The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Explorer has $11m in bank with 70% of 2020 drilling complete North of 60 Mining News – September 4, 2020
The 2020 drill program at Estelle has tapped gold mineralization below and beside the 2.5-million-oz gold resource already outlined at Korbel blocks A and B.
Australia-based Nova Minerals Ltd. Aug. 31 announced it has plenty of cash in the bank to advance Korbel resource blocks A and B at its Estelle gold project in Alaska through the preliminary economic assessment stage and begin exploration of several nearby targets.
Since the beginning of the year Nova has raised roughly A$15.8 million (US$11.7 million) through the exercise of 486.8 million options.
"I would like to thank our shareholders for their continued support of Nova," said Nova Minerals CEO Christopher Gerteisen. "We look forward to updating all stakeholders on our exciting future as we execute our strategy with urgency on our path to production."
A roughly 20,000-meter drill program being carried out at Estelle this year is primarily focused on the 2.5 million ounces of gold Nova has outlined so far at Korbel, a gold target at the north end of the roughly 18-mile- (29 kilometers) long Estelle property.
This gold is encompassed within two resource blocks, A and B, that host 181.3 million metric tons of Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (JORC) compliant inferred resource averaging 0.43 grams per metric ton gold.
This year's drilling started at Korbel Block B, which is considered as a starter pit for future mining.
Highlights from the results received so far from 2020 Korbel Block B drilling include:
• 399.6 meters averaging 0.34 g/t gold, including 36.6 meters of 0.78 g/t gold in hole KBDH-001
• 539.7 meters of 0.27 g/t gold, including 15.5 meters of 1.05 g/t gold in KBDH-002.
• 516.6 meters of 0.28 g/t gold, including 130.5 meters of 0.61 g/t gold in KBDH-004.
• 429 meters of 0.6 g/t gold, including 101 meters of 1.3 g/t in KBDH-012.
These holes cut gold mineralization from at or near surface to depths of 100 to 200 meters below the resource.
Drills are now focused primarily on expanding Korbel Block A, which is immediately northwest of Block B.
While drills expand the 2.5-million-oz gold resource, geologists have begun exploration at several targets – Cathedral, You Beauty, Isabella, and Sweet Jenny – within 2,000 meters of the Korbel deposit.
Reconnaissance exploration at Cathedral includes sampling of outcropping quartz-arsenopyrite veining with values of 2.97 to 114 g/t gold. These high-grade gold samples have elevated Cathedral to one of Nova's highest priority drill targets for the 2021 program at Estelle.
In the meantime, the Aussie explorer is working on ore sorting studies and a PEA that are in progress.
The company's ability to expeditiously carry out the broad spectrum of work is thanks to having roughly A$15 million (US$11 million) in cash and cash equivalents with 70% of the planned 2020 drill program already complete.
"Today's announcement includes multiple positive developments for Nova, representing a further strengthening of our balance sheet as we fast track our resource drill out of Blocks A and B to meet our stated objectives," said Gerteisen. "We are fully funded to complete our PEA studies and Phase 2 metallurgical test work has begun. Drilling is ongoing to continue defining further ounces within Korbel."
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
Reader Comments(0)