- Nova Minerals (NVA) observes mineralisation consistent with historical results while drilling at the RPM prospect within the Estelle Gold Project in Alaska
- The drilling effort kicked off last month, with the company saying it’s on track to deliver a maiden mineral resource estimate later this year
- Samples from three drill holes have been sent to the lab for analysis and the company is gearing up to start field work to identify further targets
- NVA is expecting a fifth drill onsite in the coming weeks to ramp up drilling at its Korbel and RPM prospects
- Shares have been trading 4.76 per cent higher at 11 cents apiece at 1:48 pm AEST
Nova Minerals (NVA) said work at its RPM prospect within the Estelle Gold Project in Alaska is on track with observations indicating drilling is intersecting the mineralised zone.
The company kicked off the 2021 drilling effort last month with the aim of delivering a maiden mineral resource estimate later this year.
NVA has re-sampled a historical diamond drill hole to extend the depth of the mineralisation at RPM as the previous assay value at the bottom of hole was 0.2 grams of gold per tonne (g/t) and the company said the interval was well mineralised.
The re-sample was drilled to a depth of 380 metres to test the depth extension of the mineralisation.
The visually observed mineralisation in the re-sample is said to be identical to the mineralisation reported by Nova Minerals in September 2017, which the company believes provides evidence for the potential of an intrusive related gold system at the prospect.
Additionally, high-grade reconnaissance rock chip samples have defined an expanded footprint of the high priority targets within the RPM prospect.
Rock chip samples returned gold grades of between 5 g/t to 291 g/t.
CEO Christopher Gerteisen said the rocks observed so far in the drill core showed the company was hitting the target and intersecting the mineralised zone.
“In time, we expect to define multiple new shallow gold resources that will further support our goal of aggressively growing the resource inventory as we continue to move towards gold production at the Estelle Gold Project,” he said.
The re-sample and samples from two other holes have been sent to the lab for analysis.
NVA is also waiting for assay results for over 10,000 metres of drilling from its Korbel Main and RPM prospects.
In the meantime, the company is moving the project through the development pipeline and is expecting a fifth drill rig to arrive on site in the coming weeks to ramp up drilling at both the RPM and Korbel prospects.
Nova is primarily exploring for intrusion related gold system type deposits within the project. While the area has been completed by previous operators, Nova doesn’t have access to this data.
Consequently, NVA’s geological reconnaissance crew are set to commence field work to unlock further targets within the Estelle Gold district.
Shares were trading 4.76 per cent higher at 11 cents apiece at 1:48 pm AEST.