TA KHOA PROJECT
The Ta Khoa Nickel-Copper-PGE Project is located 160 km west of Hanoi in the Son La Province of Vietnam and includes an existing modern nickel mine built to Australian standards, which is currently under care and maintenance. The Ban Phuc nickel mine successfully operated as a mechanised underground nickel mine from 2013 to 2016.
Downstream Pre-feasibility Study
Blackstone Minerals Downstream Pre-feasibility Study confirms technically and economically robust hydrometallurgical refining process to upgrade nickel sulfide concentrate to produce battery grade Nickel: Cobalt: Manganese (NCM) 811 Precursor for the Lithium-ion battery industry.
Ta Khoa Nickel Project Downstream PFS Announcement
Nickel Day Presentation – Downstream PFS
Highlights
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Base Case - Post-tax NPV8 of US$2.01bn and internal rate of return (IRR) of 67% (refer Table 4)
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Spot Case - Post-tax NPV8 of US$3.51bn and internal rate of return (IRR) of 98% (refer Table 4)
Valuation Outcomes
Base Case Economics
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Upfront Project Capital of US$491m paid back in 1.5 years from first production
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Life-of-Operations revenue of US$14.0bn and operating cash flow of US$4.5bn
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Average annual operating cash flow of US$451m
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Average annual post-tax cash flow of US$365m
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Life-of-operations All-in Cost of US$11,997/ t NCM811 as compared to study weighted average forecast price on sale of NCM811 of US$16,397/ t NCM811 and current Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) spot price of US$19,559/t NCM811
Base Case Physicals
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Refinery capacity of 400ktpa
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10-year life-of-Operations aligned with the Ban Phuc Disseminated orebody and availability of known third party concentrate feed (3PF)
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Average annual refined nickel output of 43.5ktpa
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Average annual NCM811 Precursor Production of 85.6ktpa
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First production currently targeted in 2024 and ramp up to steady state operations currently forecast to be achieved in CY 2026
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3.9Mt of concentrate feed with average Ni in concentrate grade of 11.5%, Co in concentrate grade of 0.3% and Cu in concentrate grade of 1.1%
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Average annual copper by-product of 4.1ktpa
Scoping Study
Blackstone Minerals completed a Scoping Study for the development and restart of the Ta Khoa Nickel-Cu-PGE Project. The Project comprises an open pit mine at the Ban Phuc Disseminated Sulfide, upstream processing and downstream processing to produce a Precursor product for Asia’s growing Lithium-ion Battery Industry.
The Scoping Study is an important milestone and an initial platform to build a mine-to-market nickel business over the coming years with multiple upside opportunities to improve on the Scoping Study as presented. Blackstone looks forward to developing the Ta Khoa Project and has immediately commenced the next phase of Pre-Feasibility Studies.
