VKA approved for 900 tonne bulk sample - US offtake assessment next
Our Investment Viking Mines (ASX: VKA | OTC: VKALF) just got approval to take a 900 tonne bulk sample from stockpiles at its US project…
AND already VKA is looking to source a toll treating partner to process the material.
VKA confirmed that the tungsten produced from the processing run would be used to generate:
(source)
So, VKA’s “fast to production” strategy is now looking more like it may happen pretty quickly…
VKA owns the past producing Linka tungsten project, where around 123,000t @ 0.54% tungsten was mined in the 1940s and 50s.
Mining only stopped when the US government ended its tungsten buying program, which left stockpiles of mineralised material sitting at surface.
VKA is currently drilling here - the first drilling in over 40 years.
Today's approval from the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) covers up to ~907 tonnes of stockpile material.
Thats the same material VKA sampled and returned average grades of 0.4% tungsten.
(For context, $2.1BN tungsten producer EQ Resources mined grades of just 0.11-0.16% last quarter. (source))
VKA is now hunting for toll treatment facilities inside the USA to process the sample - clearly going hard on the rapid restart opportunity it has flagged before.
A sample this size is considerably more than the lab scale work done so far, so it should give a much better indication of a real world processing scenario.
(source)
The end goal is concentrate samples that Ammonium Paratungstate (APT) refineries in the USA can assess for offtake - APT is the intermediate that benchmark tungsten prices are quoted on.
(source)
Next, VKA will lock in a toll treater, plan the collection and transport of the bulk sample, produce the concentrate for the APT refineries, while continuing its ongoing metwork programs.
We covered VKA's most recent processing results here: VKA upgrades tungsten grades with X-ray ore sorting in the USA
What else is VKA up to?
VKA is currently drilling at the project, the first in more than 40 years which got underway within the past couple of weeks.
Just yesterday VKA reported scheelite (which is ~80.5% tungsten) and it glows under UV light, so you can get an indication of the drilling right out of the ground:
(source)
The predominantly red looking garnet on the left actually contains scheelite amongst it under the UV light.
And VKA is seeing these visuals over good widths - the best a 12m continuous interval of visible scheelite from 40m downhole:
(source)
VKA also included a 20m section of drill chips samples under normal lighting and also the UV lamp:
(source)
Visual estimates are no substitute for assays though, the first samples are now headed to the lab, with results expected in 4-6 weeks.
Here is the drilling plan:
(source)
You can see our Deep Dive leading into the drilling here: VKA to start drilling for tungsten in the US any day now...?
What’s next for VKA?
🔄 VKA’s first drill programme at US tungsten project
Here are the milestones we are tracking for the drill programme:
- ✅ Earthworks
- ✅ Drill rig mobilisation to site
- ✅ Drilling starts - visduals hae been reported (source)
- 🔄 Assay results (should start to land in September/October) (source)
🔄 VKA’s rapid restart plan
We also want to see VKA progress its rapid mine restart strategy.
Here are the milestones we are tracking on that front:
- ✅ Assay results from stockpiles + tailings dam
- ✅ Processing study results
- 🔄 Metwork optimisation (Ore sorting + flotation testwork). Continuing to optimise processing choices
- 🔲 Updates on the Bulk ore collection, transport, processing and results
🔄 US engagement
This is more of a corporate milestone we want to see VKA hit.
It’s hard to predict when any of these might happen, but we are hoping VKA can attract some sort of US government funding to help finance its project AND/OR attract strategic interest from inside the US.
