Viking Mines (ASX:VKA) has confirmed ‘high-grade’ vanadium zone hosted in vanadiferous titanomagnetite (VTM) within the Fold Nose deposit in Western Australia from recent assay results.
Drilling at the Fold Nose Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) target area has returned thick ‘high-grade’ zones of vanadium mineralisation both within and external to the current MRE limits.
The $9.22 million market capitalisation company reports ‘significant’ intercepts include drillhole VCRC0027 with 42m @ 0.74% vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) from 79m, including 17m @ 0.80% V2O5 from 83m and 8m @ 0.99% V2O5 from 108m.
Commenting on the drill results, Viking Mines Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director Julian Woodcock says: “The drilling results for the Fold Nose deposit confirms thick high-grade zones of vanadium within the deposit and importantly confirm extensions to the already modelled mineralisation.
The consistent thick high-grade results seen within the current limits of the MRE support the high-grade nature of the mineralisation and will support the MRE update planned for the December quarter.
Importantly, the drilling has demonstrated that mineralisation continues to the north and west of the current model limits, providing opportunity to extend the MRE into these previously un-modelled areas.”
Viking reports assays appear to correlate with historical drilling, which has occurred since the last MRE update and has not yet been included into the mineral resource.
The company says this presents an opportunity to improve the size and quality of the MRE, once an update is completed later this year, including the results previously reported for the Kinks and Kinks South areas.
Drilling comprised of 8 target areas focused on extending and growing the ‘substantial’ inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 79 million tonnes (Mt) @ 0.64% vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) estimated at the Fold Nose and Kinks deposits.
Results are still to be reported for 4 of the 45 holes drilled as part of the 7,500m program completed by Viking.
The company is continuing to make ‘rapid’ advancements at the Canegrass Battery Minerals Project. Viking plans to complete a QAQC (quality assurance/quality control) evaluation and conduct initial interpretation and assessment of assay results for the remaining 4 holes to be reported.
In addition, Viking plans to engage an external contractor to undertake geological modelling and MRE using the results from the recent drilling, alongside incorporating estimates of nickel, copper, and cobalt into the MRE to assess the potential of these battery minerals at the project.
The Canegrass Project is located in the Murchison region of Western Australia. The project benefits from 95km-square of exploration tenements with very limited follow up exploration targeting the growth potential of vanadium pentoxide.
Viking Mines is an ASX-listed explorer, with ‘high-grade’ gold and vanadium projects in Western Australia. As of 30 June 2023, the company had $4.13 million cash at hand, according to its latest quarterly report.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Viking Mines
