Blackstone Minerals defines new massive and semi-massive sulphides at Ta Khoa nickel project
A highlight intercept struck at King Snake was 2.62m at 1.54% nickel, 2.01% copper, 0.06% cobalt and 5.16g/t PGE from 254.08m.
Drilling at Blackstone Minerals’ (ASX: BSX) King Snake prospect within the flagship Ta Khoa nickel-copper-platinum group elements (PGE) project in northern Vietnam has defined a strike length of 900 metres including massive and semi-massive sulphide veins and disseminated sulphides.
The ongoing resource extension program has hit new intersections in two drill holes, adding to the results from recent step-out drilling down-plunge west of historic exploration.
Best reported intercepts were 2.62m at 1.54% nickel, 2.01% copper, 0.06% cobalt and 5.16 grams per tonne PGE from 254.08m, including 0.62m at 3% nickel, 0.84% copper, 0.11% cobalt and 3.36g/t PGE from 254.08m.
Delivering results
King Snake is a high-priority MSV target within Ta Khoa and Blackstone confirmed drilling continues to deliver “excellent results”.
The company’s geophysics crew will now proceed with a down hole electro-magnetic survey to inform infill drilling at the prospect and potentially identify new sulphide targets at depth.
King Snake remains on track for inclusion in a pre-feasibility study for Blackstone’s upstream business unit due later this year.
Project interest
Blackstone owns a 90% interest in the Ta Khoa project, located 160km west of Hanoi in Vietnam’s Son La Province.
The project includes an existing modern nickel plant built to Australian standards which is currently under care and maintenance.
King Snake is located 1.5km north-east of the project’s mothballed processing facility, and hosts MSV and high-grade brecciated nickel-copper-PGE sulphides and gossans associated with tremolite-altered mafic-ultramafic rocks.
Drilling to date has focused on electro-magnetic targets which extend west of historic drilling with results indicating a greater thickness of sulphide mineralisation down plunge.