Nova Minerals’ drilling at Korbel Main confirms large scale mineralisation, calls trading halt for more results
Gold grades returned so far confirm a higher grade feeder zone with the southeast area of Nova’s Alaskan deposit.
Alaska gold hunter Nova Minerals (ASX: NVA) went into a trading halt this morning ahead of what it termed “significant drill results”, only a day after revealing another batch of assays that confirm the continuity of mineralisation at its Korbel Main deposit.
However, Nova gave a hit at what may be in the upcoming release when it said Thursday that results from another part of its Estelle project, RPM, would “follow in short order” and would confirm a “significant” discovery there.
Nova also noted that a status update on it 73.8%-owned Snow Lake Resources lithium project in Manitoba is due “shortly”.
Nova’s Estelle gold project — of which Korbel Main is the primary deposit — is located approximately 177km northwest of Anchorage, Alaska’s major city, which provides a large labour force and all essential services. Access is via snow road or by air, with the nearby airstrip being able to handle DC3 aircraft.
It is located on the long Tintina gold belt of Alaska.
Results will de-risk project, help financing
The company says of the latest assays released this week that infill drilling at the 4.7-million-ounce project is aiming at expanding and increasing the resource category for upcoming new mineral resource estimate.
The infill drilling will, the company says, significantly de-risk the project and enable financing work to go ahead.
The latest intersections confirmed also multiple zones of mineralisation with all five holes returning an average 0.4 grams per tonne gold
Hole-081 was mineralisation over 367m from surface, Hole-084 385m of mineralisation from surface, Hole-089 over 183m from 16m below surface, Hole-078 over 158m from 79m, and Hole 0-74 226m from surface.
Bankable by 2023
Nova chief executive officer Christopher Gerteisen says the intercepts that are being reported from the high-grade feeder zone are very encouraging.
“We have almost 30 more holes in the lab awaiting assays and with drilling ongoing at a fierce pace we continue to stream in every week.”
“Nova’s multi-pronged drilling strategy is designed to advance the Korbel Main deposit towards being bankable by 2023,” he added.
Mr Gerteisen said progressing several deposits at Estelle would allow rapid monetising of the project.
In July the company noted that increasingly the drill results for Korbel Main could mean rethinking development plans, adding those would “no doubt have a major impact on our pit optimisations and project economics”.