Viking Mines Limited (ASX: VKA), an Australian mineral exploration company focused on the exploration and development of future-facing mineral projects, has announced a significant step forward in metallurgical testwork for its Linka Tungsten Project in Nevada, USA. The company reported substantially improved tungsten recovery and concentrate grade, with the latest results from combined gravity and cleaner flotation circuit testwork achieving a 76.0% tungsten trioxide (WO3) recovery at a premium 56.9% WO3 concentrate grade from a 1.2% WO3 feed grade. This outcome comfortably exceeds the target of greater than 70% recovery and greater than 50% WO3 grade set by the company in late May.
This represents a meaningful 1.27x step-change improvement in recovery from the 59.8% previously reported just two weeks prior. The metallurgical programme continues to demonstrate advancements, with both gravity and flotation circuits showing significant progress. The combined concentrate was achieved through gravity concentrate grading 66.6% WO3 at 42.16% recovery and a flotation concentrate grading 48.2% WO3 at 33.89% recovery. Flotation testwork is ongoing to further optimise conditions and aims to determine if a greater than 80% recovery can be attained while maintaining the high concentrate grade.
The improved metallurgical performance significantly de-risks the processing flowsheet, reinforcing a simple, low-CAPEX, gravity-led approach utilising proven technologies. These results are being directly integrated into a conceptual processing study with Mineral Technologies, which will provide initial capital and operating cost estimates. With Western tungsten prices remaining near all-time highs at US$3,100/mtu Ammonium Paratungstate (APT), and Viking’s maiden drilling programme at Linka targeted to commence in the late June 2026 quarter, the company is positioning the project as a strategic asset within the US supply chain.
