Nova Minerals continues to unearth higher-grade ‘blow out zones’ at Korbel Main gold deposit
Nova Minerals has recently unearthed a 516.61m wide gold intersection at the Korbel prospect – below the existing 2.5Moz resource.
Nova Minerals (ASX: NVA) has hit more higher-grade gold “blow out zones” while infill drilling at its 4.7 million ounce gold Korbel Main deposit within its flagship Estelle project in Alaska.
Latest assays from these zones comprise 311m at 0.5 grams per tonne gold, including 34m at 1.1g/t gold and 3m at 2.1g/t gold.
Other highlight intersections were 128m at 0.5g/t gold, including 18m at 1g/t gold and 3m at 3.9g/t gold; and 85m at 0.5g/t gold, including 12m at 1g/t gold.
“The infill diamond drilling at Korbel Main is showing strong support and confidence in the consistency and continuity of gold mineralisation in the Korbel Main deposit’s large mineralised system,” Nova chief executive officer Christopher Gerteisen noted.
“The significant intercepts we continue to intersect within the high-grade feeder zone are very encouraging indeed.”
Advancing Estelle
There are over 10,000m of samples from 30 holes in the lab awaiting assays, with drilling continuing at a “fierce pace”, including infill and step out drilling, with a focus on the higher-grade feeder zones.
“The Nova [board] believes that recent results, which include the higher-grade material, will reflect an upgrade in the next mineral resource estimate later this year.”
Mr Gerteisen added these latest results are located in the starter zone and could potentially have a positive impact on the early-stage mining schedule.
The objective of the program its to “substantially” boost the resource and increase confidence to expedite the project to pre-feasibility studies, with the scoping study scheduled for release in the December quarter after the resource update.
“Nova’s multi-pronged drilling strategy is designed to advance the Korbel Main deposit towards being a bankable project by 2023,” Mr Gerteisen said.
“We are focusing on proving up the resource to indicated status, which can then translate into reserve ounces for our planned starter operation.”
While this is underway, regional exploration is also being carried out to unlock the wider Estelle project.
“This approach will maximise our ability to more rapidly monetise this world-class asset and bring forward the production schedule along with cash flow, allowing us to ramp up future operations in short order across the Korbel Valley and wider Estelle gold district,” Mr Gerteisen added.