Blackstone Minerals Limited (“Blackstone” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce its collaborative partnership with Circulor Ltd (“Circulor”), the UK headquartered industry leader in supply chain traceability, to establish a full Nickel and Cathode Precursor (PCAM) traceability system, with dynamic CO₂-e (carbon dioxide equivalent) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) tracking for its Vietnam Ta Khoa Assets, a first in South-East Asia.

Globally, there is increasing awareness about the impacts associated with nickel production, as well as other critical raw materials sourced for the Lithium-ion battery industry and EV sector, with end users now demanding a level of traceability for all their products. Blackstone’s partnership with Circulor will enable the Company to demonstrate compliance with sustainability metrics from mining through to the Ta Khoa Refinery (TKR) finished product.

Highlights

• Dynamic ESG metrics - including CO₂ intensity, biodiversity impact, water use and energy mix, will be digitised from project samples and made available for potential downstream market

• Circulor and Blackstone will work together to demonstrate a reliable chain of custody, using Traceability-as-a-Service (TaaS) technology to provide the Company with the ability to communicate the ESG “passport” of its products and operations with downstream customers
• Blackstone believes transparency and traceability of the TKR’s vertically integrated supply chain will result in the best commercial outcomes for the Company.

Yue Jin Tay, Director of Business Development at Circulor, comments: "We are very pleased to partner with Blackstone on their traceability journey from their development phase through to full operations. Building traceability into the development process of a mine and a refinery allows our customers to have traceability-by-design - ready to track the provenance, CO₂- equivalent and ESG performance of its products and raw materials from the very first shipment to their downstream customers. As Circulor expands into Asia and Australia, we are excited about the possibilities this partnership brings. With the security of supply of critical minerals gaining increasing focus, helping Blackstone provide transparency for both provenance and ESG performance enables them to become a supplier of choice in the region. This also helps them and their global customers meet a range of stakeholder requirements including the EU Battery Regulations, and their financing and investment requirements, among others."

Authorised by the Managing Director on behalf of the Board of Blackstone Minerals Limited.