Nova Minerals reports strong early gold results from infill drilling at Korbel Main South East Zone

Nova Minerals Ltd (OTCMKTS:NVAAF) (ASX:NVA) (FRA:QM3) has reported strong early results from infill drilling at Korbel Main, within its flagship Estelle Gold Project in the prolific Tintina Gold Belt in Alaska.

Wide zones of mineralized intrusive containing internal higher grade ‘blow out’ zones continue to be intersected in infill drilling South East of the Korbel Main deposit.

One drill hole returned an overall average grade of 0.4 g/t gold over 314 metres from 15 metres within the Korbel mineralised intrusive containing multiple high-grade zones.

Notable results include:

• 67 metres at 1.0 g/t gold;
• 44 metres at 1.5 g/t;
• 13 metres at 3.9 g/t;
• 6 metres at 8.0 g/t;
• 3 metres at 12.3 g/t;
• 27 metres at 0.6 g/t;
• 6 metres at 1.4 g/t; and
• 3 metres at 2.3 g/t.

Infill and extension drilling are ongoing (almost 10,000 metres drilled to date) with the goal of increasing the 4.7-million-ounce resource and upgrading the resource confidence to expedite project feasibility studies.

“Drilling confirms a higher-grade feeder zone”

NVA chief executive officer Christopher Gerteisen said: “The significance of these grades obtained this early in the infill program further confirms a higher-grade feeder zone within the SE Block B area of the Korbel Main deposit.

“Our expectation is that we will start to consistently intersect internal high-grade ‘blow-out’ zones, and that is exactly what these results show.

“This could mean a significant upgrade to the resource, with the next update to be released later this year.

“It will also have a major impact on our pit optimizations moving forward.”

Korbel Main plan view

Interim scoping study pending

The company is on track to deliver the interim scoping study for the Korbel Main deposits at its Estelle Project in July.

Trade-off studies considering a range of potential processing options are progressing, with the aim to determine capital and operating costs, whilst allowing the greatest operational flexibility as part of the upcoming interim scoping study.

Gerteisen said: “We see this upcoming interim scoping study as a ‘snap-shot in time’, a starting point, one which we are only set to grow from.

“The South East high-grade ‘zone still remains wide open with drilling to continue on infill as well as extensional drilling stepping out further along strike, potentially extending the strike of Korbel Main an additional 500 metres further South of the South-East Zone.

“We are starting to get a clearer structure of the deposit, which bodes for our move into PFS after this interim scoping study, where we will continue to hone and improve our capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expenditure (OPEX) estimates.

“These results and further from the ongoing drilling since April 2021 resource update will be included in the next resource update due for delivery later this year.

RPM drilling planned

Gerteisen said: “In addition to the exciting things happening at Korbel, another major milestone is in the crosshairs.

“The third diamond drill rig will be mobilised to the RPM prospect within days, commencing a drilling program which has the potential to add significant ounces to the Estelle Project resource inventory.

“We have a plan to release a maiden resource estimate for this program later this year.

“These results are just the beginning of drilling-related news flow for 2021.

“A consistent stream drilling samples are now coming through and will continue to be fed to the lab with results to follow in due course.”

The company is currently establishing an on-site sample prep-lab facility which is expected to result in reduced cost per assay and faster turnaround.

Story by ProactiveInvestors