The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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In what appears to be a positive turn for the 2020 exploration season in Alaska, Nova Minerals Ltd. is preparing to have drills turning again soon at its 2.5-million-ounce Estelle gold project. The Australia-based explorer mobilized equipment and crews earlier this year to carry out an 18,500-meter 2020 phase-1 program at Estelle. Drilling got underway in February but was quickly wound down due to health concerns and restrictions related to the COVID-19 outbreak. Following a...
Nova Minerals Ltd. Feb. 17 announced the start of a 18,500-meter 2020 phase-1 program at its Estelle gold project in Alaska. "We are pleased to have commenced the 2020 drill program so early on in the season and look forward to an exciting growth period for Nova in 2020 with the view of significantly increasing the resource," said Nova Minerals Managing director Avi Kimelman. This resource development drilling program will initially target an area of Korbel Block B that is...
Nova Minerals Ltd. Jan. 15 announced it has raised A$4.3 million (US$3 million) to fund the early 2020 exploration program at its Estelle gold project in Alaska. Located about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, Estelle hosts 181.3 million metric tons of Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (JORC) compliant inferred resource averaging 0.43 grams per metric ton (2.5 million ounces) gold. This resource, which the Australia-based explorer outlined during...
In November 1996, a little over 23 years ago, I began writing quarterly mining news summaries for the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG). Shortly after that, I began writing monthly summaries for this publication's ancestor, Mining News Alaska, and have continued both monthly, quarterly and annual mining news summaries ever since. With this summary, I have written my last Alaska update for North of 60 Mining News. When I wrote my first summary, Greens Creek was milling only...
Nova Minerals Ltd. Dec. 30 reported that initial metallurgical testing indicates strong gold recoveries from the Oxide Korbel deposit on its Estelle property in Alaska. The company had 25 samples from its drilling at Korbel analyzed for gold recoveries. With a 12-hour bottle roll test, 76 percent of the gold was recovered from one-kilogram samples. Nova said these results indicate the potential of establishing a low-cost, heap leach mining operation at Estelle, where the...
With two Australian companies making major investments and several exploration companies from Down Under chomping at the bit to get into the field, 2020 is shaping up to be the best year for Alaska's mining sector in a decade. When you add up the investments South32 Ltd. plans to make in the Ambler Mining District and other exploration projects; Northern Star Resources Ltd.'s spending at the Pogo gold mine; and the exploration dollars at least five other Aussie companies are...
Nova Minerals Ltd. Dec. 9 announced that it has defined targets for a roughly 25,000-meter resource expansion and exploration drill program at its Estelle gold project in Alaska. Located about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, Estelle hosts 181.3 million metric tons of Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (JORC) compliant inferred resource averaging 0.43 grams per metric ton (2.5 million ounces) gold. This resource, which the Australia-based...
An abnormally long fall has allowed the Alaska mining industry to extend seasonal work well into mid-October, creating a lot of new information about project work conducted around the state. Exploration efforts, in particular, benefitted from this additional field time. Based on information available to date, 2019 exploration expenditures are expected to be in the $135-140 million range, well ahead of the $120-125 million exploration spending tracked for 2018. In addition,...
Nova Minerals Ltd. Sept. 30 said it is gearing up for a planned 25,000-meter drill program at its Estelle gold property in Alaska. The Australia-based explorer, which submitted applications for the permits needed to carry out the exploration and establish a permanent camp at Estelle, plans to have drills turning on the gold property in January. "We are currently in planning and permitting stage on the Estelle gold project and will be drilling as soon as permits are in," said...
If you have watched the metals markets over the last month, you know why Alaska's mineral industry has surged, stalled, swerved, swooped, slowed, shelved and stuttered, sometimes all at the same time! Gold has gone above US$1,500 per ounce; copper pundits are predicting an increasingly dour future; zinc markets are looking to dive below $1.00 per pound; tin markets have marched strongly upward due to supply disruptions; and silver bulls are calling for annual worldwide...
Nova Minerals Ltd. Sept. 17 announced that re-assaying of core from previous drilling has confirmed another potential gold deposit on its Estelle property in Alaska. Last week, the Australia-based explorer announced a maiden inferred resource of 181.3 million metric tons averaging 0.43 g/t (2.5 million oz) gold for the Oxide Korbel deposit at the north end of Estelle. Now, the company reports promising results from RPM, a target at the southern end of the roughly 18-mile-long...
Nova Minerals Ltd. Sept. 11 reported that it has outlined 2.5 million ounces of gold in a maiden inferred resource estimate for the Oxide Korbel deposit on the company's Estelle project in Alaska. Previously known as Oxide Ridge, the Oxide Korbel is located at the northern end of the roughly 18-mile-long Estelle property. The Oxide Korbel discovery hole, drilled by Millrock Resources Inc. in 2011, cut 450.7 meters averaging 0.38 grams per metric ton gold in an area Nova now...
