Nova Minerals Ltd (ASX:NVA, OTCQB:NVAAF) has hit the ground running at the Stibium antimony prospect of the Estelle Gold and Antimony Project in Alaska, while also advancing pre-feasibility study (PFS) resource definition drilling at the RPM gold prospect.
NVA has polished off 11 holes so far at RPM, targeting near-surface and high-grade inferred material with the goal of increasing the size and confidence of Estelle’s gold resource ahead of the PFS release.
At Stibium the company is following up a 2-metre drilling sample from a 30-metre-long outcropping antimony vein that graded at 60.5% antimony and 12.7 g/t gold.
Nova has staked a claim on an additional square kilometre of land around Stibium and is collecting several tons of bulk samples to conduct metallurgical test work on the mineralisation, which is of increasingly high strategic importance to the US and European governments as a critical mineral.
Read: Chinese limits on antimony exports offer powerful opportunity for Nova Minerals’ Estelle Project
Strong gold potential
“We have only scratched the surface at the high-grade RPM deposit with targeted drilling this year aimed to prove up resources in support of our efforts of an initial lower capex, smaller scale operation at RPM, to achieve production and cashflow as soon as possible,” Nova Minerals CEO Christopher Gerteisen said.
“Drilling to date has confirmed the holes are hitting the target with mineralisation remaining wide open.
“Nova has a long list of near-term catalysts. Drill results from RPM, exploration test work at the Stibium gold-antimony prospect, and a forthcoming resource update, at gold prices now trading at record highs of over US$2,500 per ounce.
“In addition, we also have numerous technical studies in the works which we look forward to releasing to the market once they become available.”
Nova Minerals head of exploration Hans Hoffman said the company’s successful Nasdaq listing had cleared the way to mobilise crews and rigs to drill pads, with drilling underway.
Read: Nova Closes US$3.3 million NASDAQ public offering
“We built a new pad at RPM between the original Pad 1 and Pad 23-1 where we are drilling our inferred resource with intent to upgrade to measured and indicated,” Hoffman said.
“We believe this should prove successful based on the immense mineralised quartz veins observed on surface above our drill traces.”
The company is also undertaking extensive surface sampling over the greater RPM area to both extend existing zones of mineralisation and identify new high-grade zones.
Antimony offers opportunity
Nova’s ground crews have collected about 2,500 kilograms of bulk samples from the 2-metre-wide breccia vein (origin of the 60.5% sample) at Stibium as well as further samples over a contour grid with spacing ranging from 50 metres to 100 metres to test the extent of the mineralised zone.
“At the Stibium prospect our field crews are continuing to find near surface, massive stibnite veining and gold-antimony zones, which present opportunities to assess the stand-alone potential of a quick start antimony operation, particularly with the China export restrictions,” Gerteisen said
“We will update the market as we progress.”
Hoffman echoed Gerteisen’s enthusiasm, stating: “We are hitting the new Stibium prospect with intensity; identifying massive stibnite veins in outcrop and expanding our geochemical coverage to highlight the extent of this impressive gold and antimony occurrence.”
The samples will undergo metallurgical testing at laboratories in both Alaska and Australia to glean a greater understanding of the mineralisation’s nature and potential geochemical and structural controls.
Massive stibnite (Antimony) veining at Stibium.
Estelle pre-feasibility study
Nova has focused the efforts of its PFS activities on achieving gold production as soon as possible with a scalable operation, laying out the following goals:
At present, NVA is conducting environmental studies, having just completed a LIDAR survey for detailed technical studies, infrastructure and access road design.
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