Nova Minerals (ASX: NVA) is confident it is on target for accelerated capital return from its high-grade Estelle gold project in Alaska following the completion of new studies.
Results from a “robust” Estelle phase 2 scoping study have highlighted the technical and financial potential of a large open pit mining operation and in particular its rate of return advantages.
The studies have confirmed an ideal ore body geometry which allows for quick payback from mining high-grade ore in the early years followed by a bulk tonnage mining operation in later years.
Quick payback
Nova’s chief executive officer, Christopher Gerteisen, said the company is now targeting an initial 11 month payback period and improved financial and mining metrics through opportunities unveiled in the latest scoping study.
“Completion of the phase 2 scoping study marks a major milestone for the company, providing a robust foundation as we move towards the pre-feasibility study, and exceeded our expectations in many regards with a from surface high-grade starter pit at RPM offering a quick 11 month payback period and a 53% internal rate of return that we aim to continue to improve with further optimisation,” he said.
“Following the initial high grade early years, particularly the 11 month starter pit at RPM, additional key areas and opportunities have already been identified that have the potential to further improve the project’s economics.”
“In my 30+ year career working on multiple world class resource development projects, I have not seen a payback period like this before on a mine of this size, and this is why we are so excited about the Estelle gold project,” he added.
Multiple mining complexes
Nova has identified multiple mining complexes across a 35km long mineralised corridor at Estelle of over 20 identified gold prospects.
This includes two defined multi-million ounce resources across four deposits containing a combined 9.9Moz gold.
The company’s core focus now is to define mineable resources to increase the average LOM mill feed grade above the current 0.73g/t gold to improve the project economics further in a pre-feasibility study.
