Nova Minerals defines ‘exciting’ targets, aims to increase RPM gold resource
根据Nova的说法，RPM高级资源为Estelle提供了一个“令人兴奋的机会”来“大幅增加和提高”黄金产量。
Just three days after announcing an upbeat scoping study on its Korbel Main deposit, Alaska gold hunter Nova Minerals (ASX: NVA) says it has “defined a number of exciting targets” at the RPM gold deposit.
RPM, with its 1.5 million ounce resource, makes up part of the 9.6Moz global resource estimate at Nova’s Estelle project, with the remainder contained at Korbel Main deposit.
The company says an extensive drilling program this year at RPM is intended to delineate additional high-grade indicated resources to include in the production schedule for the planned Korbel Central processing plant.
The scoping study reported on Monday forecasts more than 200,000oz in first year of production at Korbel Main, which is planned as a “starter pit”.
“The RPM high grade resource provides an exciting opportunity to deliver a higher average mill feed grade and substantially increase and improve the gold production profile over the life of the project,” the company said in its latest release today.
Vision to develop North America’s next major gold trend
Nova says its vision is to develop North America’s next major gold trend.
The company is focused on exploration in Alaska’s prolific Tintina Gold Belt, a province which hosts a 220Moz documented gold endowment and some of what Nova describes as the world’s largest gold mines and discoveries including Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine and Kinross Gold Corporation’s Fort Knox Gold Mine.
Nova’s Estelle project is described as a 35km long corridor of 21 identified gold prospects bracketed by the Korbel deposit in the north and RPM in the south.
Step-out drilling as Nova seeks to expand resource
Phase one at RPM will involve drilling 5,000m at the RPM North deposit to infill around a previous intersection of 132m at 10.1 grams per tonne gold.
The current inferred resource there is 23 million tonnes at 2g/t for a contained 1.5Moz.
Stage two will see three rigs drilling 15,000m at that deposit to step out, with the aim of increasing the existing resource estimate.
The resource remains open along strike, depth and thickness.
There will also be drilling to test the prospective RPM South zone which, the company says, shows a much larger surface footprint according to rock chip sampling and “geological observations”.