en.Wedoany.com Reported - Viking Mines Ltd (ASX: VKA) has achieved metallurgical test progress at its Linka tungsten project in Nevada, USA, attaining a tungsten recovery rate of 76.0% and producing a concentrate grade of 56.9% WO₃ through a combined gravity and flotation process. This result exceeds the company's previously set target of over 70% recovery at a concentrate grade above 50% WO₃, representing a 1.27-fold improvement from the 59.8% recovery reported less than two weeks ago.
Viking Mines Managing Director and CEO Julian Woodcock stated that the company has achieved its goal of producing high-quality tungsten concentrate with significantly improved recovery, providing a potential low-capital development pathway for the project. Metallurgical test work continues to deliver improvements at the Linka project, with the combined gravity and cleaner flotation test circuit now producing a 56.9% WO₃ grade concentrate at a 76.0% recovery rate. The company has deliberately maintained process simplicity, utilizing proven gravity and flotation technologies. These results will be directly input into a conceptual processing study being conducted in collaboration with Mineral Technologies, which will provide initial capital and operating cost estimates.
The latest phase of test work focused on optimizing the flotation stage using gravity tailings from a 10-kilogram bulk sample. The combined gravity and flotation circuit produced a 56.9% WO₃ concentrate from a feed grade of 1.2% WO₃, with a recovery rate of 76.0%. This result was achieved by combining a gravity concentrate grading 66.6% WO₃ at 42.16% recovery with a flotation concentrate grading 48.2% WO₃ at 33.89% recovery. Compared to previous test work, rougher and cleaner flotation recovery more than doubled from 17.1% to 33.89%. The company will continue testing different flotation conditions, aiming to increase recovery to over 80% while maintaining concentrate grade above 50% WO₃.
The metallurgical program is also helping to refine the conceptual processing study being carried out by Mineral Technologies. Viking stated that this work supports a "fast-track" development model centered on physical separation methods rather than more complex chemical processing. Recent optimization of the gravity circuit has increased the standalone gravity concentrate grade to 66.6% WO₃, enhancing the potential for a simplified modular processing plant. The company believes this design could reduce capital requirements and shorten permitting and construction timelines compared to traditional tungsten processing operations.
The Linka project, located in Nevada, is part of Viking's growing US tungsten portfolio. The company believes that, against a backdrop of high market prices, the project could benefit from increasing efforts to secure domestic and allied tungsten supply chains. Viking noted that the benchmark tungsten pricing product, ammonium paratungstate (APT), was trading at approximately USD 3,100 per metric ton unit in early June 2026. High-grade concentrates, such as those targeted by the Linka project, typically command higher payment rates from downstream processors.
With key gravity and flotation operating parameters now established, Viking will move into a phase of optimization and variability testing on additional bulk samples collected from the project area. Planned work includes further flotation reagent optimization, ore sorting studies, comminution testing, and ongoing gravity separation trials. The company is also finalizing its conceptual processing study and completing a 3D geological model based on recently digitized historical data. Drilling permits are now approved, and Viking's inaugural drilling program at Linka is scheduled to commence in the June 2026 quarter.
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