blackstone’s geophysics crew will now use EM to refine the MSV targets at Ta Cuong for high impact drilling over the coming months.
Ta Cuong is Blackstone's second high priority Massive Sulfide Vein (MSV) prospect within Blackstone’s portfolio of 25 MSV prospects to be systematically tested with modern techniques.
Blackstone is targeting MSV prospects analogous to the previously mined Ban Phuc MSV, where previous owners successfully mined 975kt of high grade ore at average grades of 2.4% Ni & 1.0% Cu from an average vein width of 1.3m for 3.5 years.

For more information, please refer to the announcement linked below.

Managing Director's summary

Scott Williamson Managing Director of Blackstone Minerals Ltd has provided a statement.

Scott Williamson

Managing Director, Blackstone Minerals Ltd

“We are very excited to commence exploration at Ta Cuong, our second MSV prospect. Based on geological similarities and historical results, we believe it has the potential to deliver similar results to Ban Chang. We anticipate the geophysics to better define drill targets, which we will immediately follow up with drilling. We continue to systematically test our 25 MSV prospects and with our in‐house geophysics crew and Blackstone‐owned drill rigs, we can cost effectively explore this globally significant nickel sulfide district using modern geophysical techniques. We see potential to increase annual nickel production from the Ta Khoa Nickel‐Cu‐PGE project through targeting high‐grade MSV to complement the base load nickel sulfide feed to be potentially mined from the Ban Phuc DSS and King Cobra discovery zone.”