Nova (ASX:NVA) presents 5.17 million Alaskan ounces for US listing

Nova Minerals has released an S-K 1300 resource estimate demonstrating a large increase to gold in-pit resources at its flagship Estelle Gold Project in Alaska to back up its proposed listing on a North American stock exchange.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission-required S-K 1300 resources code applies more constraints than JORC, but an increasing gold price and technical refinement have offered Nova a 76 per cent increase to gold in-pit resources compared to its Australian-style scoping study.

Nova will now present 5.17 million ounces of gold to the SEC, and while the company’s JORC-compliant resources will for now remain at 9.9Moz, neither figure includes drilling completed after March of 2023.

Nova Chief Executive Christopher Gerteisen said completing the US-required technical report marked a major milestone for the company in support of a stateside listing.

“All credit to our experienced Nova team and consultants who spent endless hours to get the job done,” Gerteisen said.

“The increase in the pit-constrained resource highlights the extreme sensitivity to a rising gold price and improved technical parameters.

“The present gold bull market and further efficiencies that are being investigated through our current (pre-feasibility) studies continues to provide additional potential upside for the Estelle Gold Project.”

Nova began a maiden campaign at the Train prospect shortly after releasing the 9.9Moz JORC resource with a view further growing the estimate.

Drill results from the project’s RPM area has returned multiple large intervals of near surface gold as strong as 120 metres at 5 grams per tonne gold, while sampling at the Stoney, Tomahawk, Trundle, and Revelation prospects has continued to highlight prospectivity.

There are more than 20 known prospects across the project’s 35-kilometre-long mineralised corridor but, for now, the focus for Nova will be on an imminent US listing on a market such as NASDAQ – and improving confidence in what could prove a tier-1 gold asset.

The Victoria and Alaska-based company this month closed a round of bridge funding early, believing access to about $8.5 million was enough in the kitty to complete its US listing and fund 2024 calendar year field programs.

A somewhat restrained phase 2 scoping study showed a project paying back in under a year with a net present value of close to a billion dollars.

The explorer is embarking on a continued quest to add more ounces and turn developer with the heavyweight backing of US capital funders.