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Murray Ward
Viking Mines has delivered a step-change processing breakthrough at its flagship Linka project in Nevada, producing a premium tungsten concentrate from a combined gravity separation and flotation circuit.
The company says metallurgical testwork returned a world-class concentrate grading 62.5 per cent tungsten trioxide, with an exceptional 59.8 per cent recovery rate from an initial feed grade of 1.2 per cent tungsten trioxide.
Management says the industry-leading results represent a major improvement from previously reported phase two testing parameters, which generated a lower 56.4 per cent concentrate grade at a modest 46.0 per cent recovery rate.
Notably, management says the latest testwork used a much bigger 10-kilogram sample. The fivefold increase in weight from earlier sample runs indicates repeatability at volume and has significantly de-risked the eventual commercial deployment of a future plant.
‘This keeps Linka on a fast-track development path in a tier-one US jurisdiction.’
Viking Mines managing director and chief executive officer Julian Woodcock
Further gains could still be around the corner for Viking, with processing heavyweights Base Met Labs and Independent Metallurgical Operations noting significant room for improvement in the cleaner flotation stages.
To capture this upside, fresh laboratory programs are already underway, adjusting reagent dosages to drive up project performance. The company believes, ultimately, a recovery greater than 70 per cent at a grade above 50 per cent tungsten trioxide is achievable.
The successful combined separation circuit results will go a long way to supporting Viking’s rapid-start flowsheet strategy. The company’s savvy approach aims to prioritise low-cost, physical gravity separation over capital-intensive chemical processing. This potentially allows the company to pursue modular plant construction and achieve faster environmental permitting.
Viking Mines managing director and chief executive officer Julian Woodcock said: “These results are yet another significant step forward for the Linka project. The combined gravity and cleaner flotation circuit is now delivering a world-class 62.5% WO3 concentrate at 59.8% recovery.”
Beyond the immediate testwork success at Linka, Viking retains a sprawling footprint of additional tungsten projects in Nevada.
The company holds strategic tenure across the Alpine, Long, Ragged Top, Terrell and Victory project areas, which are all held in good standing under unpatented mineral claims. This broader regional portfolio provides exposure to some of the most prolific and historic tungsten-mining jurisdictions in the United States.
Following the successful metallurgical test results on the Main Linka prospect, Viking will apply the same process to its remaining bulk samples from the Conquest, Hillside, and Stockpile zones at Linka to confirm consistent performance across all areas. Whilst upcoming gravity separation tests will examine coarser grind sizes to see whether the process can be made even more efficient.
Detailed crushing and grinding tests are also scheduled on fresh core samples to precisely calculate operating energy costs, alongside ore sorting trials on a recently collected 40-kilogram sample.
On the exploration front, the company is finalising a comprehensive 3D geological model, utilising recently digitised historical mapping and drillhole data, to help lock in targets for its upcoming 63-hole maiden drilling blitz.
Following formal approval from the United States Bureau of Land Management, drilling contractor DrilCor has been locked in for the program, with the drill rods on track to begin turning this quarter to test high-priority gravity anomalies and fresh hard-rock extensions.
The field program will also target some low-hanging fruit, following the recent discovery of two historical surface rock stockpiles showing visible mineralisation.
With global tungsten trioxide pricing hovering near record highs of US$3050(A$4294) per metric tonne unit, Viking’s run appears perfectly timed to emerge as a critical onshore supplier for Western defence and industrial manufacturing markets.
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