Nova Minerals refines the way it will produce gold at 4.7-million-ounce Korbel Main deposit

Nova Minerals Ltd (ASX:NVA) (OTCMKTS:NVAAF) has produced metallurgical test-work results described by “outstanding” from its Korbel Main deposit in Alaska, further defining the flowsheet ahead of a scoping study expected later this year. The metallurgical results demonstrate gold recoveries of 95.4% through flotation and 92.4% through the leach circuit at the 4.7-million-ounce Korbel Main deposit, which is just one part of the company’s wider Estelle Project. Further ore sorting test-work has resulted in grade increases of up to 10 times from a 588-kilogram bulk test sample, as Nova targets builds the case for a planned scoping study. Just getting started Nova CEO Chris Gerteisen told Proactive the sky is the limit for Korbel Main and Estelle. “Already, we have 4.7 million ounces of gold resources defined on less than 2% of our total tenement package,” he said. “And as an indication on how fast we’ve moved and how large the potential is, within 18 months since we started drilling, we’ve taken the resources from 2.5 million to 4.7 million ounces. “We’re ramping it up this year, we’re aiming to have four rigs drilling and we want to turn the resources at Korbel Main from the inferred category to the measured and indicated category. “And that is just at Korbel Main, not even mentioning the next cab off the rank, which is the RPM deposit, followed by about 15 other known prospects at various stages of advancement.” Korbel Main Korbel Main forms one part of Nova’s Estelle project, which stretches across 324 square kilometres in Alaska. Estelle sits within the Tintina Gold Province, a gold belt that stretches for more than 1,000 kilometres across the northern part of the North American Cordillera, a mountainous region along the western side of the Americas. Tintina is home to gold deposits such as Donlin Creek (45 million ounces) owned by NovaGold Resources Inc (NYSEAMERICAN:NG) and Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD), Fort Knox (13.5 million ounces) owned by Kinross Gold Corp (NYSE:KGC) and Pogo (10 million ounces) owned by Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST). Ongoing mining studies are taking place at the Korbel Main deposit and have highlighted the potential to improve open pit optimisation results with work underway on a revised mine schedule and interim scoping study which is expected to be completed by July 2021. This is then expected to form the basis of future pre-feasibility and feasibility studies. The company’s latest news, released on Wednesday, amounted to a significant breakthrough for Nova, Gerteisen said. “The combination of ore sorting and highly encouraging metallurgical results from Korbel Main means that we can now press ahead to fast track our approach to production as previously stated on the Korbel Main prospect alone, which will possibly underpin a significant new long-life multi-decade, district-scale gold operation in Alaska,” he said. “Further test-work and trade-off studies, already underway, will enable us to optimise the various aspects of our metallurgical program in terms of capital, operating costs, recoveries and operability as we refine the processes further leading into our PFS studies with long lead items in relation to PFS having commenced already.” Successful test-work Gerteisen told Proactive its test-work was designed to refine the way it extracts gold from the ground beneath its feet. “Having resources is all well and good but you’ve got to know how you’re going to get the gold out,” he said. “That’s why this flowsheet is so important, and since mid-last year we’ve been looking at different ways of processing the ore to recover the most gold out of it, whilst also saving on time, costs and waste that hamper many other gold explorers.” The results were impressive, with 95.4% of gold recovered into a concentrate with 5.1% of the flotation feed mass. A high flotation concentration ratio is important as it allows fine grinding and intensive leaching of a small flotation concentrate, at a reasonable cost. Sensor-based particle ore sorting tests on a 588-kilogram sample confirmed the viability to be included in the upcoming scoping study. By concentrating the highest grade rocks into a relatively small mass, the company has discovered it can create a high-value material that is suited for high recovery extraction using a cyanide plant, which is intended to reduce cost per ounce, lower cut-off grades, lower energy usage and increase gold production. - Daniel Paproth