An upcoming resource update for the Estelle Gold Project in Alaska is shaping up to be a potentially sizeable one, after Nova Minerals Ltd (ASX:NVA, NASDAQ:NVA) hit an intersection of 29 metres at 7.1 g/t gold from surface at the RPM deposit.
Importantly for NVA’s starter pit mine plans, RPM continues to demonstrate its high-grade chops, offering bonanza-grade intersections of 3 metres at 32.2 g/t gold from 17 metres and 2 metres at 52.7 g/t gold from 19 metres of depth.
The company intends to begin production at Estelle with a smaller, cost-effective mine at RPM to take advantage of the high-grade, near-surface mineralisation there, before leveraging the profits to further develop the gold and critical mineral potential over the wider Estelle Project.
Results to feed resource estimate
“The 2024 drill results have confirmed a broad zone of high-grade mineralisation starting at surface at RPM North,” Nova Minerals CEO Christopher Gerteisen said.
“This should prove positive for our upcoming studies focused on executing our current strategy to fast-track development of RPM as a scale-able low capex/high margin starter operation that will generate the cash flow to facilitate future mine expansion plans and further unlock the larger Estelle Project which remains one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in the world, with significant upside remaining with gold, antimony, copper, silver and other critical elements.
“These latest results of high-grade mineralisation will be included in the upcoming mineral resource estimate (MRE) and PFS, which we look forward to providing to our shareholders in due course.”
All holes ended in gold mineralisation, with hole RPMRC-24010 ending within gold mineralisation grading 15.5 g/t.
All assays received
The results from the 21-hole 2024 resource drilling program at RPM North have all been received with this final batch, extending the high-grade core at RPM all the way to surface.
The results of note from this round of assays include:
RPMRC-24017 -
29 metres at 7.1 g/t gold from surface including:
- 22 metres at 9.4 g/t from surface;
- 6 metres at 19.9 g/t from 16 metres;
- 3 metres at 32.2 g/t from 17 metres; and
- 2 metres at 52.7 g/t from 19 metres.
RPMRC-24020 -
28 metres at 4.5 g/t gold from surface including:
- 23 metres at 5.3 g/t from 5 metres;
- 6 metres at 14.3 g/t from 11 metres; and
- 3 metres at 25.0 g/t from 14 metres.
RPMRC-24021 -
34 metres at 3.9 g/t gold from surface including:
- 3 metres at 8.3 g/t from 20 metres.
RPMRC-24019 -
66 metres at 2.1 g/t gold from surface including:
- 63 metres at 2.2 g/t from surface;
- 25 metres at 3.4 g/t from surface;
- 1 metre at 2.8 g/t from 43 metres.
Nova is now hard at work producing Estelle’s resource update, incorporating both 2023 and 2024 drilling results.
The company has also collected 500 soil and 225 rock samples as part of an extensive 2024 surface exploration and mapping program targeting gold, antimony and other critical minerals at Estelle’s many regional prospects.
In parallel, NVA is advancing a pre-feasibility study (PFS) for the RPM starter mine and an updated economic study of the wider Estelle Project.
The company remains focused on beginning development with a smaller scale, low capex, high-margin starter mine at RPM as soon as possible, which will provide cash flow to fund the expansion of the larger Estelle project organically.