Our Latest Investment: Viking Mines (ASX: VKA)

Disclosure: S3 Consortium Pty Ltd (the Company) and Associated Entities own 95,000,000 VKA Shares at the time of publishing this article. The Company has been engaged by VKA to share our commentary on the progress of our Investment in VKA over time. This information is general in nature about a speculative investment and does not constitute personal advice. It does not consider your objectives, financial situation, or needs. Any forward-looking statements are uncertain and not a guaranteed outcome.

We thought we were done for the year...

We have said no to a lot of new Investments over the last 7 weeks, thinking we’ll just get back in the game again in February after the Christmas/summer break.

But when the same team behind LKY (that went from 1.8c to a high of 69c in six months) announces a new US critical minerals project, in a company capped at sub ~$10M... we couldn’t say no.

Our new US critical minerals Investment is Viking Mines (ASX:VKA).

VKA just announced the acquisition of tungsten projects in Nevada, USA and raised ~$4.3M at a market cap of ~$11M and an enterprise value of ~$5.5M.

We have had a lot of success investing in Nevada - with our Investments in SS1 and BKB.

(the past performance of LKY, SS1 and BKB is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance of VKA)

Tungsten is a critical military mineral. The USA has zero domestic supply.

VKA’s new projects have historic production of a combined ~123,000t at 0.54% tungsten grades.

Today tungsten prices are at all time highs. (source)

Tungsten is an ultra hard metal and has a high melting point.

Tungsten has military uses in munitions (bullets), vehicles and body armour, missiles and radiation shielding.

The USA is 100% beholden to imports of this critical military mineral.

China dominates global tungsten supply (~80% of the market) and (of course) has wielded its market dominance and applied export restrictions.

(Source)

Similar to antimony... obviously not an ideal situation for the US military to rely on their main adversary for supply of critical military metals...

The below map shows where VKA’s projects sit relative to the Hawthorne Army Base in Nevada.

This Army Base is the biggest munitions depot in the USA (and the world).

It has also recently been announced as the location for the new USA national strategic minerals stockpile:

We think the USA rapidly rebuilding domestic critical minerals supply is going to be one of the biggest investment themes of 2026.

And the USA considers tungsten a critical mineral.

In July, the US Department of War granted US$6.2M to another Nevada based tungsten project to fund a pre-feasibility study:

(source)

(The company that received this grant was capped at <$50M earlier in the year and its share price is now up ~300% this year, noting past performance is not an indicator of future performance) (source)

Then 6 days ago the US army said it would move into refining critical minerals for military use - including tungsten and antimony (source)

(source)

VKA’s new tungsten projects are ~200km away from the Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada - the USA’s main ammunition stockpile.

The Hawthorne Army Depot is home to the same stockpile that the US Defence Logistics Agency (the Pentagon) was seeking information about the “potential acquisition” of tungsten “to add to the stockpiles”. (source)

(making Nevada and its surrounding states the perfect place for new US critical minerals mines and projects to feed this strategic national stockpile, in our opinion...).

Our other US critical minerals Investment LKY has an antimony project located just on the Nevada border, ~400km away from the new USA’s strategic minerals stockpile.

(like tungsten, antimony is a critical mineral for munitions and armour, the USA has ZERO domestic supply, China dominates production and has recently restricted exports)

Over the last 6 months, the LKY team (same team as VKA) has demonstrated they can rapidly execute our “US critical minerals playbook” to rapidly advance a US project during a window of heightened urgency and investor, government and market interest.

(more on our US critical minerals playbook and what we want to see VKA do later in this note)

In 6 months, LKY ran from 1.8c to hit a high of 69c, and is now around 20c (and just raised $17M at 24c a share):

(source)

We are backing VKA as we want to see it execute a similar plan to what LKY did, at a similar pace, over the first 6 months of 2026.

The past performance is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance. Caution should be exercised in assessing past performance. This product, like all other financial products, is subject to market forces and unpredictable events that may adversely affect future performance.

So we know the US is racing to find, secure and stockpile domestic sources of critical minerals like tungsten and antimony.

These minerals are critical to defence and weapons systems and technologies that will determine the winner of the race to be the next global super power.

