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Viking Mines delivers ‘exceptional’ results as US tungsten hunt builds up steam

• Viking Mines recently acquired a portfolio of production-proven tungsten assets in Nevada
• Due diligence field sampling has returned widespread high-grade mineralisation and validated historical production records across several projects
• The company is conducting target definition work as it looks to define precise locations for validation and expansion drilling

Special Report: Viking Mines is off to a flying start at its recently acquired portfolio of production-proven tungsten assets in Nevada, with a sampling program delivering widespread high-grade mineralisation and validating historical records at the Linka, Long and Alpine projects.

The due diligence field campaign returned a peak assay of 14.7% WO3 from an historical pit at Linka, known as Conquest. Another sample returned 5.2% WO3.

In addition, channel sampling across a separate mineralised zone unearthed significant tungsten intervals adjacent to a recently reported metallurgical sample grading 1.0% WO3.

Results included 2m at 0.5% WO3 and 2.5m at 0.5%.

Elsewhere at Linka, Viking Mines’ (ASX:VKA) channel sampling at the historical Hillside shaft yielded 4.4m at 0.6% WO3.

And at the Linka Pit Ramp, a 15m channel sample identified a steep and unmined subvertical zone that could represent a significant future mining opportunity. It returned 5m at 0.7% WO3.

Importantly, management believes that the new channel results contain grades that could be representative of those achieved during historical mining.

“The consistent grades we are seeing across Linka, Hillside, and Conquest match our historical expectations,” noted Viking Mines managing director and CEO Julian Woodcock.

The Linka potential

In mid-December, Viking entered an agreement to acquire six tungsten projects in Nevada.

These include the most advanced Linka project, as well as Alpine, Long, Terrell, Ragged and Victory.

All up, Linka hosts three historical mines with recorded production of 65,000t of ore at an average grade of 0.49% WO3.

Mining occurred along 820m of strike at the Linka, Hillside and Conquest mines between 1941 and 1956.

Management noted that the mineralisation remained open in two directions, with potential extensions beneath shallow cover also remaining untested.

Viking recently expanded its Linka landholding after staking new ground that includes a magnetic anomaly interpreted to be associated with the source intrusion for the mineralised system.

According to the company, the contacts between the intrusion and the surrounding sedimentary sequence represent the primary target for tungsten mineralisation.

Subsequently, Viking engaged geophysical contractors Rock Bottom Geosciences for a dual-method gravity and ground magnetic survey starting this month.

These will help pinpoint drill targets beneath cover and beyond the existing 820m strike length at Linka.

The new trenching results will also assist the company in drill planning.

“These results, when combined with our developing 3D data models and planned geophysical surveys, will give us a high level of confidence as we finalise our drill targets for the upcoming Nevada drilling campaign,” explained Woodcock.

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Source: Stockhead