Anchorage, Alaska, Oct. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nova Minerals Limited ("Nova” or the "Company”) (NASDAQ: NVA) (ASX: NVA) (FRA: QM3) is pleased to announce further high-grade thick intercepts from the final six holes of the 21 hole reverse circulation (RC) drilling program conducted in the RPM starter pit area in 2024, within its over 500km2 flagship Estelle Gold Project, located in the Tintina Gold Belt in Alaska. The shallow drilling program was focused on near surface mineralization <50m in depth in support of the RPM starter mine PFS currently underway.
Highlights
- 2024 drilling extends the high-grade core zone at RPM to surface with over 20 significant broad intercepts grading > 5 g/t Au and a high of 52.7 g/t Au
- Resource update including 2023 and 2024 drill results underway
- High-grade gold intersections targeting near surface mineralization above the current high-grade Measured and Indicated core continue at RPM North with all holes ending in mineralization. Significant results include (Table 1 and Figures 2 to 4):
- RPMRC-24017
- 29m @ 7.1 g/t Au from surface including;
- 22m @ 9.4 g/t Au from surface
- 6m @ 19.9 g/t Au from 16m
- 3m @ 32.2 g/t Au from 17m
- 2m @ 52.7 g/t Au from 19m
- RPMRC-24020
- 28m @ 4.5 g/t Au from surface including;
- 23m @ 5.3 g/t Au from 5m
- 6m @ 14.3 g/t Au from 11m
- 3m @ 25.0 g/t Au from 14m
- RPMRC-24021
- 34m @ 3.9 g/t Au from surface including;
- 3m @ 8.3 g/t Au from 20m
- RPMRC-24019
- 66m @ 2.1 g/t Au from surface including;
- 63m @ 2.2 g/t Au from surface
- 25m @ 3.4 g/t Au from surface
- 11m @ 2.8 g/t Au from 43m
- RPMRC-24017
- All drill holes ended in gold mineralization, with hole RPMRC-24010 ending in 15.5 g/t Au.
- Assay results from all 21 holes from the 2024 resource drilling program at RPM North have now all been received and reported extending the high-grade core zone at RPM to surface.
- Resource update including both the 2023 and 2024 drill results is now underway.
- Assay results from the over 500 soil and 225 rock samples collected as part of the extensive 2024 surface exploration and mapping program targeting gold, antimony and other critical minerals from traverses at Stibium, Wombat, West Wing, Stoney, Muddy Creek, RPM, Styx, and the new claims added in 2023, will be reported by area once received and processed.
- RPM starter mine Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS), and updated economic study of the Estelle wide project in progress, with the aim to commence with a smaller scale, low capex, high-margin starter mine at RPM as soon as possible, which we believe will provide cash flow to fund the expansion of the larger Estelle project organically.
- Whittle Consulting commenced project optimization work.
To watch a 3D Vrify video commentary on the 2024 RPM drill results, with CEO, Christopher Gerteisen please click here
Nova Minerals CEO, Mr Christopher Gerteisen commented: "The 2024 drill results have confirmed a broad zone of high-grade mineralization starting at surface at RPM North. This should prove positive for our upcoming studies focused on executing our current strategy to fast track development of RPM as a scale-able low capex/high margin starter operation that we believe will generate the cash flow to facilitate future mine expansion plans and further unlock the larger Estelle Project which remains one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in the world, with significant upside remaining with gold, antimony, copper, silver, and other critical elements. These latest results of high-grade mineralization will be included in the upcoming MRE and PFS, which we look forward to providing to our shareholders in due course.”
RPM 2024 Drilling Summary
A total of 21 shallow RC holes were drilled at RPM as part of the 2024 drill program, and assay results for all holes have now been received and reported. The drilling was focused on near surface mineralization <50m in depth and had two main objectives.
1. The first and primary objective was to infill and prove up near surface inferred resources that define the up dip extension of the steep to vertical dipping RPM North high-grade core zone, where previous high-grade results included:
- RPM-005: 400m @ 3.5 g/t Au from surface, including 132m @ 10.1 g/t Au (ASX Announcement: 11 October 2021)
- RPM-008: 260m @ 3.6 g/t Au from 11m, including 140m @ 6.5 g/t Au (ASX Announcement: 8 August 2022)
- RPM-015: 258m @ 5.1 g/t Au from surface, including 117m @ 11.1 g/t Au (ASX Announcement: 22 August 2022)
- RPM-057: 211m @ 3.2 g/t Au from 3m, including 120m @ 5.0 g/t Au (ASX Announcement: 11 December 2023)
2. The secondary objective of the shallow 2024 drill program was to extend drilling to the South and Southwest of the current RPM North resource to begin to test a potential link with the RPM Valley zone situated approximately 150m to the Southwest. Highly prospective mineralized intrusive rocks have been observed in this area in recent geological mapping and confirmed with anomalous surface sample results. The results returned from previously announced holes RPMRC-24001 to RPMRC-24004 indicate the RPM North deposit remains wide open to the South-Southwest and is potentially connected to the RPM Valley zone (Figure 2). This warrants further follow-up diamond drilling to test the considerable resource upside potential.
