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Doug Bright
Viking Mines has turned up the heat on its Linka tungsten project in Nevada, unveiling an accelerated workflow aimed at propelling the promising asset from desktop number-crunching into hands-on development and drilling.
The company says an intensive, multi-pronged schedule of technical and field work is now underway, with a steady stream of results expected across metallurgy, geophysics, engineering and permitting as it targets a rapid, low-capital-cost pathway to production.
Metallurgy remains front and centre after Viking recently produced a high-grade 63.6 per cent tungsten trioxide scheelite concentrate from a 1.2 per cent feed using cleaner gravity separation.
The result helped confirm that Linka’s mineralisation is amenable to a simpler, gravity-led processing route that could materially reduce complexity and cost.
‘With tungsten at 90-year highs, the value of our Nevada assets is clear.’
Viking Mines managing director and chief executive officer Julian Woodcock
Viking is now chasing cleaner gravity and flotation outcomes, with further results expected shortly to maximise recovery while maintaining marketable concentrate grades above 50 per cent tungsten trioxide.
On the processing front, the company is testing ore sorting with industry specialist TOMRA to evaluate X-ray fluorescence and ultraviolet technologies. In parallel, Sepro Mineral Systems is also assessing fine scheelite recovery using its Falcon centrifugal gravity concentrators.
Initial results from both programmes are expected in April and May.
Viking Mines managing director and chief executive officer Julian Woodcock said: “Viking is transitioning our Nevada Tungsten Projects from data analysis to active project development. Our strategy encompasses high-intensity workstreams that enable a rapid, low-CAPEX pathway to production.”
Last month, Viking engaged Mineral Technologies to run a processing concept study covering flowsheet design and metallurgical optimisation for Linka, including an assessment of its modular FlexSeries technology aimed at shortening lead times and simplifying construction.
The FlexSeries technology is a rapid-start system designed to bypass the often multi-year lead times of static infrastructure through its proprietary pre-assembled plug-and-play modules.
A mid-project update from Mineral Technologies is expected in late April, including early capital and operating cost estimates across a range of potential throughputs.
Meanwhile, geology and targeting are being sharpened ahead of the maiden drilling campaign planned to kick off in the June quarter. Viking’s expanded geophysical work has pointed to a much bigger intrusive system than previously interpreted, with only about 11 per cent of the prospective contact zone exposed and the remainder largely untested.
The company is finalising a 3D geological model to pinpoint skarn mineralisation targets under more recent cover of volcanic origin, southwest of the Linka Main target zone.
Permitting is also moving along, with Viking planning to submit a drilling Notice of Intent to the US Bureau of Land Management in the coming weeks ahead of a June-quarter drilling program.
Adding a potential near-term angle, Viking will assess historical stockpiles and the site’s old tailings dam for easy-access mineralisation that could support early development options, potentially including process plant commissioning, if appropriate.
Away from the rocks, Viking is stepping up its corporate push in the United States, with a US OTC listing tipped for completion this quarter to broaden its reach among North American investors.
The company is also finalising an application to join the Defense Industrial Base Consortium and is building State and Federal relationships to flag its Linka project as a potential future domestic tungsten source for the US defence supply chain.
With ammonium paratungstate prices recently reaching US$2800 per metric tonne unit – one unit equals 10 kilograms of tungsten trioxide – and tungsten now firmly in the spotlight as a strategic metal, Viking looks set to keep the news coming as it works to turn Linka into a meaningful US-based tungsten supply opportunity.
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