Blackstone Minerals (ASX:BSX) deep strike: Mankayan rewrites the copper-gold playbook

In a mining landscape often starved of big new copper-gold discoveries, Blackstone Minerals (ASX: BSX) has cracked open a compelling new chapter at its Mankayan project in the Philippines—this time, with a drillhole that’s been hiding in plain sight since 2013.

Drillhole BRC-60, sunk by Goldfields but never previously released, has just delivered what Managing Director Scott Williamson calls

“one of the best drillhole intersections into the Mankayan Copper-Gold Porphyry,” confirming it as “one of the best undeveloped Copper-Gold projects globally”.

And it’s not just marketing spin.

The numbers from BRC-60 are the sort of headline-grabbers that wake up a sleepy sector:

Highlights:

• 432m @ 1.25% CuEq (0.55% Cu & 0.89g/t Au) from 692m

• Including 210m @ 1.60% CuEq (0.69% Cu & 1.16g/t Au)

• Mineralisation remains open at depth and along strike

This 1.5km deep angled hole also marks a technical turning point—unlike earlier vertical holes, BRC-60’s 70-degree orientation better intersects the steeply dipping porphyry system.

It’s also now confirmed that the system runs far deeper than originally modelled.

Strategic Tectonics

The timing is potent.

The merger between Blackstone Minerals and IDM International—majority holder of the Mankayan project—is nearing completion, giving Blackstone a majority interest in a project that’s sat quietly on the books since the 1970s.

But Mankayan is far from a forgotten relic.

A decade ago, Goldfields considered paying US$70 million for the project but ultimately walked, not because of geology, but due to internal restructuring and a focus shift to smaller assets.

In 2025, the outlook is different.

With a 25-year mining licence renewed and Indigenous People’s consent secured—making IDM the first miner to achieve this milestone in the region—Mankayan is a rare project with both social licence and geological firepower.

Beyond One Drillhole

BRC-60 is not a one-off. Historic hits like 911m @ 1.00% CuEq (0.51% Cu & 0.63g/t Au) and 543m @ 1.08% CuEq from shallower depths underpin a broader system that now promises optionality between selective high-grade and large-scale bulk tonnage mining.

A Filipino Advantage

It also helps that Mankayan sits in a pro-mining jurisdiction, near infrastructure, and in a country with a deep mining pedigree. With the Philippines actively courting mining investment, Blackstone’s timing appears not just good—but prescient.

In a sector chasing energy transition metals, Blackstone’s copper-gold pivot could prove a masterstroke. And in BRC-60, they may have just pulled the curtain back on a porphyry prize that’s ready for its second act.

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