Viking Mines (ASX:VKA) has started stage-three metallurgical testwork aimed at producing a larger sample to determine the viability of producing a sulphide concentrate at its Canegrass Battery Minerals Project.
During the June quarter Viking produced vanadium pentoxide from a sample taken from the Fold Nose deposit.
Managing Director Julian Woodcock says achieving vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) flake production for the first time at the Canegrass Project is a critical milestone and opens up the substantial opportunity to release value from the significant resource.
“Understanding the metallurgy is essential for this project and this is the reason why the company has been focused on ensuring we can produce V2O5 flake from the samples we have collected,” he says.
Prior to producing the V2O5 flake testwork showed Viking could produce a magnetic concentrate grading 1.43% V2O5, 59% iron and 11.7% titanium dioxide (TiO2).
The testwork also showed metal recoveries of 93% V2O5, 83.7% iron and 79.5% TiO2, with mass recovery achieved of 52.8%.
Sighter roasting testwork delivered a peak recovery of 93.2% V2O5 from concentrate into solution and overall peak recoveries of 86.6% V2O5 were achieved from the ore feed into solution.
Stage-three testwork is focusing on producing a larger 40kg sample of magnetic concentrate and associated non-magnetic tail for further testwork.
The magnetic concentrate is being assessed to determine the practicality of separating the iron and titanium.
The non-magnetic tail, meanwhile, will be put through a sulphide flotation process to determine if a copper, nickel, cobalt sulphide concentrate can be produced.
“Coupled with the success in the December and March quarters that saw the delivery of a substantial increase in the global mineral resource estimate and a successful Pit Optimisation Study, this advancement demonstrates the potential of this project,” Woodcock notes.
“I am looking forward to the results of the ongoing stage-three metallurgical testwork, which are expected in the September quarter.”
Work during the September quarter will also include infill drilling at the Fold Nose deposit to shift more of the inferred resources into the higher confidence indicated category, as well as completion of the stage-two farm-in to take Viking’s ownership in the Canegrass Project in Western Australia to 49%.
Viking, which has a market capitalisation of $9.2 million, had just under $4 million in cash at 30 June 2024.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Viking Mines
