Viking Mines Limited (ASX: VKA, OTCID: VKALF) (“Viking” or “the Company”) is pleased to report results from reconnaissance sampling completed at the Long and Terrell Projects, two of the Company’s six tungsten projects located in Nevada, USA (Figure 2). The programme has confirmed high-grade tungsten mineralisation in grab and channel samples at these historic mine sites (up to 2.7% at Long and 2.4% at Terrell) and demonstrates the broader endowment potential of Viking’s Nevada tungsten portfolio beyond the flagship Linka Tungsten Project.
- Reconnaissance sampling at the Long and Terrell Projects, two of Viking’s six tungsten projects in Nevada, USA, has confirmed high-grade tungsten mineralisation at both historic mine sites.
- Terrell Prospect:
- Exceptional surface grades including a float sample of contact skarn at 2.4% WO₃ and granite-hosted veins of up to 1.7% WO₃.
- Historical stockpile material grading between 0.4% and 0.5% WO₃.
- Long Prospect:
- Continuous channel sampling across the historic underground and surface workings returned high-grade intercepts of 1.80m @ 1.8% WO₃ (inc. 0.45m at 2.7%WO3) and 1.35m @ 0.6% WO₃.
- Reconnaissance grab samples at Long confirmed mineralisation east of the mine along the intrusive contact, returning grades of up to 0.3% WO₃.
- Both prospects sit within intrusion-related skarn settings, with significant potential for unmined high-grade skarn bodies beneath the existing workings and along buried granite margins.
- Results identify the potential for a tungsten endowment across Viking’s Nevada portfolio beyond the flagship Linka Tungsten Project, providing potential future sources of mineralised feed for a broader restart of tungsten production in Nevada.
- Linka is the Company’s primary focus, with the recently approved 900 tonne bulk sample¹ to be processed via toll treatment in the USA to produce concentrate samples for offtake assessment with Ammonium Paratungstate (APT) refineries – a potential low CAPEX, rapid-restart processing model capable of being extended across the broader Nevada portfolio.
Figure 1; Photo of float sample from Terrell Project returning 2.4%WO3. Note extremely large and coarse scheelite crystals evident under shortwave UV light.
Viking Mines Managing Director & CEO Julian Woodcock said:
“The strength of these early reconnaissance sampling results at both Long and Terrell speaks to the quality of the ground we have secured in Nevada. Both projects have returned high-grade tungsten from historic workings that have seen no modern exploration activity. “Our primary focus remains on Linka as our most advanced asset, however the opportunity for additional mineralisation at our other Projects is not to be overlooked. With this initial field sampling campaign designed to assess the tungsten grade and mineralisation style at Terell and Long, we have now confirmed that there are further growth options to develop our project pipeline. This provides us with the opportunity to contribute additional sources of tungsten mineralisation in parallel with Linka. “We are consolidating the recently acquired data and planning additional fieldwork with the goal to assess the overall opportunity and secure permitting for future drilling at these projects.”
Figure 2; Map showing the locations of Vikings Nevada Tungsten Projects with Long and Terrell highlighted.