Nova Minerals Ltd (ASX:NVA, OTCQB:NVAAF) is on its way to shaping North America’s next major gold trend as it advances the cornerstone Estelle Gold Project.
The Alaska-focused gold explorer and project developer has released a new video, mapping its position within the prolific Tintina Gold Belt and its vision to become a tier-one gold producer.
In the three years since listing, the company has brought Estelle to an advanced exploration stage, carrying a discovery cost of just US$3.50 per gold ounce — well below the industry average US$20 an ounce.
You can get up to date on the Nova story below, or save the video link for later here.
About the project
Nova’s Estelle Gold Trend lies within Alaska’s Tintina Gold Belt, a province that hosts a 220-million-ounce documented gold endowment.
It’s also home to some of the world’s largest gold mines and discoveries, including Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine and Kinross Gold Corporation’s Fort Knox Gold Mine.
The Korbel Project lies at the northern end of the company’s Estelle Gold Trend development, a 35-kilometre-long corridor of 21 identified gold prospects bracketed by the high-grade RPM Project in the south.
Currently, these two flagship projects have a combined estimated JORC gold resource of 9.6 million ounces — 3 million of which lies in the indicated category.
Late last year, Nova began next stage, pre-feasibility study (PFS)-level test-work programs on ore-sorting, metallurgical, environmental, engineering and power components at both the Korbel and RPM projects.
As part of these PFS-level works, Nova is also evaluating the viability of a slurry pipeline to transport high-grade ore from the RPM Project to the Korbel Project’s centralised mill.
The company expects to complete this work in 2023 and move towards a definitive feasibility study (DFS) thereafter.
Bringing Estelle to life
In February, Nova CEO Christopher Gerteisen detailed the company’s work as it seeks to develop North America’s next major gold trend.
“While the ultimate objective is to develop Korbel into a tier-one gold mine, it could just be the start of things to come, representing only one of many prospective developments across Estelle,” he explained.
“Nova’s vision is to develop North America’s next major gold trend, akin to Nevada’s Carlin Trend, with a focus on low-strip, open-pit developments that are low cost, and large and serviced by common infrastructure.”
He concluded by saying the company is well capitalised with cash and cash equivalents for the foreseeable future to further these studies.