- Viking Mines (VKA) has applied for a new tenement in WA’s Ida Greenstone belt
- The 21-square-kilometre tenement will complement the First Hit Gold Project, which is located just 11 kilometres away
- In November last year, Viking entered an agreement to acquire Red Dirt Mining and its high-grade First Hit historic gold mine
- While the application process is underway, Viking Mines will undertake a geological assessment which will help to generate future drilling targets
- Company shares are up 4.55 per cent and trading at 4.6 cents
Viking Mines (VKA) has applied for a new tenement in the prospective Ida Greenstone belt in Western Australia.
If and when the tenement E30/529 is granted, it will add 21 square kilometres to Viking’s land position.
This will also complement the new land position that will be secured with the proposed acquisition of Red Dirt Mining and its high-grade First Hit historic gold mine.
Viking Mines entered a conditional agreement with Red Dirt Mining in November last year. The agreement involves the 100 per cent acquisition of Red Dirt, which owns the First Hit Project.
First Hit was deemed an attractive investment thanks to confirmed gold mineralisation above, below and adjacent to the resource.
The project has yielded significantly high grades including 26.1g/t gold, 66.7g/t gold and 77.6g/t gold.
Strategically, the newly applied tenement is only 11 kilometres south-southeast of the First Hit Project and adjacent to Ora Banda Mining’s (OBM) Riverina open pit mine and underground resource.
Reviews have shown the tenement has seen very limited exploration with the most recent drilling activity being a 20-hole aircore program in 2013. Viking considers the lack of modern exploration, but historically high grades, to be a unique opportunity to follow-up on.
“I am very excited that in my first week with Viking that we have managed to secure a prospective new tenement which by all accounts hasn’t seen a drill bit for seven years and, not to mention, never had any bedrock testing with reverse circulation (RC) or diamond drilling,” newly appointed CEO Julian Woodcock said.
“I can see that this acquisition has the potential to contribute significantly to our growing WA exploration portfolio,” he added.
While the application process is underway, Viking Mines will undertake a geological assessment and reinterpret the bedrock geology over the next few months. The assessment will help to generate new targets for drilling once the tenement has been granted.
Company shares are up 4.55 per cent and trading at 4.6 cents at 11:28 am AEDT.