ASX-listed gold explorer Viking Mines (ASX:VKA) reports it has identified an 8km-long vanadium trend during due diligence at the Canegrass Battery Minerals Project in Western Australia.
The company says this trend was identified during a 5-day site visit to the project as part of its 30-day due diligence, which in turn is a condition precedent to a farm-in agreement with Flinders Mines’ (ASX:FMS) wholly owned subsidiary Flinders Canegrass.
Viking further states the site visit was aiming to identify the continuation of the Vanadiferous Titanomagnetite (VTM) horizon, which hosts a vanadium (V2O5) resource of 79 million tonnes @ 0.64% V2O5.
The VTM trend has been shown to contain ‘high-grade’ V2O5 up to 1.7%, which the company states has given it confidence that only a small portion of the horizon has been explored and that ‘substantial’ upside remains to grow the resource.
Viking reports it has started a number of activities to advance the project during the first stage of the agreement. These activities include completing a preliminary geological model, identifying exploration targets for drilling, completing a scope of works for a metallurgical program, as well as finalising and confirming a heritage survey for priority areas undergoing drill planning.
A review and submission of the Program of Work (PoW) applications will take place in late Q1 or early Q2 2023.
Commenting on the completion of due diligence, Viking Mines Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director Julian Woodcock says the project continues to exceed his expectations.
“We will now commence with stage one of the farm-in arrangement and work towards earning an equity interest.
“We will now commence with stage one of the farm-in arrangement and work towards earning an equity interest”
My recent field visit to the Canegrass Battery Minerals Project proved to be highly successful, with outcropping VTM mineralisation being identified extensively throughout the project area and most importantly outside of the estimated resource limits.
I am looking forward to working with our consultants, Model Earth, to utilise the data collected and produce a robust interpretation of the geology at the project.
With this information we will be able to develop an updated exploration target and exploration strategy with the objective of significantly growing the resource base at the project, specifically targeting the high-grade horizons over 1% V2O5 intersected in the historical drilling and rock chip sampling outside of the existing resource base.”
Viking reports the stage one earn-in exploration program will comprise comprehensive work programs throughout the first stage of the farm-in agreement to ensure that there is ‘sufficient’ information available to make a well-informed decision on whether to proceed to the second stage of the farm-in agreement.
This farm in agreement between Viking and Flinders will see the company potentially earn a 99% interest in the project over a 4.5-year period. Stage one of the agreement is expected to take 18 months with Viking committing to spend $1 million on exploration activities to earn a 25% interest in the project.
The Canegrass project covers an area of about 95km-square in the Murchison region of Western Australia, located 620km northeast of Perth.
Viking Mines is an ASX-listed gold exploration company focused on the First Hit Project located 150km northwest of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. The company states it is also working towards decarbonisation through vanadium, recognising the significance of Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFBs) as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries in large energy storage applications.
Images: Viking Mines Ltd
