PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Commodities trading group Trafigura has signed a letter of interest (LoI) with junior Blackstone Minerals to potentially supply quantities of nickel and cobalt products that would allow Blackstone to produce products for the lithium-ion battery industry at its Ta Khoa nickel project, in Vietnam.

The ASX-listed Blackstone said on Friday that the intended arrangement with Trafigura was part of its strategy to upscale its downstream refining business, and its vision to become a significant global supplier of downstream nickel products for the lithium-ion battery industry.

“We are delighted to have laid the foundations for our relationship with Trafigura, a globally significant trading company. Blackstone is taking steps to become a significant global, green nickel product supplier catering to the battery market,” said MD Scott Williamson.

“We believe Vietnam is ideally situated to manufacture green nickel products, given its competitive costs, abundant supply of renewable energy, and excellent infrastructure. In recent years, the country has demonstrated an enviable record of attracting foreign direct investment, particularly from Asian countries. In addition, our strategy to upscale the downstream business is particularly pertinent, given leading battery manufacturers have indicated the potential to construct battery manufacturing facilities in country.”

An October scoping study into Blackstone’s Ta Koha project to determine the potential to restart the nickel/copper/platinum project and develop downstream processing infrastructure proved positive.

The base-case four-million-tonne-a-year operation is expected to produce some 12 700 t/y of nickel over a mine life of eight-and-a-half years, with the downstream refinery having the ability to process up to 200 t/y of concentrate, sourced entirely from the mining operations at Ta Khoa.

Blackstone intends to upscale the downstream refining business through the staged construction of additional refining capacity, with the refining capacity to be met by materials sourced from third parties.

The company on Friday said that it would commence studies and permitting for the downstream business, in parallel with the completion of a definitive feasibility study, and a pilot and demonstration plant, which will be commissioned in-country.

The pilot and demonstration plant will be used to advance the downstream process flowsheets focused on producing nickel, cobalt and manganese oxide precursor products.