The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Results bode well for upgrading, expanding deposit at Estelle North of 60 Mining News – August 26, 2022
The 2022 drilling at RPM North is cutting long sections of high-grade gold at this 1.5-million-ounce gold deposit on Nova Minerals' Estelle property in Alaska.
A drill tests RPM South, a previously undrilled gold target about 600 meters south of RPM North.
Nova Minerals Ltd. Aug. 22 followed up on the long sections of high-grade gold assays reported earlier this month from drilling at RPM North with even longer sections of higher-grade gold at this exciting gold deposit on the Australia-based explorer's Estelle property in Alaska.
Located about 16 miles south of the 8.1-million-ounce Korbel gold deposit at the north end of the Estelle property, RPM hosts 23.1 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging two grams per metric ton (1.5 million oz) gold.
This resource was calculated from the results of six holes drilled prior to the 2022 summer exploration season in Alaska. To upgrade and expand upon this resource, Nova plans to complete at least 40 more holes at RPM North and adjacent RPM South gold target.
On Aug. 8, the company reported long sections of strong gold mineralization in the first four holes drilled at RPM North this year; highlights include:
• 140 meters averaging 6.5 g/t gold from a depth of 44 meters in RPM-008, including 56 meters averaging 10.1 g/t gold and two meters averaging 53.4 g/t gold.
• 155 meters averaging 2.4 g/t gold from a depth of 16 meters in hole RPM-010, including 30 meters averaging 10 g/t gold and three meters averaging 56.4 g/t gold.
Further details from this drilling can be found at Nova drills 140m of 6.5 g/t gold at RPM in the August 12, 2022 edition of North of 60 Mining News.
The latest batch of assay results continued to encounter long sections of strong gold mineralization at RPM, including:
• 258 meters averaging 5.1 g/t gold from surface in hole RPM-015, including 161 meters averaging 8.1 g/t gold, and 14 meters averaging 51.2 g/t gold.
• 113 meters averaging 1.4 g/t gold from a depth of eight meters in hole RPM-018, including 55 meters averaging 2.1 g/t gold and 11 meters averaging 4.5 g/t gold.
"I am pleased to report more shallow high‐grade broad mineralization from our drilling at RPM," said Nova Minerals CEO Christopher Gerteisen. "This program is part of a targeted program designed to allow for further increases to potential measured and indicated resources in the next MRE (mineral resource estimate) on the high-grade RPM deposit."
In addition to upgrading the current resource, drills are stepping out to the west to test a roughly 1,400-meter-long magnetic anomaly associated with the high-grade gold currently being drilled.
The company is also testing RPM South, a zone about 600 meters southeast of current drilling at RPM North. Rock samples collected by Nova geologists at RPM South returned assays with as much as 103 g/t gold. RPM South also hosts a magnetic geophysical anomaly that is similar but smaller to the one found at RPM North.
The volume of samples from the companies carrying out mineral exploration during the summer season in Alaska and northern Canada has slowed assay turnaround times. Because of this, Nova has assays pending from more than 50 holes drilled at RPM and Korbel this year.
This assay lab backlog will likely slow the completion of Nova's phase-two scoping study for RPM and Korbel, which was originally slated for completion later this year.
"As we continue with our aggressive 2022 diamond drilling program, we are mindful of the extensive delays currently being experienced in the laboratory assay turnaround times, and while we are still hoping to deliver the Phase 2 Scoping Study on time, the latest results show that it is important that we include as many of the drill results from the current program as we can in the upcoming MRE," said Gerteisen. "In light of this, PFS level trade off studies will now commence in tandem, which aims to optimize the project with a view to increasing the gold production schedule and NPV (net present value) significantly across the Estelle Gold Trend, as we continue on our path towards commercial production."
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.
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