Nova Minerals Ltd: Exceptional Phase 1 Ore Sorting Results from Korbel Main
Melbourne, Australia - Nova Minerals Ltd. (ASX:NVA) (FRA:QM3) (OTCMKTS:NVAAF) is pleased to provide an update on ore sorting test results at the Company's flagship Estelle Gold Project located in the prolific Tintina Gold Belt. Nova cautions this test work is on only one relatively small volume sample (~10kg) and further test work is planned to provide additional confidence in the ore sorting technique.Exceptional preliminary bulk and particle ore sorting test work undertaken on geological samples from the 3.3Moz Korbel Main gold deposit, Estelle Gold Project, Alaska.
Bulk ore sorting alone demonstrated a 25% upgrade of 0.25g/t feed grade with a sorter reject waste grade of 0.06g/t.
Bulk and Particle ore sorting systems combined created a high-grade stream of feed taken from mined material and upgraded to 6g/t. This high-grade stream would be directed to a conventional CIL or CIP plant with the remaining lower grade material directed to the heap leach for gold extraction.
The application of ore sorting at Korbel Main has potential to have a significant impact on project economics and increase gold production through:
o Rejection of barren material ahead of CIL and heap leaching leading to lower processing costs
o Higher overall site gold recovery through milling and tank leaching (CIL) the most valuable material
o Higher grade ore feed to all gold extraction circuits
o Reduction in ore transport costs
Additional test work will be carried out on a wider range of samples to further assess the grade distribution, crushing parameters for further economic analysis of ore sorting as part of the PEA
Established 3.3Moz gold resource at Korbel Blocks A and B from 16 additional holes (one of fifteen known occurrences) (ASX 5 October 2020)
o Further upgrade planned from 46 additional holes in 2021 on the Korbel Main deposit
NVA CEO, Mr. Christopher Gerteisen commented: "The Korbel Main deposit continues to amaze us. It is shaping up to be world-class in terms of the resource endowment, but also in other key technical aspects such as being at surface, its exceptional metallurgical properties, including gold recovery. Further, these results have now confirmed that ore sorting presents a real and future prospect to gain higher operational efficiencies as we progress through our economic assessment work.
Minimising mine dilution and mineral loss is key as we continue through our economic assessment. Now, with ore sorting, we have the potential to add further value as material processing through bulk and particle ore sorting can be diverted into streams of high grade through a CIL circuit and the remaining material diverted to the heap leach, with minimal material lost to waste.
Brent Hilscher, one of the world's leading experts in ore sorting technology and gold extraction, stated:
"The Estelle project has excellent gold heterogeneity. There is a substantial portion of the deposit's gold contained in surprisingly high-grade rock. Even better news is that Nova and ABH Engineering have developed for Estelle, methods for bulk sorting by PGNAA and particle sorting by dual energy XRT. By combining bulk and particle sorting technologies we have shown we can take mined material and produce a separate ore stream grading 6g/t and it can be done for a reasonable CAPEX and OPEX."
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About Nova Minerals Ltd:
Nova Minerals Ltd. (ASX:NVA) (FRA:QM3) (OTCMKTS:NVAAF) is an ASX-listed minerals explorer focused on lithium, gold and mineral exploration in Canada, Alaska and Australia.
The company plans to create shareholder value through two-pronged strategy:
- Capitalise on the growing demand for energy storage and the resulting demand for lithium, cobalt and nickel by fast-tracking exploration and development activities in our North American assets with particular focus on our flagship lithium project and prospective Chip-Loy Nickel Cobalt Sulphides project.
- Diversification by gaining exposure to base and precious metals through our farm-in JV at our district scale Estelle gold copper silver project and our Northern Australian gold exploration assets.
Source:
Nova Minerals Ltd.
Contact:
Nova Minerals Ltd. P: +61-3-9614-0600 F: +61-3-9614-0550 WWW: novaminerals.com.au