The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - October 9, 2024
The 2024 drill program at Estelle is focused on upgrading and expanding resources at RPM in support of a feasibility study that considers a starter mine at the higher-grade gold deposit.
Nova Minerals Ltd. Oct. 9 reported that the first batch of assays from the 21-hole drill program carried out this year at Estelle confirms the continuity and strength of near-surface gold mineralization at RPM, a higher-grade deposit that is expected to be the site of the first mine on the 198-square-mile (514 square kilometers) gold-antimony property about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage, Alaska.
According to an S-K 1300-compliant calculation completed early this year, Estelle hosts 244 million metric tons of 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: the large bulk-tonnage Korbel area at the north end of the Estelle property and the higher-grade RPM area about 16 miles (25 kilometers) to the south.
A feasibility study (FS) currently underway will detail the economic and engineering parameters of establishing an initial mine at RPM that can be scaled up to a larger operation that takes full advantage of the gold outlined so far at Estelle.
According to the calculation completed earlier this year, the adjacent North and South 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 last year. These results, along with the drilling completed this year, will be incorporated into an updated RPM resource for the feasibility study.
Nova reports that the first batch of results from the 2024 infill and step-out drilling confirm the continuity of higher-grade mineralization at RPM North.
Highlights from four holes targeting near-surface gold mineralization of the current measured and indicated resources include:
• 43 meters averaging 4.4 g/t gold from a depth of two meters in hole RPMRC-24005.
• 21 meters averaging 3.5 g/t gold from a depth of two meters in hole RPMRC-24006.
• 14 meters averaging 1.9 g/t gold from a depth of two meters in hole RPMRC-24007.
• 45 meters averaging 3.4 g/t gold from surface in hole RPMRC-24008.
The company also reported results from four holes drilled to test for a link between the RPM North core zone and the RPM Valley zone situated approximately 150 meters to the Southwest. Highlights include:
• 24 meters averaging 0.6 g/t gold from a depth of six meters in hole RPMRC-24001.
• 45 meters averaging 0.6 g/t gold from a depth of three meters in hole RPMRC-24002.
• 25 meters averaging 0.5 g/t gold from a depth of 17 meters in hole RPMRC-24003.
• 31 meters averaging 0.6 g/t gold from a depth of three meters in hole RPMRC-24004.
"These results speak for themselves, and we believe will add considerable value to the upcoming resource update and ultimately the FS which will be focused on RPM as a scale-able low capex/high margin project with future expansion plans achieved through cashflow as soon as possible," said Nova Minerals CEO Christopher Gerteisen.
In parallel with the feasibility study for unlocking Estelle's multi-million-oz gold potential starting with a mine at RPM, Nova is investigating the potential of establishing a small, standalone antimony mine on the property, with potential support from the U.S. Department of Defense. The company says this work is primarily focused on the high-grade Stibium and Styx antimony-gold discoveries.
"At the Stibium prospect our field crews are continuing to find near surface, massive stibnite veining and gold-antimony zones, which present opportunities to assess the stand-alone potential of a quick start antimony operation, particularly with the China export restrictions," Gerteisen said earlier this year.
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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