Quarterly Activities Report
Melbourne, July 11, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Nova Minerals Limited (
ASX:NVA) (QM3:FRA) (NVAAF:OTCMKTS) continues to unlock the Estelle Gold District with the delivery of a robust Phase 2 Scoping Study and the commencement of a 15,000m drill program at the RPM and Train areas to further grow the size and confidence of the already established large 9.9 Moz gold resource.
Nova looking at listing options on a major US stock exchange.
Estelle Gold Project
The Phase 2 Scoping Study was released during the quarter. The study, based on a mining scenario which up-fronts the higher grade at surface deposits, confirmed the potential for a commercially robust mining operation at the Estelle Gold Project with an 11-month payback period and strong financial and mining metrics as detailed below and in Figure 1* (ASX Announcement: 15 May 2023)
o Net Present Value (NPV5%) of US$654M (~A$981M) pre-tax
o Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 53% pre-tax
o 11-month payback period
o Undiscounted net free cashflow of US$945M pre-tax o Annual free cash flow after the payback period of ~ US$56M pre-tax
o All in Sustaining Costs (AISC) 1st year US$510/oz and Life of Mine (LOM) US$1,149/oz
o Pre-production capital of US$385M for a central processing plant and infrastructure
o The study excludes the 2.01 Moz Au resource at the Cathedral deposit
o The entire project area is situated on State of Alaska mining claims
Importantly the scoping study sensitivity analysis showed that even a 10% increase in the LOM average mill feed grade above the current 0.73 g/t Au increases the NPV by ~ US$277M (Figure 2*). The core focus now is to define more minable resources above this grade to potentially improve the project economics further in the PFS.
The 2023 drill program, which commenced at the end of the quarter with multiple rigs being mobilized to the RPM area (Figure 3*), has been specifically designed to grow both the size and confidence of the resource to significantly increase the LOM at the higher grade RPM deposits
The highest priority is the 600m of open prospective strike length between RPM North and RPM South, which have been shown to be geologically genetically linked (Figures 5* and 6*)
Drill program is following up on the incredible intercepts at RPM over the last two years (Figure 5*) including:
- Drill pads are also concurrently being constructed in the Train and Trumpet area with more rigs to be mobilized in the coming weeks to target another potentially very large Intrusive Related Gold System (IRGS) in that area, with the aim this year being to establish a 3rd major resource area (Korbel, RPM and Train) and 5th large gold deposit on the Estelle Gold Project in 2023
- Drill program comprises of an average of 3 diamond rigs drilling upwards of 15,000m, which together with the next steps outlined below, are all designed to further enhance the results from the already robust scoping study through our ongoing work as the company progresses to PFS
- Aggressive exploration programs in 2023 to be focused proximal to the RPM area, as well as at the highly prospective 3km long polymetallic outcrop at the Stoney prospect
- Significant gold resource per share of 47 ounces per 1,000 shares owned
- Independent economic study prepared for the Alaska Industrial Development and Export
Authority (AIDEA), and fully supported by the Alaska State Governor, recommends the West Sustina Access Road begins the permitting process with construction proposed to start in 2025.
Snow Lake Lithium
Snow Lake Lithium PEA to evaluate the economic viability of mining the Thompson Brothers & Grass River lithium projects is expected to be completed in July 2023.
Corporate
The Company is very aware of the discrepancy between Nova's current valuation and the much higher valuations its peers with similar gold assets in North America, including companies like it's newly listed neighbor US Gold Mining Inc (NASDAQ:USGO), Snowline Gold Corp (CVE:SGD), Rupert Resources (TSE:RUP), New Found Gold Corp (NYSE:NFGC) and Dakota Gold (NYSE:DC) are receiving on major North American exchanges.
*To view the full Quarterly Report, please visit:
https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/C49B7UB0
About Nova Minerals Limited
Nova Minerals Limited's (ASX:NVA) (FRA:QM3) (OTCMKTS:NVAAF) vision is to develop North America's next major gold trend. The company is focused on exploration in Alaska's prolific Tintina Gold Belt, a province which hosts a 220 million ounce (Moz) documented gold endowment and some of the world's largest gold mines and discoveries including Victoria Gold's Eagle Mine and Kinross Gold Corporation's Fort Knox Gold Mine. The company's flagship Estelle Project has a current total estimated JORC gold resource of 9.6Moz (3Moz Indicated and 6.6Moz Inferred). Estelle is a 45km long string of 15 identified gold prospects bracketed by the Korbel deposit in the north and the RPM deposit in the south. These two deposits are currently host to extensive exploration programs.
Additionally, Nova has an indirect interest in the Canadian Thompson Brothers Lithium Project through a substantial stake in Snow Lake Resources Ltd (NASDAQ:LITM) and holds a 12.99% interest in Torian Resources Limited (ASX:TNR), a gold exploration company based in Western Australia.
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