China has nearly all the supply of these minerals, the USA has almost none - and the USA is now rushing to fix that.

The window is now open for companies to move fast, and that is what LKY has been doing over the last 6 months.

And what we want to see VKA do over the coming 6 months.

VKA is in a position to take advantage of the current window of urgent US market need, zero domestic US tungsten supply, increased investor interest and available US government funding.

For these reasons we think US critical minerals are going to be big in 2026, and just as we are writing, this article came out on Reuters:

(Source)

Next, we want to see VKA complete due diligence and finalise the acquisition of the projects ahead of:

• VKA converting all of the historic data into modern exploration data.
• Sampling programs (including the bulk samples VKA said it would be taking in today’s announcement - those can be used for met testing and for downstream initiatives)

Then we want to see VKA rank drill targets, go through permitting and start drilling its projects.

We Invested in VKA because we liked that the new assets have a history of producing tungsten and because the projects haven’t systematically been explored in decades.

(of course, the low market cap also helps - VKA is capped at only ~$11M at our Initial Entry Price of 0.5c per share).

We are backing the team behind LKY (which went from ~1.8c to ~60c in six months) to:

• Go hard and fast mapping and sampling its projects (including things like LiDAR surveys to get a full sense of what’s sitting below the ground).
• Define a redevelopment strategy (similar to what they did with LKY - a video like this for one of VKA’s projects would be great)
• Define a downstream tungsten strategy for VKA (similar to what LKY is doing with Rice/Columbia university and US based Hazen Research).

More on the projects and the LKY connection in a second...

We haven’t really seen a run in tungsten names on the ASX - mainly because there are very few ways of getting exposure in the small cap end of the ASX market.

It’s even harder to get US tungsten exposure with only a few small cap stocks holding assets inside US borders (most of which don't focus solely on tungsten).

(Almost all of the big tungsten exposures are producers - producing from assets that are offshore in jurisdictions outside of the US - yes we looked at them all...)

Which is why we just added VKA to our Portfolio.

Here are the 9 key reasons why we Invested in VKA

1. Low market cap with room to re-rate higher

VKA will have a market cap of ~$11M and an enterprise value of ~$5.5M (at 0.5c post capital raise).. We think the company’s valuation is currently at a level where it can re-rate to multiples of where it is now - if the US critical minerals playbook is executed well and the market continues to reward the sector.

2. VKA has the same team and backers as Locksley Resources (ASX: LKY).

Board, management and major shareholders of VKA are very similar to VKA. LKY at its peak was up 626% from our Initial Entry Price. We are backing the same group to deliver more wins with VKA.

Past performance is not an indicator of future performance.

3. Tungsten prices trading at all time highs

Tungsten prices are currently at all time highs (source), driven by Chinese export restrictions (see reason #4 below).

We think it's a good time to have exposure to tungsten in our Portfolio.

4. China dominates the global supply and has placed export restrictions on tungsten

China controls ~80% of the world’s tungsten mining and processing supply chain. In February 2025, the Chinese government put export controls on tungsten imports out of China. (source)

The US has no domestic production and is 100% reliant on imports for tungsten, which we think makes projects like VKA’s (inside US borders valuable).

5. VKA’s tungsten assets are in Nevada, USA

We like Nevada as a mining jurisdiction within the USA because it's home to some of the biggest, lowest cost mines in the country, and we have had some good wins in Nevada before (SS1, BKB).

6. Very few companies with tungsten projects on the ASX - even less with projects inside the USA

There are very few tungsten-focused companies on the ASX - especially ones with projects inside the US.

IF US tungsten companies go on a run it could mean a lot of capital looks to flow into a handful of companies of which VKA will be one.

7. VKA’s projects have produced tungsten in the past

Across the six assets VKA is acquiring, there has been ~123,000 tonnes mined from open pits, and underground adits.

One project also has a 360 tonne per day mill in place. Channel sampling from VKA’s project returned grades of ~2.11%. The biggest tungsten deposit inside US borders (also in Nevada) has average grades of 0.25% tungsten.

8. Capital is flowing into US critical metals macro thematic

We think VKA’s US tungsten assets could attract increased capital flows both on the ASX and from North American investors/governments/institutions.

