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BAtteRY MIneRALs

Blackstone sees green at Ta Khoa

here is no doubt in Scott Williamson’s
Tmind that 2020 will go down as the start
of one of the great bull markets for resources.
“I am confident of that,” the Blackstone Min-
erals Ltd managing director told Paydirt.
A frenzied response from investors to-
wards gold and iron ore has sparked much
interest in the resources sector and there are
signs that base metals will begin to run in the
next 12 months.
“We are seeing it [positivity] in copper, nick-
el will be next and then maybe even zinc. It is
a good time to be a junior; it’s what the sec-
tor has been waiting 10 years for,” Williamson
said.
“There have been a lot of false starts in bull
markets before, but I think it is here now.”
If Williamson is right, Blackstone will head
into a glittering period for the resources sector
cashed-up with $28 million to deliver a PFS
on the Ta Khoa nickel-copper project in Viet-
nam in Q1 2021.
In October, a maiden indicated disseminat- Scott Williamson
ed sulphide resource at Ban Phuc – 44.3mt @
0.52% nickel for 229,000t nickel and inferred
resource of 14.3mt @ 0.35% for 50,000t – un- price and permitting. We don’t see any issues with our idea being to use the PFS to build the
derpinned a scoping study at Ta Khoa. with funding, we see the commodity price partnership,” he said.
Despite a solid scoping study on Ta Khoa being strong over the next 3-5 years and we A JV agreement related to a downstream
– 12,700 tpa nickel production over 8.5 years, have begun the permitting process. The ben- processing solution at Ta Khoa would see the
gross revenue of $US2.95 billion to $US3.6 efit of having a brownfields project is that it estimated $US150 million funding require-
billion plus the potential for downstream pro- is already permitted; there is an amendment ment split equally between Blackstone and
duction of nickel, cobalt and manganese process to that but we are de-risked by the EcoPro.
(NCM) products for the lithium-ion battery fact it is a brownfields project on an existing The potential NCM downstream precursor
industry – Williamson was at odds to explain mining licence.” product (25,000 tpa) applicable to the lithium-
why Blackstone was only valued at a 38c/ Also running in Blackstone’s favour is a re- ion battery industry accentuates the payability
share and market capped at $121 of nickel from 70-80% to 125-135%
million. of LME prices, the main incentive
It is typical for some of the lustre for both Blackstone and EcoPro to
a company generates during the We have seen the lowest of pursue a JV at Ta Khoa.
exploration phase to rub off once “ lows and highest of highs The scoping study at Ta Khoa
development scenarios and fund- was done on a base case through-
ing requirements are publicised, in our share price within three put scenario of 4 mtpa, with dissem-
therefore the $US314 million pre- months during 2020, which I think inated sulphide material sourced
production capital cost potentially from one large open pit at Ban
incurred to kick-start Ta Khoa may will go down as the start of one of Phuc.
have impacted Blackstone’s mo- the bull markets for resources. Estimated net pre-tax cashflow
mentum. of $US1.2 billion, pre-tax NPV of
Williamson said not being able to $US665 million and IRR of 45%
conduct site visits for investors due were guided in the October study,
to COVID-19 restrictions may also be ham- lationship with EcoPro Co. Ltd – the world’s with Blackstone signalling potential to stage
pering Blackstone’s value proposition. second largest and Korea’s largest nickel-rich capex requirements and further upside in by-
“Maybe it is the funding or the perception cathode materials manufacturer – which sub- product credits in copper, gold, platinum, pal-
that we are not going to announce every drill scribed for almost $7 million worth of Black- ladium and rhodium.
hole going forward, maybe it is understanding stone shares in April. A PFS on Ta Khoa is imminent, and Black-
around that staged capex as well, which we Blackstone’s deal with EcoPro has been stone plans to have a DFS wrapped up by the
have the ability to halve to circa $US150 mil- somewhat underrated, however, there is a end of 2021 and a decision to mine soon after.
lion just for the downstream component while chance for a more material outcome, William- According to the current timeline, Blackstone is
leveraging from the existing upstream mine son said. positioned to restart operations at Ta Khoa with
infrastructure,” Williamson said. “Hopefully, we’ll have some more corpo- an integrated downstream refinery in Q2 2022.
“Whenever you look at any project the key rate success with EcoPro looking to sign a JV The company is financially strong and has ac-
risks are always around funding, commodity agreement around the same time as the PFS, quired the requisite skillset to meet its timelines.

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