Coffee with Samso: Mining nickel sulphide in Vietnam - Blackstone Minerals

This latest Coffee with Samso has Blackstone Minerals Ltd (ASX:BSX) managing director Scott Williamson providing an update on what has been happening with their flagship Ta Khoa Nickel Sulphide project in Vietnam. I have been watching the progress over the last six months and Scott has been busy getting a strategic partnership secured with EcoPro, a South Korea-based company engaged in the battery and environment material business. EcoPro manufactures cathode active materials and precursors for lithium-ion batteries. Blackstone’s partnership with EcoPro will secure the future of the project in delivering an end-user to the process of mining and delivering nickel to the EV industry. Blackstone Minerals is a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) which is exploring and mining nickel sulphide. The company has projects in Australia, Vietnam and Canada. Ta Khoa Nickel Project - Vietnam The Ta Khoa Nickel-PGE Project is 160 kilometres west of Hanoi in the Son La Province of Vietnam and includes an existing modern nickel mine built to Australian standards, which is under care and maintenance. The Ban Phuc nickel mine successfully operated as a mechanised underground nickel mine from 2013 to 2016. Previous project owners invested more than US$136 million in the capital and generated US$213 million in revenue during a 3.5-year period of falling nickel prices. The project was placed into care and maintenance in mid-2016 during some of the lowest nickel prices in the past 10 years. Infrastructure in-situ Existing infrastructure associated with the project includes an internationally-designed 450,000 tonnes/annum processing plant connected to local hydro grid power with a fully-permitted tailings facility and a modern 250-person camp. My interest in Blackstone Minerals stems from the fact that investors seeking a position in the nickel sector should put BSX on their watchlist. The reason is that you are looking at a company that has a nickel mining operation with an almost completed web of operation structures to mine and process nickel. The mine is within the economic hub of South Korea, Japan, China and Vietnam/Indochina, a region that will be the future of all electric vehicle manufacturing in the coming future. Having an operational mine within the backyard of end-users will be advantageous. In the Coffee with Samso, we get to hear about the progress of the project and what path lay ahead in the coming months. Conclusions My thoughts after the conversation are that patience is the key as the end result will undoubtedly be bright. The demand and the certain shortage of supply will be the impetus of a rising nickel price. This will mean that the patient and astute investors will no doubt be smiling in time. For further information about Coffee with Samso and Rooster Talks visit: www.samso.com.au Samso is primarily a consulting company that delivers digital information to the market in terms of creating organic content. Samso simplifies your story to customers or investors. Samso creates organic content for you to engage your audience and BRAND yourself to them. Samso provides bespoke research and presentation for clients to engage their customers or investors. Organic content allows audiences to feel a real sense of sincerity when you share your business strategy, allowing your business to stand out among the sea of social media traffic. Working with Proactive Group allows exposing our Insights to over 1.2 million monthly unique views internationally. Samso has nearly 30 years of experience in developing business ideas and concepts in the Australasian region. Samso has worked primarily in the mineral resources industry, capital markets and corporate finance. Noel Ong is the founder of SAMSO.