Nova Minerals Ltd. Aug. 21 announced the start of discovery drilling at Train, a highly prospective gold target about 4.5 miles (seven kilometers) north of the RPM deposit on the company's 9.9-million-ounce Estelle gold project in Alaska.

"We are excited to be putting the first holes into our never before drill tested Train prospect where surface gold occurrences collected over several years by geologists have indicated that another large IRGS (intrusive related gold system) gold structure, similar to the high-grade structure at RPM, may be hosted," said Nova Minerals CEO Christopher Gerteisen.

Highlights from surface samples collected from the Train and adjacent Shoeshine targets by Nova geologists include 80.2 g/t, 30.4 g/t, 24.5 g/t, 21.6 g/t, and 17.9 g/t gold.

The Nova exploration team also collected high-grade gold samples from the Trumpet discovery, which lies about a mile (1.5 kilometers) north of Train. Highlights from the 2022 sampling at Trumpet include 32.8 g/t, 16.6 g/t, 16.0 g/t, 13.6 g/t, and 12.7 g/t gold.

Samples with grades as high as 30.4 g/t and 21.6 g/t gold have been collected between Train and Trumpet.

With the ultimate goal of establishing a third major gold resource area on the Estelle property, Nova Minerals plans to drill up to 12 holes this year at Train.

"The first pass exploration drilling at Train this year has been specifically designed to test the mineralized structures and controls on mineralization, along with lithology, alteration styles and mineralization types, to better understand where the gold expressed at surface originates from," said Gerteisen. "Subject to the results of this drilling, the aim is to develop a maiden inferred resource at Train this year."

Targeting deeper RPM intrusive

The startup of drilling at Train follows the completion of the initial phase of this year's resource expansion and upgrade drilling at RPM.

The RPM North deposit hosts 4.7 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 2.3 g/t (340,000 oz) gold and 26 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.6 g/t (480,000 oz) gold.

The adjacent RPM South hosts another 31 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.4 g/t (420,000 oz) gold.

The 2023 Estelle program has begun with drilling on a ridgeline at RPM focused on upgrading and expanding the higher-grade gold zones at both RPM deposits.

Highlights from previous RPM Ridge drilling include:

• 400 meters averaging 3.5 g/t gold in hole RPM-005.

• 260 meters averaging 3.6 g/t gold in hole RPM-008.

• 258 meters averaging 5.1 g/t gold in hole RPM-015.

With ridgeline drilling complete at the RPM North and South pads, the drills have been moved to the valley to test a second intrusive intersected in the lower part of two holes drilled last year – RPM-037 and RPM-025.

Highlights from some of the holes that encountered this large intrusive body include:

• 76 meters averaging 1.2 g/t gold from a depth of 440 meters in hole RPM-025.

• 103 meters averaging 1 g/t gold from a depth of 325 meters in hole RPM-037.

• 79 meters averaging 1 g/t gold from a depth of 471 meters in hole RPM-037.

Nova Minerals Ltd.

In December, Nova reported that structural data from oriented core indicates that this deeper and apparently much larger mineralized intrusive may link RPM North and RPM South.

Assays are pending from all holes drilled this year at RPM.

Author Bio

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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