Blackstone Minerals has intersected copper-nickel-cobalt massive sulphides in its first drill hole targeting a large, induced polarisation anomaly at its 100 per cent owned Jewel prospect in British Columbia. Significant copper, nickel and cobalt mineralisation has been confirmed by portable XRF examination of the diamond drill core and follow-up diamond drilling is being planned to target extensions of the mineralisation discovered in the first drill hole.
The Jewel prospect is part of the company’s Gold Bridge cobalt, nickel and copper project located approximately 180 kilometres north of Vancouver in Canada.
Jewel previously produced an induced polarisation anomaly that spanned over a strike length of approximately 2km that was begging to be drill tested.
Exploration at Jewel builds on initial exploration success achieved at the Little Gem prospect nearby, also in the Gold Bridge project area. Gold Bridge recently underwent a detailed 3D Pole-Dipole induced polarisation and resistivity survey with the aim of carving out some drill targets.
Analysis of the induced polarisation survey data at Gold Bridge in conjunction with regional soil, rock chip and stream sediment sample analysis has resulted in the identification of multiple high priority targets, with the Jewel prospect being one of them.
Blackstone says the preliminary geological modelling of the Jewel prospect suggests it shares a similar setting to the world class Bou-Azzer cobalt district in Morocco that has produced a multitude of high-grade underground mines. The mines in Bou-Azzer are located near the contact of a serpentinized ultramafic and quartz diorite unit analogous to the geological setting at the Gold Bridge project. A historical mine at Jewel is also sitting proximal to a similar geological contact.
The Gold Bridge project was discovered in the 1930’s by prospectors that noted pink cobalt mineralisation on the surface of weathered rock that led to adits being developed. When Blackstone acquired the Gold Bridge project in 2017, the area had experienced 1,268m of drilling conducted from underground in addition to detailed channel sampling within the adits.
Blackstone has completed an extensive exploration program consisting of drilling, geochemical sampling and geophysical surveying since taking on the project which the company says has world class potential.
In addition to its operations in Canada, Blackstone remains focussed on building an integrated upstream and downstream nickel processing facility at its Vietnam operations that will produce nickel, cobalt and manganese precursor products for the lithium-ion battery industry in Asia.
Blackstone Minerals Managing Director, Scott Williamson said:
“Although Ta Khoa remains the Company’s primary focus, in the background Blackstone has continued to work-up its exploration targets in British Columbia. The first drill hole testing a 700 m long 24 mv/v IP chargeability anomaly at Jewel Prospect successfully encountered Cu, Ni and Co sulfarsenides is a great proof-of-concept result for the project. Initial success confirms not only the prospectivity of the Jewel IP target, but also the potential of Blackstone’s 50 km BC cobalt target zone to host Ni, Co and Cu sulfarsenide deposits of the same style as the World Class Bou-Azzer cobalt district in Morocco.”
The significant copper, nickel and cobalt mineralisation confirmed by the portable XRF in Canada is compelling and Blackstone followers will no doubt be waiting and watching closely for the final assay results to come back.
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