The 2024 drill program delivered over 20 significant broad intercepts from surface grading > 5 g/t Au including:
- RPMRC-24017: 29m @ 7.1 g/t Au from surface, including 22m @ 9.4 g/t Au (ASX Announcement: 23 October 2024)
- RPMRC-24016: 39m @ 5.4 g/t Au from surface, including 20m @ 10.2 g/t Au (ASX Announcement: 16 October 2024)
- RPMRC-24005: 43m @ 4.4 g/t Au from 2m, including 13m @ 10.7 g/t Au (ASX Announcement: 9 October 2024)
- RPMRC-24008: 45m @ 3.4 g/t Au from surface, including 31m @ 4.7 g/t Au (ASX Announcement: 9 October 2024)
The cross-sections below in Figures 3 and 4 show how this last round of assay results continue to prove that hole-after-hole gold grades are both high-grade and continuous from surface. Being hosted directly on surface enables immediate ore extraction with the optimized starter pit anticipated to have an extremely low strip ratio, which should bode well for the PFS economics. Figure 3, aligned on hole RPMRC-24017's azimuth of 280 degrees, shows the western contact with the hornfels and how the mineralization is continuous through the intrusive across holes RPMRC-24020 and RPMRC-24021. For clarity, the previously announced assay results from the vertical hole RPMRC-008 were omitted from this figure, but hosts a grade of 3.4 g/t Au over 45 meters (ASX Announcement: 9 October 2024). Figure 4, aligned on hole RPMRC-24019's azimuth of 130 degrees, provides a wider view showing the northwestern and southeastern contacts of the funnel-shaped mineralized intrusive with the surrounding hornfels host. Again, for clarity, assay results from RPMRC-008 were omitted from this figure.
In the central core zone where the intrusive unit is thick and continuous the deposit remains wide open with further significant resource upside potential, up-dip, down-dip, and throughout the intrusive, particularly to the South which remains largely untested by drilling.
With the 2024 drill program now complete, Nova has sent the assay data to the resource modeler to complete a mineral resource estimate update using the drill data from both the 2023 and 2024 drill programs. This is expected to be completed later this year.
Figure 1. RPM area showing potential RPM starter pit
Figure 2. RPM North plan view with all drill holes to date
Figure 3. RPM North Section A-A'_280azi showing continuity of mineralization
Figure 4. RPM North Section B-B'_130azi showing continuity of mineralization
Table 1. Significant intercepts (At 0.1 g/t Au cutoff and a minimum 10m width)
| Hole_ID | From (m) | To (m) | Interval (m) | Au g/t |
| RPMRC-24010 | 0 | 43 | 43 | 2.3 |
| RPMRC-24017 | 0 | 29 | 29 | 7.1 |
| including | 0 | 22 | 22 | 9.4 |
| 16 | 22 | 6 | 19.9 | |
| 17 | 20 | 3 | 32.2 | |
| 19 | 20 | 2 | 52.7 | |
| RPMRC-24018 | 0 | 16 | 16 | 1.9 |
| including | 5 | 16 | 11 | 2.5 |
| RPMRC-24019 | 0 | 24 | 24 | 2.1 |
| including | 3 | 8 | 5 | 3.0 |
| 16 | 25 | 9 | 2.6 | |
| RPMRC-24020 | 0 | 28 | 28 | 4.5 |
| including | 5 | 28 | 23 | 5.3 |
| 11 | 17 | 6 | 14.3 | |
| 14 | 17 | 3 | 25.0 | |
| RPMRC-24021 | 0 | 34 | 34 | 3.9 |
| Including | 20 | 23 | 3 | 8.3 |
Table 2.
Drill hole details| Hole_ID | UTM_E | UTM_N | ELEV (m) | EOH (m) | AZI | DIP | Assays |
| RPMRC-24001 | 501995 | 6848795 | 1772 | 31 | 180 | -45 | Reported 9/10/24 |
| RPMRC-24002 | 501991 | 6848802 | 1772 | 48 | 270 | -60 | Reported 9/10/24 |
| RPMRC-24003 | 501992 | 6848801 | 1771 | 42 | 210 | -60 | Reported 9/10/24 |
| RPMRC-24004 | 501993 | 6848802 | 1773 | 34 | 0 | -90 | Reported 9/10/24 |
| RPMRC-24005 | 501955 | 6848871 | 1743 | 45 | 70 | -60 | Reported 9/10/24 |
| RPMRC-24006 | 501955 | 6848869 | 1744 | 23 | 100 | -50 | Reported 9/10/24 |
| RPMRC-24007 | 501954 | 6848868 | 1746 | 16 | 130 | -50 | Reported 9/10/24 |
| RPMRC-24008 | 501954 | 6848868 | 1742 | 47 | 0 | -90 | Reported 9/10/24 |
| RPMRC_24009 | 501954 | 6848869 | 1746 | 47 | 145 | -50 | Reported 16/10/24 |
| RPMRC_24010 | 501954 | 6848869 | 1746 | 43 | 145 | -70 | Reported 23/10/24 |
| RPMRC_24011 | 501954 | 6848870 | 1744 | 21 | 150 | -50 | Reported 16/10/24 |
| RPMRC_24012 | 501954 | 6848869 | 1743 | 40 | 160 | -50 | Reported 16/10/24 |
| RPMRC_24013 | 501953 | 6848870 | 1744 | 34 | 175 | -50 | Reported 16/10/24 |
| RPMRC_24014 | 501952 | 6848871 | 1745 | 24 | 190 | -50 | Reported 16/10/24 |
| RPMRC_24015 | 501953 | 6848870 | 1743 | 26 | 220 | -60 | Reported 16/10/24 |
| RPMRC_24016 | 501953 | 6848870 | 1744 | 39 | 250 | -60 | Reported 16/10/24 |
| RPMRC_24017 | 501954 | 6848869 | 1743 | 29 | 280 | -70 | Reported 23/10/24 |
|
|