North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

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 alluvial material containing rare earths; niobium; titanium; and zirconium, all of which have been deemed critical minerals by the United States Geological Survey.

Finding a buyer or partner for Windy Creek would free up resources for advancing exploration at the Australia-based explorer's Estelle gold project about 40 miles southeast of the REE property.

Considering this interest, along with the value of Windy Creek not being reflected in the Nova share price, the Australian Stock Exchange listed company has engaged KPG Capital & Co. to negotiate the sale or joint venture of the REE asset.

"Nova will consider all opportunities for the Windy Fork REE project," said Nova Minerals Managing Director Avi Kimelman.

In the meantime, Nova has mobilized an exploration team to Estelle and field work is underway. Initial work is focused on Oxide North in preparation for drilling later this summer.

SE11-01, the discovery hole drilled at Oxide North in 2011, cut 450.7 meters averaging 0.38 grams per metric ton gold.

SE12-04, drilled to the southeast of the discovery hole in 2012, cut 41.5 meters averaging 1.1 g/t gold, indicating the drilling was vectoring toward higher gold grades as it approached a strong geophysical anomaly further southeast.

Using the data from drilling and other historical work done in the area, Nova calculates that the larger Oxide prospect – Oxide North and Oxide South – provides an exploration target with between 2.2 million to 5.5 million oz of gold.

Nova Minerals Ltd.

Nova Minerals is focusing its Alaska exploration primarily on Oxide North, one of the gold targets identified at Estelle.

The company plans to complete an initial 2,500 meters during an initial phase of drilling, with an additional 2,500 meters, dependent on the phase-1 results.

Alteration mapping at RPM and Shoeshine, two prospects at the southern end of the Estelle property, is set to get underway over the next month.

This, along with results from an induced polarization geophysical survey, will help prioritize targets for further 2019 drilling at Estelle.

"Our prioritization and systematic exploration strategy for major discoveries ensures that the highest quality targets with the largest potential tonnage are advanced rapidly and cost effectively," said Kimelman. "This strategy is essential for Nova to have an advanced footprint of drill ready exploration targets well ahead of the drill rigs."

–SHANE LASLEY