Blackstone secures Govt backing for Vietnam nickel play

Blackstone Minerals has inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnam’s Son La province to promote a cooperative framework for the development of the company’s Ta Khoa nickel project in that region.

The understanding reflects the Australian and Vietnamese governmental commitment to deepening two-way trade and facilitating investment projects in Vietnam, ultimately supporting the energy security of both countries.

On April 13 Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, Robyn Mudie, Vietnamese and Son La province officials visited the site of Blackstone’s operations. According to the ASX-listed company, all parties recognised the project’s significance and the prosperity it could bring to the region.

Blackstone says the Son La province determined it would help facilitate the company’s agenda, including support in acquiring the necessary permits for its project.

Blackstone Minerals Managing Director, Scott Williamson said: “…Blackstone’s ambition is to work respectfully and collaboratively with the people of Vietnam to generate significant socio-economic benefits for the communities in which we operate. Vietnam and the Son La Province, is blessed with mineral potential, excellent infrastructure, loyal people and has all the key ingredients to be at the forefront of the movement towards electrification of transport.”

The company’s overarching Ta Khoa project has two working cogs, its proposed Ta Khoa nickel mine and its proposed Ta Khoa nickel refinery or downstream processing plant.

The ASX-listed company plans to mine and concentrate ore from its nickel project and feed it through an in-house refinery to produce nickel-manganese-cobalt precursor products for Asia’s growing lithium-ion battery industry.

Achieving its ambitions in the upstream and downstream processes will see Blackstone vertically integrate itself into an industry widely tipped as one of the hottest in the emerging ‘new economy’.

US President Joe Biden set an ambitious target for electric vehicles to make up half of American car sales by 2030 and he is not the only one keen on the arrival of the new energy fleet.

With the evolving electric revolution being energetically ushered in around the globe, those in the supply chain will have their work cut out for them. Which metals really play the lead role amongst the cast of battery metals in the electrification revolution is up for debate although nickel will undoubtedly soak up its share of the spotlight right alongside lithium.

Research by the International Energy Agency has forecast that by 2040, electric vehicles and battery storage will take the top spot when it comes to nickel consumption.

Well adrift of those is the traditional leader – stainless steel. Even more alarming for that sector, the Nickel Institute says more than two-thirds of global nickel production is currently used to make stainless steel.

To be a major player, Blackstone is going to need a secure a solid supply of raw material and it currently has a resource of 452 thousand tonnes of nickel in Vietnam. It has also been taking equity positions in other large nickel project developers around the world.

However, only 7km away from its premier Ban Phuc deposit in Vietnam it is now pursuing an exploration target glowing with a magnetic signature that makes Ban Phuc almost look like a golf ball alongside a tennis ball. Blackstone will no doubt be hoping it can tie down another large source within close vicinity of its proposed refinery.

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