VKA produces tungsten concentrates from US project

Published 31-MAR-2026 13:32 P.M.

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Our US tungsten Investment Viking Mines (ASX: VKA) just hit a major met testwork milestone at its Linka project in Nevada.

VKA upgraded its tungsten ore grades by ~53X.

Taking feedstock with average grades of ~1.2% tungsten and producing a 63.6% tungsten concentrate.

Most importantly, all of that was done using simple gravity separation - a simple process that uses no expensive chemical reagents or equipment.

(and usually means a lower capital cost, simpler plant when thinking about development scenarios)

Here is how it looks on a small scale:

(source)

When we first Invested in VKA, one of the key reasons was the potential for a "fast to market" tungsten production strategy.

Today's results are a big step toward that - VKA has now shown it can produce a tungsten product that sits “within the top tier of global scheelite products” without complex chemical processing.

Exactly what we want to see at this stage of works for VKA…

We also noticed that VKA’s initial recovery rates (from gravity alone) came in at ~42.4% which isn’t remarkable, BUT when combined with flotation recovery hit ~83.8% which is getting to a level that most miners would be very happy with.

For context - $1.6BN EQ Resources’ Mount Carbine asset in 2023 had recovery rates of ~85% producing a tungsten concentrate grading ~50%:

(source)

Here are VKA’s results from today, starting form 1.2% graded ore (~6x more than EQR):

(source)

Overall, we think VKA is slowly adding weight behind its “fast to market” strategy.

Showing first, that its ore is suitable for low cost modular processing - while in the background building up the exploration upside story…

(We covered the latest on the exploration side where geophysics is showing the tungsten system could be ~9x bigger than expected here)

VKA is doing all of this while tungsten hits all-time highs

Tungsten prices continue to run, now testing US$2,800/mtu, up from US$2,650/mtu a few weeks ago.

This is now 2.5x higher than the ~US$800/mtu when VKA first acquired the project in Nevada during mid December:

(source) (source)

The US Department of Defense has identified Tungsten as a "top priority" for national security.

It’s essential for armor-piercing munitions, jet engines, and high-tech manufacturing.

And right now the US has zero domestic tungsten production (at a time where there are conflicts ongoing in the Middle East and in Ukraine).

The Pentagon is actively looking for "NATO-grade" tungsten supply and has flagged US$100M to US$500M in project funding for domestic critical minerals.

VKA's project being inside US borders could make it interesting as a potential short-term solution for what the US government is looking for.

Seeing articles like the following makes us thing tungsten prices are probably going to go up and stay up in the short-medium term:

(one insane quote from that article really stands out - “coalition forces expending 11,294 munitions in the first 16 days of the conflict, at a cost of approximately $26 billion.”)

(source)

What we want to see next from VKA

🔄 Processing concept study with Mineral Technologies

Mineral Technologies (a subsidiary of the ~$5BN Downer Group) is working on flowsheet design and CAPEX/OPEX estimates.

Today's results feed directly into that study - the gravity-led flowsheet is looking increasingly viable.

Here are the milestones we are tracking for this:

🔄 Cleaner flotation testwork - underway now to produce saleable grade from flotation circuit
🔄 Ore sorting testwork - ~40kg sample being tested
🔲 Modular "Rapid-Start" gravity circuit design - to feed into development studies