Nova Minerals Ltd (ASX:NVA, OTCQB:NVAAF) has the drill bit spinning at Korbel Valley’s Cathedral gold prospect in Alaska.
The new drilling program is designed to test for extensions and look for a potential feeder system at the Korbel Main deposit, which is already reported to host 8.1 million gold ounces — 3 million of which lie in the indicated category.
In essence, Nova believes Cathedral has the potential to unlock another area of the wider Korbel Valley in very close proximity to the proposed Korbel central processing facility.
Overall, Korbel Main and Cathedral are just two of seven named target areas within the wider Korbel Valley, where more drill prospects will be tested down the line.
Photo taken in 2021 showing the proximity of Cathedral to the Korbel Main deposit.
New targeted program
Commenting on work at Cathedral, Nova CEO Christopher Gerteisen said: “We are pleased to have recommenced drilling in the wider Korbel Valley area again with a targeted program that will test the theory of Cathedral being the high-grade feeder zone to the already established 8.1-million-ounce Korbel Main deposit.
“Rock chip samples obtained in 2020 showed that Cathedral could open up another significant area within the wider Korbel Valley with the potential to provide a localised higher-grade feed for the proposed Korbel central processing facility for the starter years.
“In addition to the drilling at both Cathedral and RPM, and in light of the bottleneck at the assay laboratory, we have now also commenced our pre-feasibility study level test work and trade-off optimisation studies in tandem with the ongoing phase two scoping study, as we continue on our path towards commercial production across the Estelle Gold Trend.”
Cathedral exploration program
In 2020, Nova kicked off reconnaissance field activity at Cathedral, within the wider Korbel Valley just south of the Korbel Main Deposit.
Work focused on the quartz-arsenopyrite veining in the outcrops within the target area, returning up to 114 g/t gold, as well as five other results grading higher than 10 g/t gold, including 98.3 g/t, 37.1 g/t, 24.5 g/t, 19.6 g/t and 11.05 g/t.
These high-grade grab samples and the correlation between gold and arsenopyrite indicate Cathedral has the potential to be the feeder structure for the large gold system at Korbel Main.
Big picture, Nova believes the resource potential within the Korbel Valley alone has grown in stature with each round of drilling completed to date.
This targeted drilling is not only aimed at increasing the size of the resources in the immediate area but will also give Nova an improved geological understanding of the systems within the wider Korbel Valley.
The wider Korbel Valley in proximity to the proposed location of the Korbel central processing facility.
What else is on the agenda?
Nova is waiting on results from its latest infill drilling campaign at Korbel Main, where it’s hoping to add more gold ounces to the indicated category.
In the meantime, the drill bit continues to spin at the RPM deposit, where further drill results will come to market as assays feed back from the lab.
Ultimately, Nova’s exploration efforts are focused on identifying resource extensions and new large-scale discoveries, with upwards of 50 holes drilled at RPM and Korbel yet to be announced.