Nova Minerals Ltd (ASX:NVA, OTCQB:NVAAF) has discovered a new gold prospect within the company's flagship Estelle Gold Project in the prolific Tintina Gold Belt in Alaska, where field exploration conducted last year has confirmed a 1-kilometre-long anomaly with surface samples grading up to 24.2 g/t gold.
Named the Wombat prospect, the area has the thickest gold-bearing quartz veins to date and along with gold, copper with grades of up to 6.1% was also uncovered, turning Estelle into a multi-element project along with previous silver and antimony discoveries.
As well, the project is shaping up to be a trend of significant scale, similar to Carlin and other major mineralised camps globally that are becoming scarce in safe jurisdictions.
During the 2023 field season, Nova collected 674 soil samples, 446 rock samples and 21 stream sediment samples across the project’s more than 45 traverses covering 100-line kilometres.
More results can be expected in the coming weeks as the remaining samples are processed, including the re-examination of historical samples to determine the presence of antimony.
Map of Wombat gold sample results.
Scratching the surface
“The Wombat discovery further highlights the massive exploration upside potential across the Estelle Project area,” Nova chief executive officer Christopher Gerteisen said.
“We have truly only scratched the surface out there and expect further discoveries as we systematically explore the 513-square-kilometre claim block.
“In addition to high-grade gold in sets of thick quartz veins, we are also seeing high-grade copper.
“We are beginning to recognise the multi-element potential within numerous prospects across Estelle, including antimony, copper, silver and certain critical elements.
“These elements have the potential to add significant by-product credits in any future production scenarios.
“As these are coincident with the gold, an analysis of these elements is something we plan to include in our upcoming exploration programs.
“Wombat adds to the already over 20 known prospects we have identified at Estelle.
“As we move forward, we will prioritise this plethora of prospects for advancement towards resource definition.”
Developing deposit
Nova’s field crews collected a total of 52 rock samples at Wombat, leading to the discovery of the “impressive” zone hosting gold-bearing massive quartz veins.
Numerous arsenopyrite-bearing quartz veins measuring 1 to 4 metres in width were discovered across the approximately 1-kilometre strike length, Nova head of exploration Hans Hoffman said.
“Gold grades are better in the veins outcropping on the southern side of the ridge, but the miarolitic cavities with well-developed quartz crystals on the northern side of the ridge is a site to be seen.
“Given the size and frequency of these large veins, we feel Wombat can be developed into a viable drill target to further feed the project’s pipeline of developing gold deposits,” he added.
The miarolitic quartz cavities at Wombat.
The 52 rock samples returned an average grade of 1.7 g/t gold and 0.5% copper.
Of the 45 soil samples collected, five were greater than 1 g/t gold with an average grade of 0.4 g/t, while copper averaged slightly less than 0.1% although one sample returned a high of 1.3%.