VKA lays out five-part plan for US tungsten project restart

Our US tungsten Investment Viking Mines (ASX: VKA | OTC: VKALF) just released a formal update on a fast to market strategy at its Linka tungsten project in Nevada, USA.

VKA's project has previously produced tungsten in the 1940s and 50s, with a 360 tonne per day mill running on site between 1955 and 1956.

Production stopped in 1956 when the US government suspended its tungsten buying program, not because the tungsten ran out.

VKA wants to restart the project using a simple, gravity-led processing plant, and today it laid out the five parallel workstreams aimed at getting it there:

1. Resource evaluation - exploration drilling is ongoing, with 45 of the permitted 63 holes now completed (this is the first drilling here in more than four decades).

Assays have been received for five holes so far, the best being 14m at 0.56% tungsten, plus 18m at 0.42% and 13m at 0.46% from below the old workings.

The drill program should finish early this month, with the assays expected in batches through to December.

(source)

The drilling program underway is targeting three areas to confirm, test for extensions and also some exploration much further away:

(source)(source)

1. Metallurgy - testwork has previously produced a 56.9% tungsten concentrate at 76% recovery using a conventional gravity and flotation flowsheet, and X-ray ore sorting lifted feed grades by up to 4.1 times.

VKA included this flowsheet which is actually on the simpler side as there is only a tungsten concentrate being aimed at to produce:

(source)

1. Processing - two routes are being looked into further here, a modular ~300,000 tonne per year plant (with an estimated 15 month build time) or to toll treat via a third party facility.

Nevada processing capacity is also being rebuilt, with a US Department of War backed restart of the Springer mine and mill around 190 miles from Linka.

VKA mentioned today that this processing plant is due back in late 2027, so only ~12 months away.

We covered that news in a Deep Dive here: US Department of War puts US$450M into a Nevada tungsten restart. VKA is planning one in the same state.

1. Permitting - baseline environmental and cultural studies are now well advanced, and VKA is targeting a mining permit application in late 2027.

VKA mentioned again today that it had opened discussions with federal agencies on potential FAST-41 project status (the US fast track permitting program for projects with national significance).

1. Growth - the current pit covers just ~150m of an 820m mineralised trend, plus the old Conquest and Hillside mines at the site are yet to be drilled.

Here there are surface stockpiles averaging 0.4 to 0.5% tungsten, so this could be an early source of production for VKA as this mineralisation is already out of the ground.

Plus, when VKA announced the staged option to acquire this project in December last year, it also came with five others in the state, so there is more exploration potential there too:

(source)

We covered VKA's recent drill results in our deep dive here: VKA: Announces Thick Tungsten Drill Hits in Nevada, USA

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:

1. ✅ Drill rig mobilisation to site
2. ✅ Drilling starts - (visuals in August)
3. 🔄 Assay results (first assay received, 45 holes completed, assays expected throughout December) (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:

1. ✅ Assay results from stockpiles + tailings dam
2. ✅ Processing study results
3. 🔄 Metwork optimisation (Ore sorting + flotation testwork).

🔄 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.

Today VKA again mentioned FAST-41 talks and also mentioned the investments that the US government is making to recreate a domestic tungsten supply chain:

(source)