Funding from US government agencies could be from places like the Department of War, Department of Energy, Department of Interior.

Alternatively, VKA’s project could attract capital from tungsten end users or big financiers like JP Morgan who is just starting to become active in the critical minerals space.

9. VKA can follow the “US critical minerals playbook”

There is a playbook for ASX stocks to attract more attention and capital to projects that are based in the US. VKA isn’t yet listed in the US, and we think that if its project gets any traction it could go for a US listing that opens up the project to North American investors.

Our VKA Big Bet:

“VKA re-rates to $100M+ market cap with a fast to market tungsten production and downstream strategy, as well as continued interest and capital flows into the USA critical metals thematic”

NOTE: our “Big Bet” is what we HOPE the ultimate success scenario looks like for this particular Investment over the long term (3+ years). There is no guarantee that our Big Bet will ever come true. There is a lot of work to be done, many risks involved, including development risk, country risk and commodity price risk - just some of which we list in our VKA Investment Memo.

Success will require a significant amount of luck. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance.

Later in today’s note we will share our updated VKA Investment Memo which will cover:

• What VKA does
• The macro theme for VKA
• Our VKA Big Bet
• What we want to see VKA achieve
• Why we are Invested in VKA
• The key risks to our Investment Thesis,
• Our Investment Plan

But first, here is more on why we Invested in VKA.

VKA to become LKY 2.0?

VKA is acquiring six projects in Nevada which have historic tungsten production for a combined ~123,000t at 0.54% tungsten grades.

The core asset (Linka) historically produced from a 360 tonne per day mill between 1955 and 1956.

That project alone has channel sampling from underground adits for 6.1m at 1.50% WO3 and drillhole results including 10.1m at 0.79% WO3 (DDH-8) from 39.6m.

We see a lot of similarities between VKA and one of our other US critical minerals Investments, Locksley Resources (ASX: LKY).

VKA is backed by the same team behind LKY which has been one of our strongest US critical minerals performers this year.

Locksley’s share price was up 626% at its peak, and is currently up 116% from our Initial Entry Price.

A big part of the LKY story centres around its historic Desert Antimony Mine - which produced antimony back in WW1 and WW2 from old underground adits.

LKY’s redevelopment plan for that project also attracted US$191M letter of interest from US EXIM, and LKY just applied for a US$41M funding round with the Department of Defence.

(LKA is ~6 months ahead of VKA, and the team has all the contacts in the right US Government departments to try and make it happen for VKA too)

As mentioned earlier, VKA’s Linka project has similar history (historic production from an old mill, from underground adits).

Here is a picture of those old mine shafts - hopefully with some mapping (and maybe some LiDAR) it gets even bigger.

(source)

That old Linka mine was mined between 1941 and 1956... then the US government suspended its tungsten buying program and mining stopped in 1956.

(source)

VKA can rollout the US critical minerals playbook

We are Investing in VKA to see the same team behind LKY execute our US critical minerals playbook as follows:

(we came up with this playbook after years in the markets and more recently observing what builds value in the US critical minerals space)

• ✅ own or acquire a US based critical minerals project - (TODAY - VKA announced the acquisition of six new tungsten projects in Nevada)
• ⬜ appoint Washington lobbyist
• ⬜ spend time in USA or appoint US based operations person
• ⬜ appoint experienced, big name advisors or board members
• ⬜ list on the US OTC market
• ⬜ commence NASDAQ or NYSE listing process
• ⬜ acquire, license or partner with downstream processing technology - LKY was very successful doing this for antimony, it’s possible VKA does something similar with tungsten.
• 🔄 deliver early metwork and processing of bulk samples, ahead of drilling - We want to see VKA sample/map its project and confirm all of the historic tungsten workings on the project.
• 🔄 prove samples can be processed - deliver down stream product - We want to see VKA take bulk samples and see if the material can be used to produce US sourced, US refined tungsten products.
• ⬜ secure US government funding
• ⬜ attract interest from private US investors
• 🔄 outline plan for small, cheap and fast mine - Look at redevelopment options to get the old mines back into production
• ⬜ deliver drilling success on project (doesn’t need to be huge), just commercial for a small mine
• ⬜ use larger market cap to bolt on later stage/advanced projects in the USA
• ⬜ list on major US exchange
• ⬜ US investor roadshows
• ⬜ deliver domestic US critical minerals supply.

