Nova Minerals Ltd (ASX:NVA, NASDAQ:NVA) has yet to unearth the full extent of the RPM deposit at the Estelle Gold Project in Alaska, with all drill holes in the latest program ending in gold mineralisation and evidence of further gold to the south-southwest, where the deposit remains open for further exploration.
This latest drilling program was conducted over the starter pit area, focused on near-surface mineralisation at less than 50 metres in depth to support the RPM starter mine pre-feasibility study (PFS) already in the works.
The deposit produced more high-grade gold, including an intersection of 43 metres at 4.4 g/t gold from just 2 metres below surface, with a bonanza-grade section of 2 metres at 39.2 g/t gold from 13 metres of depth.
Results from the remaining 13 holes drilled in this program are still to come.
Small-scale, low-cost, high-margin mine
“These results speak for themselves and we believe will add considerable value to the upcoming resource update and ultimately the PFS, which will be focused on RPM as a scale-able low capex/high margin project with future expansion plans achieved through cashflow as soon as possible,” Nova CEO Christopher Gerteisen said.
“With further 2024 drill results to follow in short order, these results, along with the 2023 drilling, will be included in the upcoming resource update.
“We look forward to updating all stakeholders on these fronts as we continue to progress on our path towards production and early cashflow at RPM within the greater Estelle gold and critical minerals district.”
Strong results
Results of note from drilling over the RPM North deposit include:
- 43 metres at 4.4 g/t gold from 2 metres, including 23 metres at 7.3 g/t from 2 metres, 13 metres at 10.7 g/t from 2 metres and 2 metres at 39.2 g/t from 13 metres;
- 21 metres at 3.5 g/t from 2 metres, including 19 metres at 3.9 g/t from 3 metres and 6 metres at 7.1 g/t from 5 metres;
- 14 metres at 1.9 g/t from 2 metres, including 12 metres at 2.1 g/t from 4 metres; and
- 45 metres at 3.4 g/t from surface, including 31 metres at 4.7 g/t from 3 metres and 8 metres at 10.5 g/t from 22 metres.
Extensional drilling outside of the current resource boundary also hit gold, indicating mineralisation may continue to the south-southwest:
- 24 metres at 0.6 g/t gold from 6 metres;
- 45 metres at 0.6 g/t from 3 metres including 20 metres at 1.1 g/t from 25 metres and 12 metres at 1.5 g/t from 26 metres;
- 25 metres at 0.5 g/t from 17 metres; and
- 31 metres at 0.6 g/t from 3 metres.
Development continues at pace
Apart from Nova’s work on the RPM starter mine, the company has also been advancing the critical mineral, gold and antimony opportunities across the rest of Estelle’s tenure.
More than 500 soil and 225 rock chip samples are pending from reconnaissance mapping programs over the Stibium, Wombat, West Wing, Muddy Creek, RPM and Styx prospects as well as several newly added claims.
NVA intends to report the results as they become available and are interpreted into a geological model, which, alongside drilling results obtained in 2023 and 2024, will inform a resource update for Estelle.
The company’s focus is still on RPM’s PFS as well as the ongoing economic study for the wider project with the core goal to begin mining at Estelle via a smaller scale, low capex, high-margin starter mine at RPM as soon as possible.
Nova will then use the proceeds from its starter mine to fund the development and expansion of Estelle’s other potential production streams.
The company has engaged Whittle Consulting to complete project optimisation, METS Engineering for metallurgical and process design work and Roughstock Mining for pit and engineering design.
The antimony opportunity emerging at Stibium is of particular interest to the company, due to interest from the US Department of Defense (DoD) to support a small-scale, standalone, quick start-up antimony-gold mine, with the aim of securing the US antimony supply chain.
Read: Chinese limits on antimony exports offer powerful opportunity for Nova Minerals’ Estelle Project