Nova Minerals (ASX:NVA) hits “significant breakthrough” at flagship gold asset

• Nova Minerals (NVA) claims the latest round of metallurgical gold results from the Estelle Gold Project lead to a “significant breakthrough” at its flagship asset
• The ASX-lister delivered 95 and 92 per cent gold recoveries during phase two testwork at its 4.7-million-ounce Korbel Main deposit, situated within the Alaskan gold play
• Today’s news follows ore sorting results, released in March, which revealed x-ray technology could improve project economics at the Estelle gold play
• Overall, Nova believes today’s gold recoveries and the ore sorting results will advance its scoping study and bring Korbel Main one step closer to production
• The gold explorer hopes to upgrade Korbel’s gold resource and deliver a maiden resource estimate for its RPM gold deposit later this year
• Nova shares dipped 3.33 per cent into the red early in Wednesday’s session, trading at 14.5 cents per share

Nova Minerals (NVA) claims the latest round of metallurgical gold results from the Estelle Gold Project lead to a “significant breakthrough” at its flagship asset.

Leads from the 4.7-million-ounce Korbel Main deposit, a high priority target within the Alaskan gold play, reveal the gold explorer delivered “outstanding” gold recoveries during phase two testwork.

Specifically, Nova recovered over 95 per cent gold via floatation and more than 92 per cent gold through a leach circuit while exploring the deposit.

Ultimately, the leads are poised to advance Nova’s scoping study and fast-track the deposit’s development. Overall, the company expects progress across Korbel Main will fine-tune the Estelle Gold Project while it works towards producer status.

Today’s news follows ore sorting results, released in March, which revealed x-ray technology could improve project economics at the Estelle gold play.

Essentially, testwork on ore from Korbel Main revealed selective processing had the potential to lower operating costs, minimise environmental impact and increase mill feed grade at the project.

Speaking to today’s results, Nova Minerals CEO Chris Gerteisen said the progress brought the company one step closer to bringing the Korbel deposit into production.

“The combination of ore sorting and highly encouraging metallurgical results from Korbel Main mean that we can now press ahead to fast track our approach to production … which will possibly underpin a significant new long-life multi-decade, district-scale gold operation in Alaska,” he stated.

Looking ahead, the gold explorer hopes to upgrade Korbel’s gold resource and deliver a maiden resource estimate for its RPM gold deposit later this year. Overall, Nova has its sights set on becoming Alaska’s newest low-cost gold producer.

Nova shares dipped 3.33 per cent into the red early in Wednesday’s session, trading at 14.5 cents per share at 10:51 am AEST.