The more of those boxes the small companies can tick (and quickly), the better (we think) they can position themselves to capture US capital and attention.

It's a strategy that works against a macro backdrop where the US is looking to secure critical mineral supply chains fast - not just over a 10-20 year period.

It's also one that has worked for LKY so far - producing the end product first, defining a redevelopment plan for its old mine and THEN going after US government funding to make it all happen.

(the other way around would involve years of drilling out a project, resource definition and then doing all of this work - which we still think works, but the US critical minerals macro seems to be rewarding speed).

We Invested in LKY at 9.5c and the share price hit 69c a few months ago - it's now trading around 20c per share.

We are backing the team behind LKY to do the same thing with VKA.

(source)

The past performance is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance. Caution should be exercised in assessing past performance. This product, like all other financial products, is subject to market forces and unpredictable events that may adversely affect future performance.

VKA is in the right place at the right time...

We also see some similarities between the early work on VKA’s asset relative to the “biggest tungsten deposit” in the US, also in Nevada owned by London listed Guardian Metals.

Guardian’s project is about 50km from VKA’s and has an average tungsten grade of 0.27%.

Remember VKA’s channel sampling from those old underground mines were coming back 6.1m at 1.5% tungsten grades.

(source)

Guardian was one of the first pureplay tungsten stocks to receive funding from the US government - US$6.2M from the DoW back in July. (source)

(source)

The Guardian Metals CEO is on the record saying “So, it's not going to be just us that solves this. There's going to be other companies that are required here...”. (source)

We are hoping VKA is one of those companies.

As part of today’s deal VKA attracted American Tungsten Corp to its register (with a $750K strategic investment in VKA).

American Tungsten is listed in Canada, capped at ~$76M and has a tungsten asset in Idaho, USA.

(the first North American cash into VKA - and we hope not the last)

We think the US critical minerals macro thematic is only just getting started...

JP Morgan has only made one investment from the US$1.5 trillion commitment it made to
“Industries critical for the US national interest” including critical minerals.

The US government explicitly said they are not done making direct equity investments into critical minerals yet.

And the US Army, the Department of Energy and the Department of Interior are all getting into critical minerals...

(source)(source)(source)(source)(source)(source)

Investment Memo 1: Viking Mines (ASX:VKA)

Memo Opened: 16th December 2025

Shares Held: 95,000,000

What does VKA do?

Viking Mines (ASX:VKA) is a junior mining exploration company acquiring six tungsten projects in Nevada, USA.

VKA’s new projects have historically produced a combined ~123,000t at 0.54% tungsten grades, with one of the projects (Linka) producing from an old 360 tonne per day mill between 1955-56.

What is the macro theme behind VKA?

Critical minerals and US-based projects are attracting attention and capital.

Trump has continued to maintain pandemic-era level urgency to create its own critical minerals supply chain in the US, removing any supply from China.

VKA has exposure to tungsten - a critical mineral that China controls ~80% of the processing and production of.

Tungsten is a dense material used for things like armour-piercing ammunition, missile warheads and aerospace components.

Our VKA Big Bet

“VKA re-rates to $100M+ market cap with a fast to market tungsten production and downstream strategy, as well as continued interest and capital flows into the USA critical metals thematic”

NOTE: our “Big Bet” is what we HOPE the ultimate success scenario looks like for this particular Investment over the long term (3+ years). There is no guarantee that our Big Bet will ever come true. There is a lot of work to be done, many risks involved, including development risk, country risk and commodity price risk - just some of which we list in our VKA Investment Memo.

Success will require a significant amount of luck. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance.

