High-grade gold, antimony, silver and copper soil and rock chip sampling results from Nova Minerals Ltd (ASX:NVA, OTCQB:NVAAF)’s Train and Trumpet prospects have confirmed further broad zones of surface mineralisation at the Estelle Gold Project in Alaska’s prolific Tintina Gold Belt.
Field observations, assay results from 2023 surface samples, and the re-examination of multi-element data from historical samples targeted gold mineralisation, and the presence of high-grade gold was confirmed. However, many samples also returned coincident high-grade antimony, copper and silver.
The best surface sampling results from Train include up to 80.2 g/t gold and greater than 1.0% antimony. At Trumpet, results include up to 132.5 g/t gold, 16.8% antimony, 6.7% copper, and 1,945 g/t silver.
Extensive high-grade surface samples of gold, antimony, copper and silver indicate the Train and Trumpet areas are very mineralised and remain wide open, with further work required.
Assay results are now starting to be received back from the laboratory, and the company expects to report more surface sampling exploration results as they come in for each area over the next few weeks, along with drill results from the RPM North and RPM Valley drilling programs.
Initial scout drilling
A very limited initial scout drilling program of around 600 metres across four holes from one pad was started at Train but paused early due to poor weather, priorities elsewhere, and cost savings.
Initial drill assay results from that program confirmed anomalous gold throughout, with best results including 1.4 metres grading 2.3 g/t gold from 7 metres deep, 3 metres at 1.5 g/t gold from 38 metres, and 1.4 metres at 3.3 g/t gold from 7 metres.
This further indicates the presence of abundant antimony-enriched style gold mineralisation within the Estelle Gold District.
Moving forward, the technical team will target and include antimony analysis as part of its focus and assay protocol in ongoing exploration and resource work to determine the potential of antimony as a bi-product in future economic studies.
The Train prospect remains wide open with several target zones still to be tested. The drill pad remains in place and the company plans to re-commence the drilling program at a later date.
New zones of mineralisation
Nova head of exploration Hans Hoffman said: “The drill results from this first pad at Train show evidence of a mineralised system, although admittedly this first pad was far from the heart of it. Field crews focused a lot of their efforts infill sampling around the area to hone in on increased vein density and mineralisation.
“Crews were successful in finding new zones of mineralisation between Train and Trumpet. One of these zones was on a nunatak, which is an outcrop in the middle between the two prospects. They were undoubtedly the first to ever set foot on it, and first-pass reconnaissance yielded some excellent results.
“Logistical challenges and time constraints only allowed a few short holes to be drilled at Train this year, but the exploration pathfinders have shown there is still exciting potential in the Train and Trumpet areas for further follow-up.”
High-grade antimony, silver and copper add potential value
“Once again we are pleased to report widespread high-grade gold results from prospects within the Estelle project area. We continue to advance the Train and Trumpet prospects and these results show why we consider it to be the highest priority exploration target to discover the next deposit after RPM and Korbel,” said CEO Christopher Gerteisen.
“While Nova’s primary focus continues to be on the gold, the presence of high-grade antimony, silver, and copper in the Train and Trumpet areas as well has the potential to add significant value to the project resources.
"A closer re-examination of the multi-element data from historical samples is also showing that the antimony association with the gold systems appears to be widespread across Estelle and of high grade at several prospects where massive Stibnite veining has been observed.
“This represents a significant opportunity for the company as antimony is listed as a critical and strategic mineral to US economic and national security interests by the US Department of Interior. The antimony and multi-element story is only just beginning as we continue to unearth further treasures at Estelle.”