(MENAFN- ABN Newswire) Nova Minerals Limited (ASX:NVA) (FRA:QM3) (OTCMKTS:NVAAF) is pleased to confirm further significant gold intersections received from diamond drilling within the Korbel Mining Complex at both Cathedral.
Nova CEO, Mr. Christopher Gerteisen commented: 'I am pleased to report that the maiden resource drilling program at the Cathedral prospect has confirmed another very broad and extensive mineralized gold zone, with over 500m in strike length, 350m in width and remains open in all directions. The initial wide spaced drill program was targeted to test below the previously discovered high-grade surface rock chip samples. While the initial drilling intersected the mineralized zone at a depth of ~200 meters below where the high-grade surface rock chips samples were taken, as we infill and target closer to the surface in the next round of follow up drilling, there remains further potential to intersect more shallow gold, as well as higher grade blow out zones within the identified mineralized zone at Cathedral. In the meantime, it is very encouraging to have discovered another large gold system. This discovery ranks Cathedral as the best future follow up drill target to realize further resource upside within the wider Korbel Mining Complex.
Despite the very encouraging initial results at Cathedral, it is important to note at this time the company is focusing its efforts primarily in the southern area of the Estelle Gold Project in and around the envisioned RPM Mining Complex. With resources at RPM now being proved up through further drilling, and additional resource targets identified in the Train area, the high-grade nature of the deposits, provide opportunity for potentially developing an additional mining center in the south, which will be tested as part of our PFS trade off studies, upon the completion of the Phase 2 Scoping Study.
Additionally, the resource definition and extensional drilling undertaken at RPM and Korbel in 2022 is expected to prove up the resources further, and an updated global Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) is now being completed, with the inclusion of the high-grade RPM ore in the production schedule in the Phase 2 Scoping Study, now well underway.
With long-term opportunity and the prospect of multiple mining complexes and processing plants across the single project, we continue on our path to becoming a world class, global gold producer.'
Highlights:
Maiden resource definition drilling at Cathedral has identified another broad zone of gold mineralization within the Korbel Mining Complex, located approximately 1.5km south of the proposed processing plant (Figures 1, 2 and 4*). Significant initial results at 0.1 g/t cutoff include:
o CTDD-001
- 354m @ 0.3 g/t Au from 104m, including;
- 11m @ 1.1 g/t Au from 123m
o CTDD-003B
- 269m @ 0.4 g/t Au from 168m, including;
- 70m @ 0.6 g/t Au from 335m
- 3m @ 2.7 g/t Au from 393m
- Mineralization remains open from surface in all directions, with over 500m of strike length and up to 350m in width, and the initial results show Cathedral has significant opportunity for higher grade 'blow out' zones within the core of the mineralization above the current drill results (Figures 1 and 3*)
- Sufficient drilling completed at Cathedral in 2022 to allow a maiden resource estimate to be completed on the prospect, which is now underway
- Final assays from the resource definition drilling at the Korbel Main Deposit, including the saddle area within the proposed conceptual Korbel Main pit zone, have now also been received (Tables 2 and 3*)
- 4 other prospects, You Beauty, Isabella, Blocks C&D and Sweet Jenny, at varying levels of exploration within the wider Korbel Valley, all within close proximity to the proposed processing plant site for the complex
- 30,000m of additional 2022 resource definition drilling completed at RPM North, RPM South, Korbel Main and Cathedral to be included in the updated global resource estimates now underway as part of the upcoming Phase 2 Scoping Study
While the Phase 2 Scoping will include the high-grade RPM ore being processed at the proposed Korbel Central Processing Plant, the significant scope for major resource development at RPM, and possibly another deposit in the Train area as well (subject to drilling to commence in 2023), has now given the company optionality to investigate in PFS level trade-off studies the case for potentially developing an initial standalone processing plant within the RPM Mining Complex, for the initial years, with another processing plant within the Korbel Mining Complex to be commissioned in later years, as outlined in the previously released Phase 1 Scoping Study (ASX Announcement 28 February 2022).
Drill planning for 2023 is also now underway to primarily focus on further high-grade resource definition at RPM, which aims to improve the geological understanding further to continue to grow the current high-grade resource in the area for early year mine life, as well as define a third resource deposit in the Train area
Snow Lake Resources (Nova majority owned lithium company) is well positioned for success as it transitions back to its core fundamentals of fast tracking its lithium development project with the aim of generating early positive cash flows from an initial simple direct shipping ore (DSO) operation and further spodumene concentrate sales.
Upcoming Milestones
- Global resource (MRE) updates for RPM North, RPM South, Korbel Main and Cathedral
- Phase 2 Scoping Study to be produced soon after the Global MRE is complete
- PFS test work and trade-off studies as they become available
- Drill planning for 2023, focusing on the RPM and Train areas
- Drilling at RPM to recommence with new drill plan upon completion of the resource estimate and Phase 2 Scoping Study
- Metallurgical test work ongoing for the highly anticipated and exciting Phase 2 Scoping Study
- Environmental test work ongoing
- The company is fundamentally running on schedule to unlock the Estelle Gold Project, which sits within the much larger Estelle Gold Trend, in a tier 1, safe jurisdiction.
*To view tables and figures, please visit:
's (asx:nva ) (fra:qm3 ) (OTCMKTS:NVAAF) vision is to develop North America's next major gold trend. The company is focused on exploration in Alaska's prolific Tintina Gold Belt, a province which hosts a 220 million ounce (Moz) documented gold endowment and some of the world's largest gold mines and discoveries including Victoria Gold's Eagle Mine and Kinross Gold Corporation's Fort Knox Gold Mine. The company's flagship Estelle Project has a current total estimated JORC gold resource of 9.6Moz (3Moz Indicated and 6.6Moz Inferred). Estelle is a 45km long string of 15 identified gold prospects bracketed by the Korbel deposit in the north and the RPM deposit in the south. These two deposits are currently host to extensive exploration programs.
Additionally, Nova has an indirect interest in the Canadian Thompson Brothers Lithium Project through a substantial stake in Snow Lake Resources Ltd (NASDAQ:LITM) and holds a 12.99% interest in Torian Resources Limited (ASX:TNR), a gold exploration company based in Western Australia.
Nova Minerals Ltd
P: +61-3-9614-0600
F: +61-3-9614-0550
WWW: novaminerals.com.au
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