Nova Minerals Ltd. Sept. 2 said results from this year's drill program at its Estelle gold project in Alaska has cut higher grade, near-surface mineralization within a bulk tonnage gold deposit at Oxide Korbel. Oxide Korbel is a prospect area that roughly covers an area previously referred to as Oxide Ridge toward the north end of the roughly 18-mile-long Estelle property. SE11-01, the Oxide Ridge discovery hole drilled by Millrock Resources Inc. in 2011, cut 450.7 meters...
As the rest of the country suffers through the Dog Days of summer, Alaska is approaching the end of a topsy-turvy summer season that saw unseasonably hot, dry weather in some parts of the state during some parts of the summer, while other parts of the state have seen record rainfall and unseasonably early snowfall. Gold prices have skyrocketed over the $1,500 per ounce mark and silver prices have moved strongly up, now trading at a one-year high. However, copper and zinc are a...
Nova Minerals Ltd. Aug. 12 reported that the preliminary resource drill program at its Estelle gold project in Alaska has been completed on time and under budget. As a result of the acceleration of its induced polarization (IP) geophysical survey and drill campaign this year, Nova said it has made significant headway toward reporting an initial Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (JORC) compliant for Oxide Korbel, a new occurrence in the Oxide area at the north end of the...
Earlier this month Reuters reported that several agencies within the U.S. Federal government were "rapidly assessing" our domestic ability to mine and refine rare earth elements and utilize those 17 super cool elements in value-added products needed for a wide and ever-growing array of consumer and national defense products. Not surprisingly, mining industry officials demurred when quizzed about supplying information on where rare elements might be mined in the U.S. and how...
Earlier this month S&P Global put out a summary indicating that during the first quarter of 2019 metals like copper, zinc and nickel were up quarter over quarter by 11 percent, 22 percent and 25 percent, respectively. More recently gold has skyrocketed beyond the $1,400-per-ounce mark for the first time in many months. Correspondingly, the mining industry's aggregate market cap also rebounded strongly in the period after four bearish quarters, rising 12 percent to $1.43...
Nova Minerals Ltd. June 21 announced the start of drilling at the Oxide gold prospect on the Estelle project about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska. The Australia-based explorer plans to complete 5,000 meters of drilling in two phases. The second phase will be decided by the 2,500-meter phase-1 results. "It's great to be back drilling at the district-scale Estelle gold project," said Nova Minerals Managing Director Avi Kimelman. "A great deal of work has gone into...
Nova Minerals Ltd. June 3 said it is looking into the potential of selling or bringing on a partner to advance exploration of its Windy Fork rare earth elements (REE) project in Southwest Alaska. During recent meeting in New York City, Nova directors received strong interest in Windy Creek and the placer REE occurrences identified on the property. Bulk sampling at Windy Fork in the 1990s indicates that the placer deposit there contains roughly 17 million cubic meters of...
As is usually the case this time of year, news about Alaska mineral activities is a bit sparse this month as planning activities are at flank speed ahead of next month's surge in field activities. That said, there has been a blizzard of mineral industry data released recently that has both direct and indirect applications to the Alaska mineral industry. First off, some internally generated data. Current public and private budget announcements suggest Alaska's exploration...
When it comes to attracting mining investment, Alaska, British Columbia and all three Canadian territories rank among the top 20 jurisdictions in the world on the Fraser Institute Survey of Mining Companies 2018. This report asks industry professionals from around the globe to score mining jurisdictions based on their mineral endowment and various policy topics important to mining. "The mining survey-now in its 21st year-is the most comprehensive report card on government...
Those of you that attended the recent Cordilleran Roundup Convention in Vancouver can attest to the exuberant, upbeat atmosphere that pervaded the conference and was very much in evidence at the standing-room only festivities at our annual self-hosted Alaska Night meet and greet. But digging down under this veneer of optimism, many of the junior explorers and most of the producers admitted to their expectations of challenging times in 2019. Putting words to this apparent...
As the year waned, Alaska's mining industry reported some of the last of its 2018 seasonal field results while the University of Alaska and state of Alaska released some current and projected state-wide economics. At the same time, some macro-economic data was released for the global mining industry. Combined, these figures show a mix of encouraging and not so encouraging trends facing the Alaska mining industry. At the global scale, things for the mining industry are looking...
When it comes to mineral exploration incentives, currency exchange and infrastructure, Alaska is at a disadvantage in the realm of attracting exploration investments from Canada and Australia, countries that are home to the majority of mining companies. The Far North State's vast and underexplored mineral potential, however, trumps these handicaps in the minds of a growing number of miners and mineral explorers. Mining executives from around the globe perennially rank Alaska...
Melbourne, Australia-based Nova Minerals Ltd. first looked north to Alaska late in 2017, when it acquired five Alaska properties – Estelle, a gold-copper-silver project about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage; Chip-Loy, a nickel-copper-cobalt-gold-silver-platinum group element project; Bowser Creek, a silver-zinc-lead project; Windy Fork, a rare earth elements property; and Ozzna Creek, a gold-silver-zinc-copper-lead property. Nova Minerals' 2019 exploration focused p...
