Nova Minerals Limited (ASX: NVA, FSE: QM3) has announced the discovery of high grade gold material for a “Starter Pit” scenario from phase 1 resource drilling within Block B of the Oxide Korbel deposit of Estelle Gold Project in Alaska.
The company reported that assays of up to 27.6 g/t Au were returned from the Oxide Korbel deposit. NVA said that drill hole OX-RC-16 intersects 70.1m grading 1.20 g/t Au.
The company said that the discovery of high grade gold material indicates potential for a “Starter Pit” scenario.
The company said that the maiden JORC Resource at Oxide Korbel now imminent. Nova said that the resource is comparable to Kinross’ Fort Knox Gold and Victoria Gold’s Dublin Gulch Eagles Gold Mine.
Estelle gold project
Nova’s Estelle gold project in Alaska is located adjacent to the 6.3Moz Au, 28.7Moz Ag, 480kt Cu Whistler project. The project holds some of North America’s largest gold deposits.
Nova owns 51% of the project and has the right to earn up to 85% of the project through the joint venture agreement. The project is comprised of 173 unpatented mining claims located on State of Alaska public lands.
Important prospects within the project area include Oxide (Oxide Ridge, Oxide Valley, Oxide North, and Oxide South); Stoney (Stoney, Tomahawk, Kid and Trundle); Mount Estelle (Mount Estelle, Shoeshine and Train); and Emerald (RPM and Revelation).
Drilling at Oxide Korbel deposit
The Oxide deposit, classified as a Reduced Intrusion-Related Gold Deposit (RIRG) type, is one of 15 known gold occurrences in Estelle. NVA reported the hole intercepts from the RC Drilling and historic diamond drilling within Block B of the Oxide Korbel deposit resulted in the discovery of high-grade shallow gold.
These holes were drilled as part of a Reverse Circulation (RC) drill program completed during the 2019 field season.
The company said that two fences of RC drill holes were completed within the boundaries of Target B. The drill fences were completed on 200 m section spacings. The north fence centred on Section 7500 N. Historical diamond drill hole SE12-004 completed in 2012 was re-sampled by Nova as part of the 2019 field program.
High-grade gold at Oxide Korbel
The company reported assay results from drill holes OX-RC-16, OX-RC-17, OX-RC-18, and the resampled historical diamond drill hole SE12-004.
NVA reported that drill hole OX-RC-16 intersected 70.1m grading 1.20 g/t Au including 21.3m grading 2.45 g/t Au, and 12.2m grading 1.49 g/t Au.
Drill hole OX-RC-17 intersected 61.0m grading 0.49 g/t Au; while drill hole OX-RC-18 intersected 76.2m grading 0.29 g/t Au including 4.6m grading 0.71 g/t Au, 7.6m grading 0.80 g/t Au, and 21.3m grading 0.27 g/t Au.
Meanwhile, the resampled historical diamond drill hole SE12-004 reported intersections of 180.1m grading 0.53 g/t Au including 68.9m grading 0.88 g/t Au.
The company said that the discovery of high grade gold material indicates potential for a “Starter Pit” scenario. Nova reported that the mineralisation starts from 2m from surface and extends throughout the deposit with excellent internal continuity.
Future plans
Nova reported that it is in the process of planning future exploration and drilling activities. The company said that additional areas that require follow-up work would be included in future drill program to establish the outer limits and depth extent of the deposit.
The company also commented that the maiden JORC Resource at Oxide Korbel now imminent.
Management comments
Nova Minerals Managing Director Avi Kimelman said: “We are excited with these high grade intercepts and the discovery of high grade material for an initial starter pit which starts near surface at the Oxide Korbel prospect so early on. In these large bulk tonnage deposits these starter pits are critical to provide more informed economic data going forward.
We have only scratched the surface in the Oxide Korbel deposit area to date. The gold mineralisation is open in all dimensions and additional diamond drilling is planned to establish the outer limits and depth extent of the deposit. Targets C and D have similar geological and geophysical characteristics and will also be drill tested.
These drill results confirm our theory that Oxide Korbel represents a mineralised zone mirroring that of the likes of Kinross’ Fort Knox Gold and Victoria Gold’s Dublin Gulch Eagles Gold Mine.
Furthermore, this demonstrates the scale, size and robustness of our project, as it’s only our phase 1 resource drill program on less than 1% footprint of the total project area. We now look forward to updating the market of our maiden inferred gold JORC resource imminently.”
