VKA - X-ray ore sorting separates tungsten product from waste

Our US tungsten Investment Viking Mines (ASX: VKA | OTC: VKALF) just received its first batch of ore sorting results from the Linka Tungsten Project in Nevada, USA.

This one is super technical - but for tungsten projects it could be a pretty material outcome depending on the final assay results for the testwork (which is expected in the 2nd half of July).

At a very high level VKA applied modern processing to the material from its project, using X-rays to sort the material into three different categories and then eventually letting go of the “waste material”.

The purpose being to pre-concentrate its material and reject the waste rock BEFORE being put into its processing plant.

And ultimately, lower waste = more tungsten produced at lower costs…

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Depending on the assay results from those three sorted streams we think the impacts on VKA’s processing flowsheet could be material.

We are Invested in VKA to see it bring its project back into production.

VKA's Linka project produced tungsten back in the 1950s and was shut in 1956 when the US government ended its tungsten buying program, not because the geology ran out.

Since acquiring the project in December 2025, VKA has run an unconventional "back to front", fast to market strategy.

So they are doing the processing and study work that miners usually leave until after drilling, before drilling, to move quickly while tungsten sits at all time highs and the US races to secure domestic critical minerals supply.

Today's results are on that processing side…

More on today’s announcement

X-ray Transmission (XRT) ore sorting testwork run by specialist TOMRA at its test centre in Germany successfully separated mineralised feed into distinct product and waste streams across two ~19.4kg samples from Linka.

The Conquest Pit sample directed 67.8% of its mass into product streams, and the Linka Stockpile sample 56.1% - with the rest separated out as waste.

Here is a look at the sorted material, a high amount of visible scheelite was confirmed in the high-grade fraction under ultraviolet light (it shines under UV light).

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And here is a look at the early results from the samples:

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The testwork used TOMRA's newly released CONTAIN deep-learning software across a three-stage cascade sorter to pick out the tungsten-bearing particles.

Product assays are still pending (expected in the second half of July 2026), and will put actual grade and recovery numbers on each stream, so today is an encouraging early look.

We will need to see the assay results to work out how effective the work has been.

Meanwhile, the drill rig is coming

All of this processing work is running in parallel with VKA's maiden 63-hole drill program at Linka, set to be the first sub-surface drilling on the project in over 40 years.

The rig is due on site this month and assays expected over the September quarter.

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.

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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 recently (optimisation ongoing)
• 🔄 Ore sorting testwork - ~40kg sample being tested - Early results here today
• 🔄 Modular "Rapid-Start" gravity circuit design - to feed into development studies

🔲 Maiden drilling program (late June quarter).

VKA received approvals ~4 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.

🔄 Permitting and 3D geological model

VKA is also working on baseline environmental permitting AND a 3D geological model for the project.

Here is a gantt chart VKA recently put out that details everything being worked on more broadly:

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