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

Nova Minerals Ltd. Dec. 11 reported that its 2023 drilling has cut broad sections of high-grade gold with resource upgrade and expansion drilling at the RPM North deposit on its Estelle property in Alaska.

"These latest drilling results at RPM North confirm the consistency of mineralization and also clearly indicate the potential for resource growth, both in terms of size and confidence," said Nova Minerals CEO Christopher Gerteisen. "Several drill holes intersected mineralization outside of the existing resource area which is very exciting. This includes up-dip right up to the surface which should add volume to the resource of relatively easy to access material in any future mining scenario and will potentially have a significant impact on future economic studies."

Lying about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, Estelle is a 198-square-mile (513 square kilometers) land package that hosts 1.1 billion metric tons of global resources averaging 0.3 grams per metric ton (9.9 million ounces) gold.

The largest portion of this resource is found at Korbel Main, a deposit at the north end of the Estelle property that hosts 320 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.3 g/t (3.09 million oz) gold and 480 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.2 g/t (3.55 million oz) gold.

The Cathedral deposit, about 1,500 meters southwest of Korbel Main, hosts an additional 240 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.3 g/t (2.01 million oz) of gold.

While not yet as large, the RPM deposit area about 16 miles (25 kilometers) south of Korbel hosts higher-grade gold mineralization.

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.

RPM South, which lies about 800 meters to the southeast, hosts another 31 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.4 g/t (420,000 oz) gold.

Much of Nova Minerals' 2023 drill program focused on upgrading, expanding, and testing for a link between the two RPM deposits.

Expanding RPM North

Since drilling its first holes at RPM North in 2022, Nova Minerals has outlined a deposit of strong gold mineralization that includes broad high-grade zones.

Highlights from previous drilling at RPM North include:

• 400 meters averaging 3.5 g/t gold from surface in hole RPM-005, including 132 meters averaging 10.1 g/t gold.

• 220 meters averaging 1 g/t gold from surface in hole RPM-006, including 101 meters averaging 2 g/t gold.

• 140 meters averaging 6.5 g/t gold from a depth of 44 meters in RPM-008, including 56 meters averaging 10.1 g/t gold.

• 155 meters averaging 2.4 g/t gold from a depth of 16 meters in hole RPM-010, including 30 meters averaging 10 g/t gold.

• 258 meters averaging 5.1 g/t gold from surface in hole RPM-015, including 78 meters averaging 16 g/t gold.

• 107 meters averaging 7.4 g/t gold from a depth of 41 meters in RPM-033, including 80 meters averaging 9.8 g/t gold.

Nova says the 2023 drilling continues to confirm strong continuity of the high-grade zone at RPM North, which remains open in several directions.

Highlights from 16 holes drilled at RPM North this year include:

• 98 meters averaging 3.4 g/t gold from a depth of 48 meters in RPM-056, including 38 meters averaging 7.5 g/t gold.

• 120 meters averaging 5 g/t gold from a depth of 93 meters in RPM-057, including 79 meters averaging 7.4 g/t gold.

• 74 meters averaging 2.5 g/t gold from a depth of 83 meters in RPM-61, including 13 meters averaging 6.2 g/t gold.

• 231 meters averaging 2.4 g/t gold from a depth of 39 meters in RPM-065, including 87 meters averaging 4.6 g/t gold.

Nova Minerals Ltd.

A 3D model looking northeast at the currently envisioned open pit at high-grade RPM gold deposit. The black lines represent 2023 drill traces. The white lines are from previous drilling.

In addition to tracing the high-grade RPM North deposit to surface, Gerteisen said the 2023 drilling is broader gold mineralization with the middle section of the current orebody and is tracing the down-dip extension of the high-grade gold mineralization.

"It is clear from these results that the RPM deposit remains wide open with no shortage of targets to capture further resource upside in upcoming drill programs," he said.

The RPM North holes reported so far were drilled from pads atop a ridge. Late last year, Nova reported that deeper drilling from this higher vantage encountered a large mineralized intrusive that may link RPM North and South at depth.

Assays are pending from 2023 holes drilled from a valley that provides a better vantage for testing this deeper intrusive.

The assays from 2023 RPM drilling will be incorporated into an updated mineral resource estimate and prefeasibility study slated for completion in 2024.

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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