Blackstone Minerals: Looking to Restart a Nickel Project

Exploring the Nickel Sulfide District in Southeast Asia

Blackstone Minerals Ltd. is looking to restart the Ta Khoa Nickel Project in Northern Vietnam.

The Ta Khoa Nickel-PGE Project is located 160 km west of Hanoi in the Son La Province of Vietnam. Additionally, it 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.

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

"This was a very successfully operated mine between 2013 and 2016 and the previous owners sunk in over 130 million dollars. We believe we can bring this mine back into production.", says Managing Director, Scott Williamson.

Drilling at Ta Khoa

Since commencing maiden drilling in August 2019, Blackstone has made significant progress at Ta Khoa. They've drilled 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. Moreover, an initial scoping study evaluating mining and processing options is well advanced. It includes potential in country downstream processing to deliver high value nickel sulfate into Asia’s rapidly expanding electric vehicle (EV) industry.

"The key difference between us and our peers is our relationships with the lithium ion battery industry. ", says Williamson.

The Company has a relationship with Ecopro, the largest CAFO manufacturer in South Korea, as well as a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) and have a very strong partnership and are looking to build a downstream facility together.

"The Ta Khoa Nickel Project, we think, can deliver nickel battery products into this lithium ion industry for the next 10, 20 years.", says Williamson.

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