Nova Minerals Ltd. June 16 announced the start of drilling at RPM, a potentially higher-grade zone that represents the next stage of growth on the company's Estelle gold property in Alaska.

Situated about 16 miles (25 kilometers) south of Korbel, where Nova has outlined 4.7 million ounces of gold in 518 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.3 grams per metric ton gold, RPM is a high-priority exploration target with very high gold grades at surface.

One hole drilled by a previous operator in 2012 cut 177.4 meters averaging 0.79 g/t gold from a depth of 4.3 meters at RPM, including 50.2 meters of 1.75 g/t gold.

Nova's surface exploration near the discovery hole, an area now known as RPM-1, turned up rock samples with strong gold grades, including one sample averaging 291 g/t gold.

At RPM-2, a second area about 600 meters to the southeast, Nova geologists have collected multiple rock samples with high-grade gold. The highest-grade samples from this area contained 103 g/t, 13.1 g/t, 9.3 g/t, 9 g/t, and 8.8 g/t gold.

"The spectacular grades obtained from RPM rock chip sampling in both RPM1 and the newly discovered RPM2 zone, alongside the encouraging drill results from the re-sampled historical 2012 diamond drill hole SE12-008, open up another Estelle target outside of the Korbel Valley prospects. This is in line with our plans to unlock a district containing multiple, large-scale gold deposits," said Nova Minerals CEO Christopher Gerteisen.

Nova plans to begin unlocking the potential at RPM with drilling at both zones.

"Being one of 15 other high priority exploration targets within the Estelle gold district, RPM is presenting surface features indicative of a much larger footprint than first thought, with a second much larger, high-grade zone now identified," Gerteisen said. "We believe there is a possibility that the RPM1 and RPM2 zones converge at depth, and this drilling program is designed to test this theory."

Based on the results of this drilling, the company plans to publish a maiden resource estimate for RPM later this year.

Nova also plans to soon have geological crews carrying out exploration to advance some of the other high priority prospects across the 18-mile- (29 kilometers) length of Estelle.

"The team is confident as it continues to advance a pipeline of prospects within the Estelle Gold District. The commencement of drilling at RPM marks the start of Nova's next stage of growth, for the benefit of all stakeholders," the Nova Minerals CEO said. "We currently have 4.7 million oz at the Korbel Main deposit, which represents just the beginning of our Estelle journey, one that is fueled by much larger ambitions."

These ambitions include upgrading and expanding the resources outlined at Korbel with the goal of expediting a feasibility study for the development of a mine at this project at the north end of the Estelle property.

Nova Minerals Ltd.

Two high-grade gold samples collected from the RPM target on Nova Minerals' Estelle property. The rock on the left returned assays of 291 g/t gold at RPM-1. The right sample, collected at RPM-2, contained 103 g/t gold.

To keep its ambitious plans on track Nova has built an on-site facility to prepare samples for the assay lab, which should help prevent delays from backlogs at other prep facilities during the busy summer 2021 exploration season in Alaska.

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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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