Nova Minerals Ltd (ASX:NVA, OTCQB:NVAAF) has staked an additional 63 square kilometres of mining claims at its Estelle Gold Project on the Estelle Gold Trend in Alaska’s prolific Tintina Gold Belt.
Initial observations suggest the new claims are promising for mineralisation of gold, silver, copper and the strategic critical mineral, antimony.
Sitting to the east of Nova’s existing tenements, the additional claims are close to the 5.5 million ounce gold equivalent Whistler gold-copper porphyry deposit owned by US Gold Mining Inc and the Whiskey Bravo camp and airstrip.
The additional claims, all on State of Alaska public lands, increase Nova’s holdings by 14%, expanding the claim block to a total of 513 square kilometres.
Nova CEO Christopher Gerteisen said: “I’m pleased to announce the acquisition of further highly prospective ground along the Estelle Gold Trend. The new claims area is situated to the north of Train and to the east of the Stoney prospects, which are two of our highest ranked targets at Estelle, where we have already confirmed high grade gold, silver, and copper targets.
The company says that the additional claims come after head of exploration Hans Hoffman conducted months of extensive regional surface exploration mapping, sampling and prospecting programs to target further discoveries across the Estelle Gold Project, including within the new claims block.
Assay results for the soil and rock chip samples taken from the new claims block are due shortly, but the initial geological observations from the area look promising for gold, silver, copper and antimony mineralisation.
“Our geologists have long recognised this area as having potential for mineralisation and this year we finally got out there to conduct reconnaissance and confirmed that the same mineralised rock units found at Estelle extend into the new claim area," Gerteisen said.
“All the indicators are present there for the styles of mineralisation that have been discovered thus far across the district. These include intrusive-related gold systems (IRGS) similar to RPM and Korbel and porphyry copper-gold systems similar to US Gold Mining Inc’s nearby Whistler copper-gold deposit.”
“In addition, we have made exciting new observations with indications of antimony mineralisation, noted as an abundance of massive Stibnite hosted in quartz veins within areas coinciding with potential gold mineralisation. Stibnite is the primary ore source for the critical mineral antimony.”
Antimony: a strategic critical mineral
Antimony is of critical strategic importance to the US defense-industrial supply chain. Yet the US currently produces no antimony and is almost entirely reliant on China, and Russia to an extent, for its supply.
During World War II, the US began producing the antimony from the ore in an Idaho goldmine, called the Stibnite mine. But that mine ceased production in 1997 and the US has since remained wholly reliant on imports.
Alongside a host of other critical minerals, including titanium, tungsten, cobalt and lithium, the US government is taking steps to shore up its supply of antimony for the “national defense stockpile” amid increased anxiety over Chinese domination of resources critical to the defense industrial base.