Ann: Estelle Gold Trend Update, page-19

Nova Minerals: Initial pit plan developed for the Korbel deposit

Nova Minerals' (ASX:NVA, FSE:QM3) vision is to develop the Estelle Gold Project in Alaska into North America's next big gold trend, with a focus on large, low-cost mines sharing a centralized infrastructure. The beginning and end of the 35-kilometer project is formed by the Korbel deposit in the north and the RPM deposit in the south. It already has a proven resource of 9.6 million ounces according to the Australian JORC standard. Now, with the development of an initial pit design for the Korbel deposit, the next step is towards the systematic development of this vast gold district.Small steps are not always spectacular, but they are a very reliable and safe way to reach a big goal step by step without tripping over your own feet. This is the approach Nova Minerals is following in the development of the Estelle Gold District and is bearing fruit these days as the Company announced that it has completed the starter pit plan at the Korbel deposit and a pit optimization program.

Nova Minerals does not want to waste any time and initially only develops the Korbel-Main Zone ...
Further optimization programs are sure to follow as drilling continues at the Korbel deposit and the new pit plan, which is an important part of the Pre-Feasibility Study currently being prepared, is limited to the Indicated and Inferred resource on the Main Zone only the Korbel deposit itself.Around them, other deposits have already been discovered at Cathedral, Isabella, You Beauty Portage and Blocks C and D, representing additional important targets in this part of the Estelle Gold Project. Nevertheless, they will be left out for the time being and will only be integrated into the pit plan and the development of the Korbel zone at a later date.
A preliminary scoping study is in progress and will be published later this year. At the same time, work on the preliminary feasibility study has already begun. It is expected to be completed over the next year and then expanded into a definitive feasibility study.... other zones will follow laterThere is still a great deal of work to be done here for the Nova Minerals team and the external consultants who will support this work. Important points that need to be clarified in the coming months are the infrastructure design and the process design of the plant to be built. In addition, it is necessary to model and then evaluate their profitability.There is also a lot of work to be done in the field of geology, geochemistry and mineralogy, which includes further sampling and testing. Finally, a work plan will have to be drawn up and studies of the wetlands on the project site will also have to be drawn up.

Purposeful work and strict cost discipline
It is particularly pleasing for the invested investors that in the past all this work was accompanied by very strict cost discipline, so that very high returns on capital and equity could be achieved. Nova Minerals will continue along the path it has taken this year, as fewer helicopters are to be used, which will further reduce costs.To date, Nova Mineral's discovery cost per ounce of gold detected in the ground is a very competitive $3.50 per ounce, while the industry generally operates at costs in excess of $20 per ounce.If the Korbel deposit is now not only further developed with drilling, but also the plans for a mine operation are accelerated, on the one hand this is done in the knowledge that so much gold has already been discovered here that one's own mine can be set up and operated without any problems and on the other hand in the knowledge that starting production as quickly as possible is of great advantage for Nova Minerals, also with regard to the expected cash flow. Because once in production, much of the pending development work will be able to be paid for from the current cash flow.Being part of this early on should, in retrospect, turn out to be an extremely lucrative decision for many investors.