Nova Minerals (ASX:NVA) has confirmed the existence of a rich antimony zone at the Stibium prospect, part of the Estelle Gold and Critical Minerals Project in Alaska after receiving assay results from its 2024 exploration program.
Over the course of the field season, mapping and sampling activities were carried out across the Estelle claim block, with a particular focus on prospects that were identified during the 2023 season. For the first time, field crews specifically targeted stibnite — the primary ore source for antimony.
In total, 511 soil samples, 225 rock samples, and roughly 4.5 tonnes of bulk sample material were collected across the Estelle area.
Assays collected at the Stibium prospect have identified an 800m-long by 400m-wide zone rich with antimony, with results grading up to 56.7% antimony. A total of 80 rock samples were collected at Stibium, 11 of which graded more than 30% antimony, along with 180 soil samples. Rock and soil samples for gold are still to come.
Previously reported results from other regions of the Estelle project include rock and soil samples grading 54.1% antimony and 9.8 grams per tonne (g/t) gold at the Styx prospect, as well as samples grading 128.5g/t gold at the Muddy Creek prospect.
Nova Minerals CEO Christopher Gerteisen says the results have begun to show the “size and tenor” of the Stibium prospect, and that the Nova team is “anxiously” awaiting the results of gold samples, which have in the past have delivered up to 12.7g/t gold.
“These results show Stibium to be an exceptional high-grade antimony-gold drill-ready prospect that the company will prioritise moving forward, and advance towards resource definition to continue to increase and prove-up the total inventory across the Estelle Gold and Critical Minerals Project,” Gerteisen says.
“The company is now well-advanced with its applications towards US Government grant funding in pursuit of these efforts.”
Through its wholly owned subsidiary Alaska Range Resources, Nova has for the past six months been a member of the Defense Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC), which assists with research, access to commercial solutions for defence agreements, and access to new innovations from academia and non-traditional contractors.
“Recognising the potential of its antimony discovery early on, Nova is a first mover in the space and now well-advanced within the Dept. of Defense grant application process to potentially rapidly develop its antimony and other critical minerals prospects,” Nova wrote in a statement this morning.
A regular feature on the critical minerals lists of many countries, antimony has a wide range of applications, particularly in hi-tech and military products. In its role as a vital hardening alloy in tin and lead, it’s become essential to the manufacturing of arms and ammunition.
“War is the great swing factor in antimony demand,” according to a report published in September by New York-based Hallgarten & Company.
“There is no other application that disturbs the water like war for this metal in particular.”
Write to Oliver Gray at Mining.com.au
Images: Nova Minerals
