Viking Mines Secures BLM Drilling Approval for Linka Tungsten Project

Viking Mines Clears Final Regulatory Hurdle — Linka Tungsten Drill Campaign Ready to Roll

Viking Mines Limited (ASX: VKA) has secured approval from the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for its maiden 63-hole drilling programme at the Linka Tungsten Project in Nevada — and the approval landed ahead of schedule. The Viking Mines Linka Tungsten Project drilling approval in Nevada removes the final federal regulatory requirement, and the company is now pivoting its full attention toward contractor selection and June quarter mobilisation.

This is a meaningful step forward. Permitting on federal land in the United States can be an unpredictable, time-consuming process. Receiving BLM sign-off early removes a significant source of execution risk and hands Viking a clear runway toward the first known sub-surface exploration at Linka in over 40 years.

Why This Moment Matters for Viking Investors

The BLM approval is not a routine administrative tick. It is the final gating item that stood between Viking and putting drill bits in the ground at a project with a documented production history and a set of compelling historical intercepts waiting to be re-tested with modern methods.

Key highlights from the announcement include:

• 63-hole, 48-pad maiden drilling programme now fully permitted (upon bond payment)
• BLM approval received ahead of Viking's internal timeline — a positive scheduling surprise
• Programme covers three distinct target areas across the Linka intrusive complex
• Maiden drill testing of the approximately 800m southwest extension, where surface samples have returned up to 0.6% WO₃
• Verification of historical high-grade intercepts including 8.5m @ 1.0% WO₃
• The project previously produced approximately 65,000 tonnes @ 0.5% WO₃, ceasing operations in 1956
• June quarter mobilisation on track for site preparation commencement

Managing Director and CEO Julian Woodcock said: "Receiving the BLM approval is yet another hurdle accomplished at Linka as we move towards the first known drilling at the Project for over 40 years. With our maiden campaign now fully permitted for drilling, the regulatory pathway is behind us, and the focus shifts entirely to finalising our drilling contractor and getting drilling underway."

The Approved Programme: Three Targets, One Coordinated Campaign

The 63-hole programme is not a speculative scatter-shot exercise. It is a structured, objective-driven campaign targeting three clearly defined opportunities within the Linka system. The holes are allocated according to specific exploration objectives:

Linka Main: Resource Definition Focus

Linka Main (36 holes) represents the resource-definition focus of the campaign. Historical intercepts earmarked for verification include drillhole DH-04 at 9.8m @ 0.5% WO₃, drillhole LR-11 at 7.9m @ 0.9% WO₃, and a channel sample returning 8.5m @ 1.0% WO₃.

Additional holes are planned to test down-dip continuity beneath the historical workings — a zone that has never been drilled with modern methods.

Linka SW Extension: Undrilled Upside

Linka SW Extension (16 holes) targets an entirely undrilled corridor. Surface sampling has already returned grades up to 0.6% WO₃ across the approximately 800m southwest extension. These 16 holes — spaced at 125–150m intervals across four sections — represent the first sub-surface interrogation of what could be a meaningful lateral expansion of the mineralised system.

Regional Reconnaissance: Defining New Zones

Regional Reconnaissance (11 holes) uses shallow vertical holes to test magnetic and gravity geophysical anomalies across the broader Linka intrusive complex. The objective is to seek out new contact positions prospective for additional mineralised zones — extending the potential scale of the overall system.

What's Next: The Path to Drilling

With the Viking Mines Linka Tungsten Project drilling approval in Nevada now secured, the company has outlined a clear near-term sequence of execution steps:

1. Contractor selection — Evaluations are in their final stages; contract award expected shortly
2. Site access and pad preparation — To commence in June, running in parallel with contractor mobilisation logistics
3. Drill rig mobilisation — Anticipated late in the June quarter, consistent with previously communicated timelines

The company has committed to updating the market as each of these milestones is reached, providing investors with a visible, near-term newsflow cadence.

Understanding WO₃ — A Primer for New Investors

What is WO₃?

WO₃ — tungsten trioxide — is the standard unit used to express tungsten grade in exploration results. When a drill intercept reads "8.5m @ 1.0% WO₃," it means the sampled interval averages 1.0% tungsten trioxide across 8.5 metres of core.

Why Does Grade Matter?

Tungsten grades reported at Linka — including historical intercepts above 0.9% WO₃ — sit at levels consistent with what made the deposit economically productive in its prior operating life. The historical production figure of approximately 65,000 tonnes @ 0.5% WO₃ provides a tangible reference point for the grade profile of the system.

Furthermore, grade is a primary driver of economic viability in hard-rock tungsten mining. Higher grades typically translate to lower processing costs per unit of metal recovered. For early-stage investors, strong historical grades now being re-tested with modern drilling are a key indicator of the potential for a maiden resource estimate to emerge from this campaign.

Glossary of Key Terms

The Strategic Backdrop: US Tungsten Supply and the Linka Opportunity

Tungsten is a critical industrial metal with no viable substitute in many high-performance applications — cutting tools, armour-piercing ammunition, aerospace components, and electronics. The United States currently has a structural domestic supply deficit, relying heavily on imported material.

The announcement references the December 2026 REEShore Act mandate, which prohibits Chinese-origin tungsten from entering US Department of Defense supply chains. Viking describes this as reinforcing the strategic context for advancing Linka — though it is worth noting that this is a regulatory framework applicable broadly to the sector rather than project-specific support directed at Viking or Linka.

What Viking does have, distinctly, is a production-proven asset in a US jurisdiction, with documented historical output, high-grade historical drill intercepts, and the Viking Mines Linka Tungsten Project drilling approval in Nevada fully secured. These project-specific fundamentals stand on their own merits regardless of broader policy settings.

Investment Thesis: What This Announcement Adds to the Story

The BLM approval announcement advances the Linka investment case in several concrete ways.

Execution risk reduced. Permitting on US federal land is a known variable that has derailed or delayed many exploration programmes. Viking has cleared this hurdle ahead of its own schedule — a positive signal about the team's regulatory execution capability.

Timeline visibility confirmed. The June quarter mobilisation target remains intact. Investors now have a near-term, confirmed catalyst to track: contractor award, pad preparation, and rig arrival — each of which will generate a market update.

Historical resource context. Linka is not a greenfield blank slate. A project that produced approximately 65,000 tonnes @ 0.5% WO₃ historically, and carries drill intercepts up to 1.0% WO₃, enters its maiden modern drilling campaign with a meaningful geological foundation.

Upside from the SW Extension. The 16-hole programme targeting the approximately 800m southwest extension represents exploration upside that the historical dataset does not account for. Surface grades of up to 0.6% WO₃ across this corridor suggest mineralisation may extend beyond the known historical footprint — a potential resource-expansion outcome that would be incremental to any historical resource verification.

Parallel workstreams underway. The CEO's comments confirm that metallurgical testwork and a processing concept study are advancing in parallel with the drilling campaign — suggesting Viking is managing Linka on multiple development tracks simultaneously rather than sequencing them end-to-end.

Why Investors Should Keep Watching Viking Mines

Viking's "fast to market" strategy is not just a tagline — it is visible in the pace of regulatory execution at Linka and the parallel advancement of technical workstreams. The near-term newsflow pathway is clear:

Viking Mines has positioned itself as an emerging player in the US domestic tungsten sector, with a fully permitted maiden drill campaign at a production-proven Nevada asset. With the regulatory pathway cleared ahead of schedule, contractor award imminent, and June quarter mobilisation confirmed, investors have a well-defined, near-term catalyst sequence to track as Linka moves toward its first sub-surface exploration in over 40 years.

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