The 9 Reasons We Invested in VKA

1. Low market cap with room to re-rate higher
2. VKA has the same team and backers as Locksley Resources (ASX: LKY).
3. Tungsten prices trading at all time highs
4. China dominates the global supply and has placed export restrictions on tungsten
5. VKA’s tungsten assets are in Nevada, USA
6. Very few companies with tungsten projects on the ASX - even less with projects inside the USA
7. VKA’s projects have produced tungsten in the past
8. Capital is flowing into US critical metals macro thematic
9. VKA can follow the “US critical minerals playbook”

What do we want to see VKA do next?

Objective 1: Complete the acquisition of the new tungsten assets.

We want to see VKA complete acquisition of the 6 tungsten projects in today's announcement.

Milestones:

🔲 Due diligence process completed

🔲 Acquisition completed

Objective 2: Target generation work (mapping/sampling)

We want to see VKA complete rounds of sampling (including channel/rock chip sampling) to confirm historic tungsten mineralisation at the project.

We also want to see the project mapped with LiDAR to reveal the full extent of the underground workings on the project.

Milestones:

🔲 Mapping and sampling (soils and rock chips)

🔲 Geophysics/LiDAR

🔲 Drill targets confirmed

Objective 3: First drilling program

We want to see VKA work through the permitting process and commence its maiden drill program on one of its newly acquired tungsten projects.

Milestones:

🔲 Drill permitting

🔲 Drilling starts

🔲 Drilling results

Objective 4: Define a downstream tungsten strategy

We want to see VKA define a clear downstream tungsten strategy.

Milestones:

🔲 Bulk sampling to run metallurgical testing.

🔲 Downstream partnerships/agreements

Bonus objective: US government engagement for funding

This would be an added bonus for us.

We would like to see VKA apply for and then land some non-dilutive US government funding to progress its projects.

What are the risks?

Deal risk

While there is a binding agreement in place to acquire the new tungsten assets, there is always a risk that the transaction does not complete due to due diligence findings or other closing conditions not being met.

Exploration risk

There is no guarantee that VKA’s upcoming drill programs will be successful. VKA may fail to find economic deposits of tungsten in which case we would expect the share price to re-rate lower.

Funding risk/dilution risk

As a pre-revenue small cap company, VKA is reliant on capital markets to advance its projects. If something negative happens at a macro or company level, VKA could struggle to access capital on favourable terms.

These capital raises may take place at a discount, and result in the issuance of new shares which incur dilution to existing shareholders.

Commodity price risk

The performance of commodity stocks are often closely linked to the value of the underlying commodities they are seeking to extract. Should rare earths or antimony prices fall, this could hurt the VKA share price.

Market risk

Broader market sentiment could deteriorate, and shares as an investment class trade lower, taking VKA’s share price with it. Alternatively, there could be further sector specific pain ahead where junior explorers suffer a lot more than the broader market.

Other risks

Like any small cap exploration company, investing in VKA involves a range of risks, some known, some unknown (this is the nature of investing in early-stage companies).

Here we aim to identify a few more risks.

VKA’s new tungsten projects rely heavily on historical data, production records, and sampling from the 1940s and 1950s. There is a risk that VKA is unable to verify this historical data with modern exploration work.

A key part of our Investment Thesis relies on VKA successfully executing the "US market listing playbook" (including US listings, appointing lobbyists, and securing downstream partnerships).

There is a risk that VKA fails to execute these corporate strategies effectively or that they do not generate the anticipated interest from US investors.

Although the US government is actively funding critical minerals projects, there is no guarantee VKA will receive any government grants or strategic funding.

VKA will need to secure permits for its planned drilling programs and any future development in Nevada. VKA may face regulatory delays that could slow down exploration.

Finally, the market for tungsten is relatively opaque and dominated by China. Any changes in Chinese export policies or global demand could impact the underlying commodity price and investor sentiment toward the sector.

Investors should consider these risks carefully and seek professional advice tailored to their personal circumstances before investing.

What is our Investment Strategy?

We are Invested in VKA to make a discovery and define a tungsten resource.

Our plan is to hold the majority of our position in VKA for 1 year as part of our Catalyst Hunter exploration portfolio, which we hope is enough time to see VKA drill out its project, make a discovery and release a maiden JORC resource.

We may look to sell up to 20% of our holding if the company delivers on one or more of our Investment Memo objectives and/or the share price materially re-rates in line with our minimum hold conditions.