Blackstone Minerals has appointed engineering, minerals processing and metallurgical consultants Wood and ALS to lead a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) for the Ta Khoa Refinery (TKR) in Vietnam.

The company said Wood, the lead engineering consultant for the DFS, would provide full life-cycle engineering services from scoping studies to project execution. It will use the experience gained from similar projects in Southeast Asia and Vietnam.

Additionally, ALS will perform a hydrometallurgical test work programme designed to design criteria support and generate engineering data for the DFS.

Scott Williamson, Blackstone Minerals' managing director, said the work from Wood and ALS would build on a previous pre-feasibility study completed in July 2021.

The parties will undertake the DFS with the "highest technical rigour", Williamson claimed. Furthermore, the companies aim to align the DFS with critical financing milestones, including supply and customer offtakes and debt financing, Williamson said.

The Ta Khoa Project is located 160km west of Hanoi in the Son La Province of Vietnam and includes an existing modern nickel mine, the Ban Phuc mine, which has an annual capacity of tonnes of nickel.