Viking Mines (ASX:VKA) has moved forward with stage two metallurgical testwork at its Canegrass Battery Minerals Project in Western Australia while it undertakes a Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) upgrade.
The $12.3 million market capitalisation company has employed ALS Metallurgy to undertake the stage two fieldwork on 29 samples obtained from a recent 7,500m drilling program at the project.
Samples were obtained from the main intercept of drillhole VCRC0026, which was completed as part of the recent 7,500m drilling program and returned 29m @ 0.8% vanadium oxide, 36.6 iron, and 8.8% titanium dioxide from 138m.
Viking confirms stage two testwork has been designed to assess the metallurgical properties on areas assessed by the recent drilling, with a two-stage process planned.
The company notes this work represents ‘a critical next step’ as it continues to focus on the optimisation of processes to produce a bulk concentrate that can be refined to produce a vanadium pentoxide flake.
The recent 7,500m drilling program at Canegrass infilled and extended the main mineralised zones and assessed new target areas. The company notes mineralised zones were expanded and infill drilling confirmed the continuity of mineralisation, warranting the MRE update.
Viking Mines Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Julian Woodcock says through this metallurgical work the company will seek to continue its momentum and build on previously completed testwork to take the project forward.
The company’s Canegrass Project sits in the Murchison region about 620km northeast of Perth and can be accessed via sealed roads from the nearby township of Mt Magnet to within 22km of existing resources.
Viking Mines had $5.578 million cash and cash equivalents at hand as of 30 September 2023, according to its latest quarterly report.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Viking Mines
