VKA increases high value tungsten recoveries to 76% from US project

Published 10-JUN-2026 13:53 P.M.

6 min read

Shares Held: 78,666,667

Options Held: 0

Our US tungsten Investment Viking Mines (ASX: VKA | OTC: VKALF) just improved the recovery rates for its project in Nevada, USA.

VKA's project historically produced a combined ~123,000t at 0.54% tungsten grades from open pits back in the 1950’s.

VKA acquired the project back in December and has since shown that material from the project can be processed into final saleable concentrates - which is a big part of VKA’s “fast-to-market” strategy.

VKA is working toward putting together a development case for the project - bringing it back into production using a small modular plant while US tungsten prices trade near all time highs…

Today, VKA confirmed that with a relatively simple, well understood processing flowsheet - VKA’s material can be processed into a high grade 56.9% tungsten concentrate with 76% recoveries.

For peer context, ~$1.1BN EQ Resources' Mt Carbine mine in QLD hit ~85% recoveries at ~50% concentrate grade in 2023 (those were close to peak numbers for that project).

Here are the latest numbers from that project relative to VKA’s numbers today:

(source - Note: EQR concentrate % not listed, we assume it would be near the 50% saleable product standard)(source)

So VKA in 6 months has already defined a processing circuit that can deliver a high grade product with recoveries that are comparable to actual operating mines…

Importantly, today’s results are an improvement on VKA’s last round of testwork too - which had ~59.8% recovery rates.

(source)

We think results like today’s will flow nicely into VKA’s development strategy - and especially help with the CAPEX/OPEX estimates VKA is preparing for a modular processing plant that is currently being designed for its project.

VKA expects to have that processing concept study completed in June:

(source)

Where today's improvement came from

The gain was all in the flotation stage of the flowsheet.

VKA runs a rougher/cleaner flotation circuit on the tails (waste stream) from its gravity circuit, to catch the tungsten that gravity separation (Wilfley and Mozley Tables) misses.

Two weeks ago that flotation stage part of the process was recovering 17.1% of the tungsten.

Today's optimisation work has doubled flotation recovery to 33.89%, at a 48.2% tungsten concentrate grade.

Add that to the gravity concentrate (still grading 66.6% tungsten on its own, at 42.16% recovery) and the combined product comes out at 56.9% tungsten at 76.0% total recovery.

Here is the flowsheet that produced it:

(source)

Worth being upfront about the trade-off in today's numbers - the blended concentrate grade came down from 62.5% to 56.9% as recovery went up.

That is the classic grade-recovery trade-off in mineral processing, and the combined product still sits comfortably above the >50% tungsten saleable threshold for scheelite concentrate.

In other words, VKA is now catching a lot more of the tungsten in the rock, while still producing a product a customer would actually buy.

And VKA isn't stopping here - the next round of flotation reagent optimisation is targeting >80% recovery while holding that >50% grade.

Here is a look at the scheelite separating from waste material on the Wilfley table during testwork:

(source)

In our last metwork note we said that if VKA hit its >70% recovery target, its flowsheet performance would start to look directly comparable to producing tungsten operations:

That has now happened, see our prior update on this: VKA produces 62.5% tungsten concentrates

The tungsten price keeps moving up

Tungsten pricing has kept grinding higher while VKA works through metwork.

CIF Rotterdam 88.5% APT is at US$3,100/mtu (US$305,000/t) - up from ~US$800/mtu when VKA acquired the Nevada project in December 2025.

That is a move of ~3.9x in around six months.

(source)(source)(source)

The reason the price keeps climbing is the same reason we made VKA part of our US critical minerals exposure:

Tungsten is on the US Critical Minerals List with zero domestic US production.
China alone controls ~84% of global supply.
US Department of Defense restrictions on Chinese-origin tungsten tighten from the end of 2026 into 2027.

And it's not just policy from within China itself, China is actively coming onto US shores to buy up whatever tungsten it can find, yes that is particularly from scrap metal.

Last week we wrote about a Financial Times investigation into Chinese scrap traders quietly combing US scrap yards for tungsten - outbidding local buyers and shipping worn-out drill bits back to China:

Check out that here: VKA - China quietly buys America's tungsten scrap

A premium grade, saleable scheelite concentrate, produced on US soil at 76% recovery via a simple low-CAPEX flowsheet, is exactly the kind of product that supply squeeze could do with.

And this all lands just weeks before VKA's maiden drill program kicks off - drilling is targeted to start this month.

It will be a 63-hole program and the first drilling at Linka since the 1970s.

The holes are spread across

the historical workings,
an ~800m southwest extension that has never been drilled, and
regional targets along the geophysical anomaly.

(source)

This is the program that will test what is actually underneath the surface, and it is what could turn the historical production story into a modern resource.

We think the drill program and the results from drilling could drop at the right time - just as the macro environment for domestic tungsten projects in the US heats up.

What we want to see next from VKA:

Here are the key milestones we want to see VKA hit over the coming months:

🔄 Processing concept study for modular plant

VKA is working on a processing plant design including CAPEX/OPEX estimates.

VKA has also mentioned prior that a consultant (TOMRA) had been engaged in Germany to test ore sorting on samples from VKA’s project (this could improve recoveries inside whatever processing circuit VKA is putting together).

Here are the milestones we are tracking for this:

🔄 Cleaner flotation testwork - Results today (optimisation ongoing)
🔄 Ore sorting testwork - ~40kg sample being tested - underway now
🔄 Modular "Rapid-Start" gravity circuit design - to feed into development studies

🔲 Maiden drilling program (late June quarter).

VKA received approvals 3 weeks ago for its 63-hole drill program. (source)

Since then VKA has locked in the drilling contractors and the schedule, which remains on track to mobilise to site in June with drilling in the same month, so we should see drill pad preparation works underway soon.