Nova Minerals Limited (ASX: NVA) has drilled significant grades at Korbel Main, within the company’s flagship Estelle Gold Project located in the prolific Tintina Gold Belt of Alaska.
CEO, Christopher Gerteisen, said Korbel drilling is ongoing with almost 10,000m drilled to date and further results to follow in the near term. He added that geologically, some of these samples are looking very promising, showing encouraging gold grade indicators in terms mineralogy and high vein densities as revealed in hole KBDH-066.
The significance of these grades obtained this early in the infill program further confirms a higher- grade feeder zone within the SE Block B area of the Korbel Main deposit,” Mr Gerteisen said.
“Our expectation is that we will start to consistently intersect internal high-grade ‘blow-out’ zones, and that is exactly what these results show. This could mean a significant upgrade to the resource, with the next update to be released later this year. It will also have a major impact on our pit optimizations moving forward.
As such, we see this upcoming interim scoping study as a ‘snap-shot in time’, a starting point, one which we are only set to grow from.
The South East high-grade ‘zone still remains wide open with drilling to continue on infill as well as extensional drilling stepping out further along strike, potentially extending the strike of Korbel Main an additional 500m further South of the South-East Zone.
“We are starting to get a clearer structure of the deposit, which bodes for our move into PFS after this interim scoping study, where we will continue to hone and improve our capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expenditure (OPEX) estimates.
“These results and further from the ongoing drilling since April 2021 resource update will be included in the next resource update due for delivery later this year.
“In addition to the exciting things happening at Korbel, another major milestone is in the cross hairs. The third diamond drill rig will be mobilised to the RPM prospect within days, commencing a drilling program which has the potential to add significant ounces to the Estelle Project resource inventory. We have plan to release a Maiden Resource Estimate for this program later this year.
“These results are just the beginning of drilling related news flow for 2021. A consistent stream drilling samples are now coming through and will continue to be fed to the lab with results to follow in due course.”
The company is currently establishing an on-site sample prep-lab facility which will result in reduced cost per assay and faster turnaround.
