Nova Minerals Ltd (ASX:NVA, OTCQB:NVAAF) has completed a pit-constrained S-K 1300 mineral resource estimate (MRE) and technical report for its flagship Estelle Gold Project in Alaska's Tintina Gold Belt — a requirement of Nova’s proposed US listing, which has now been filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
SK-1300 refers to the mineral resource and reporting standards adopted by the SEC and is required by the SEC ahead of Nova’s proposed US listing.
In a separate announcement to the ASX, Nova said it had publicly filed a registration statement on Form F-1 with the SEC relating to the proposed public offering of American depositary shares (ADS).
Nova CEO Christopher Gerteisen said, “The completion of the S-K 1300 MRE and technical report marks a major milestone in support of our proposed US listing. All credit to our experienced Nova team and consultants who spent endless hours to get the job done.
“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 PFS studies continue to provide additional potential upside for the Estelle Gold Project.”
Increase in pit-constrained resource
The S-K 1300 MRE shows a significant 76% increase in the total pit-constrained resource compared to the scoping study pit-constrained resource. The measured and indicated resources for the S-K 1300 MRE relative to the scoping study in-pit resources show a 20% increase of 450,000 ounces to 2.72 million ounces of gold.
Nova's current JORC code-compliant unconstrained global mineral resource estimate of 9.9 million ounces of gold remains and was used as the basis for the S-K 1300 pit-constrained MRE of 5.17 million ounces of gold.
S-K 1300 MRE guidelines comply with the JORC code, however, they require the application of additional parameters (eg technical and economic factors) that establish reasonable prospects of economic extraction.
The Estelle S-K 1300 MRE is reported within optimised pit shells generated from economic parameters that reflect a large-scale open pit operation and is comparable to the methodology used to determine the in-pit resources for gold production as reported in last year’s scoping study.
The increases are largely due to an increase in the gold price used to generate the optimal pit shells from US$1,850 in the scoping study to US$2,000 and increasing the pit slope angles to 50 degrees, in the S-K 1300 MRE.