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

Nova Minerals Ltd. May 24 said visual observation of core from this year's drilling at its Estelle project in Alaska indicates that mineralization extends beyond the inaugural 2.5-million-ounce inferred gold resource outlined in the Korbel deposit last summer.

Though assays are pending, Nova said hole KBDH-002 cut quartz-arsenopyrite veinlets from near the top of the hole to a depth of 200 meters below the block model outline, which extends to a depth of nearly 300 meters. Based on these observations, the Australia-based explorer said mineralization in Block B at Korbel continues to below depths of 500 meters.

"These drill results give us further encouragement that the Korbel prospect is a significant discovery with drilling ending in the same mineralization at 542.1 meters and remains open at depth," said Nova Minerals Managing director Avi Kimelman. "The continuation of mineralization at depth and the consistency of mineralization are further evidence of the potential of a big intrusive-related gold system in Block B alone on the Korbel prospect (one of 15 known prospects) and is much larger than first thought, remaining open well past design depth."

During the 2019 summer exploration season, Nova completed 18 holes at Korbel Block A and Block B, which were used to calculate an inaugural Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (JORC) compliant inferred resource for these blocks at the north end of the 18-mile (29 kilometers) long Estelle property.

Completed last fall, the calculation outlines 181.3 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.43 grams per metric ton (2.5 million oz) gold in these two blocks.

Nova Minerals Ltd.

Quartz and arsenopyrite veining at 408 meters (left) and 442 meters (right) encountered below the Korbel Block B resource at Estelle in hole KBDH-002.

The primary focus of this year's roughly 20,000-meter drill program is to upgrade and expand this resource.

With plans on getting a jump on the 2020 season, the company mobilized equipment to Estelle in February. Shortly after drilling got underway, however, the program was put on hiatus due to health concerns and restrictions related to the COVID-19 outbreak.

In late-April, Nova announced plans to restart drilling. KBDH-002 represents the first hole completed since resumption of the program.

"Nova is continuing its drilling program on the next hole," said Kimelman. "The camp is established, and the second rig is to start turning soon as we seek to determine the scale of the highly encouraging Korbel prospect."

The overall objective is to expand and upgrade the starter pit area of Block B ahead of a feasibility study currently slated for completion in 2021.

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Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

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