Nova Minerals Ltd (ASX:NVA, OTCQB:NVAAF) is back drilling at its flagship Estelle Gold Project in Alaska following a short break over the last few weeks to construct drill pads.
The company is focusing its efforts on growing and converting the current high-grade RPM 1.5 million ounces at 2g/t resource into the higher-confidence indicated category, to feed into the second phase of a scoping study scheduled for delivery later this year.
Pursuing a bonanza
Initial drilling has commenced west of the major discovery hole RPM-005, where in September 2021 the company hit an “incredible” intersection of 132 metres at 10.1 g/t.
RPM-005 was the western-most hole in the 2021 drill program and the company is now pursuing bonanza-grade gold in this zone.
Additional drill rigs are being mobilised to RPM with a second rig expected to begin drilling next week and a third rig to commence by the end of June.
The various mine and process optimisation, material haulage and environmental studies for the phase two scoping study will also be incorporated into the preliminary feasibility study (PFS), which will also include both the Korbel and RPM deposits.
These activities are progressing on budget and on time.
Continuous flow of assays
The company expects a continuous flow of drill results from the ongoing Korbel and RPM programs to be reported throughout the year, as assays come through.
Nova CEO Christopher Gerteisen said: “We are extremely excited to recommence drilling at the high-grade RPM deposit, which continues to amaze us.
“It is very gratifying to start from scratch in a new frontier doing what we do best and make such a significant discovery as we already have at the RPM deposit. With RPM showing all the signatures for over 1.4 kilometres in strike length we expect to rapidly increase both the size and confidence of the deposit in the current drill campaign."
Dual exploration and development strategy
He said: “Nova is in an ideal position to achieve our goal of progressing both Korbel Main and RPM into production, while concurrently unlocking the Estelle Gold Trend.
“By implementing our dual exploration and development strategy, we will seek to maximise our ability to create value for shareholders through both resource growth and project development.”
About Nova Minerals
The company’s vision is to develop North America’s next major gold trend, Estelle, to become a world-class, tier-one, global gold producer.
Nova is focused on exploration in Alaska’s prolific Tintina Gold Belt, a province which hosts a 220-million-ounce documented gold endowment and some of the world’s largest gold mines and discoveries including Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine and Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX:K)’s Fort Knox Gold Mine.
The Estelle Gold Project is a 35-kilometre-long corridor of 21 identified gold prospects bracketed by the Korbel Project in the north and the RPM Project in the south.
These two flagship projects have a combined total estimated JORC gold resource of 9.6 million ounces (3 million ounces in the indicated category and 6.6 million ounces in the inferred category) and are host to extensive resource development programs.