en.Wedoany.com Reported - Viking Mines (ASX:VKA) has mobilized a reverse circulation drill rig, preparing to commence the first drilling program at the Linka Tungsten Project in Nevada, USA.
The company stated that the drill rig is being transported to the project site, with the field team and civil contractors preparing the drill pad ahead of its arrival. Viking expects drilling to begin upon the rig's arrival, with the first hole scheduled for the week of July 27, subject to weather and site conditions.
This drilling, the first at the Linka project in over 40 years, will test scheelite-bearing skarn mineralization along the intrusive rock-limestone contact zone of the historic mining area. Managing Director and CEO Julian Woodcock noted that this mobilization is the result of extensive planning and preparatory work. Woodcock stated that the drilling permit was just approved, coinciding with tungsten prices strengthening to multi-year highs, with European APT (ammonium paratungstate) trading at USD 3,265 per metric ton unit (USD 4,660), and tungsten gaining attention as a critical mineral in Western defense and industrial supply chains. Advancing a US tungsten project at this cycle point is exactly what Viking had hoped for.
The drilling will test the shallow, near-mine high-grade mineralization at Linka and its down-dip extension, as well as target the inferred southwest extension under shallow overburden and regional targets along the 7-kilometer geophysically mapped intrusive contact. Approximately 89% of the contact zone remains under shallow cover and untested.
Prior to this drilling program, metallurgical testing using conventional gravity and flotation methods yielded a 56.9% tungsten trioxide (WO₃) concentrate with a recovery rate of 76%.
The Linka project includes three historically producing tungsten mines—Linka, Conquest, and Hillside. These mines, through a 360-tonne-per-day processing plant, produced approximately 65,000 tonnes of ore at a grade of 0.5% WO₃ until 1956. The project site contains a 46-meter-deep shaft, historic pits and underground workings, an on-site run-of-mine stockpile, and a historic tailings dam. Paved roads are within 7 kilometers, and the power grid is within 4 kilometers.
Surface sampling returned grades of up to 14.7% WO₃, while digitized results from 72 historic drill holes extend the known mineralization trend to 1.6 kilometers. Viking Mines stated that these results will support its strategy to advance the Linka project toward an initial mineral resource estimate.
