The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - October 4, 2024
The 2024 drill program at Estelle has focused on upgrading inferred resources at the RPM gold deposit to the higher confidence measured and indicated categories.
Massive stibnite (antimony mineral) sample collected from the Stibium prospect at Estelle.
Nova Minerals Ltd. Oct. 2 announced that it has hired Whittle Consulting to carry out optimization studies for Estelle that will focus on establishing an initial mine at the RPM deposit that can be scaled up to a larger operation at the gold-antimony project in Alaska's West Susitna Mineral District.
Lying about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska, Estelle hosts 244 million metric tons of S-K 1300-compliant measured and indicated resources averaging 0.3 grams per metric ton (2.72 million ounces) gold, plus 231 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.3 g/t (2.45 million oz) gold.
This resource is divided into two project areas at Estelle: the large bulk-tonnage Korbel area at the north end of the 198-square-mile (514 square kilometers) property and the higher-grade RPM area about 16 miles (25 kilometers) to the south.
In addition to more than 5 million oz of gold, Nova Minerals has identified high-grade antimony targets at several locations across the district-scale Estelle property. The most promising of these is Stibium, which hosts a two-meter-thick high-grade antimony-gold-silver vein the company bulk sampled this year.
Massive stibnite (antimony mineral) sample collected from the Stibium prospect at Estelle.
"Estelle is a major mineralized trend, hosting gold, antimony, silver, copper, and other critical elements and we are working to begin production as early as possible and operate for decades supplying the minerals the world needs," said Nova Minerals CEO Christopher Gerteisen.
Whittle, an Australia-based consulting firm that specializes in optimizing mine designs, will investigate the best path forward for establishing a starter mine at the smaller and higher-grade RPM deposit and then scaling up to a larger operation that takes full advantage of the gold and antimony outlined so far at Estelle.
"Nova consists of a small team working on the very large Estelle project and I am pleased with what we have been able to accomplish to date," said Gerteisen. "Now is the time take the next step by engaging high caliber consultants like Whittle Consulting to accelerate the FS (feasibility study) which will be initially focused on RPM as a scale-able low capex/high margin project with future expansion plans achieved through cashflow as soon as possible."
According to the calculation completed earlier this year, two adjacent deposits at RPM host 4.4 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 2.5 g/t (330,000 oz) gold, plus 46 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.5 g/t (800,000 oz) gold.
This resource, however, does not include approximately 6,600 meters of drilling completed late last year.
The results from the late-2023 holes and the drilling completed this year will be used to upgrade and expand resources for a feasibility study that details plans for a mine at RPM that can be scaled up over time.
The feasibility study, which is expected to be completed before the end of 2025, will consider a strategy that includes:
• Establishing an initial smaller-scale operation at RPM for potential near-term cash-flow that Nova Minerals can use to expand operation.
• Developing a larger mining operation with increased gold production and mine life that is attractive to potential large gold mining company strategic partners.
• Advancing the Stibium antimony-gold prospect as a standalone small-scale operation, with potential financial support from the U.S. Department of Defense, that can help alleviate the United States' reliance on antimony imports.
"We believe completion of a FS will put us in a position to submit our permit applications, a major step in the path to project development," said Gerteisen. "In parallel, we are also focused on the commercial aspects including financing and/or strategic partners which early discussions indicate may yield significant reductions in capital and operating costs."
An initial review by Whittle has identified opportunities to substantially improve Estelle project economics by increasing cash flows in the early years of production and optimizing life-of-mine metal production.
"We like Nova Mineral's open-minded approach and agility," said Whittle Consulting CEO Gerald Whittle. "The Estelle project presents near surface high-grade ore which lends itself to a highly profitable small-scale selective-mining approach to get into production and cash flow early, to contribute to a large expansion later to exploit the full potential of the ore body."
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)