Nova Minerals Launches Major Field Season at Estelle Project
Nova Minerals has initiated its 2026 field season, marking a significant step forward in the development of its Estelle gold and critical minerals project in Alaska. This phase includes one of the most extensive drill campaigns ever conducted at the site, with a focus on resource definition and antimony development.
The company is advancing multiple initiatives, including a 10,000m drill campaign targeting the RPM deposit, which forms part of the world-class 9.9Moz gold resource. The program also aims to progress the Stibium and Styx antimony prospects towards production and resource delineation, while permitting for America’s first domestic antimony mine in decades continues.
Fully Funded Exploration and Development
The 2026 field season is fully funded, with over $85 million in available cash and award funding from the US Government. This financial backing provides the company with flexibility to accelerate activities as needed.
Additionally, the company is nearing the completion of laboratory-scale antimony metal and military-grade antimony trisulfide samples derived from Estelle ore, with assays expected shortly. Critical mining and processing equipment has already been delivered to the site, and procurement of downstream antimony process and refinery equipment is progressing, with delivery anticipated in the coming months.
Resource Growth and Development
CEO Christopher Gerteisen highlighted that the 2026 field season includes one of the largest drill campaigns undertaken at Estelle to date. This initiative targets both gold resource expansion and antimony development opportunities.
“Ongoing drilling and technical work will continue to support resource growth and advancement of the project’s PFS studies,” he said. “Concurrently, the fully funded antimony initiative, supported by a US$43.4 million US Department of War award, positions Nova to advance toward near-term production and establish a vertically integrated domestic antimony supply chain.”
The company has already produced antimony metal and military-grade antimony trisulfide at the lab scale from Estelle stibnite ores, which is now being assayed and certified. As an early mover in the US critical minerals sector, Nova is entering a key execution phase focused on developing antimony production alongside the continued advancement of its large-scale gold development assets.
Drill Program Details
The drill program of up to 10,000m will be carried out by up to three diamond core rigs deployed across the Estelle project. This will focus on infill and expansion drilling at RPM, along with continuing targeted drill programs initiated last year at Stibium to test exposed stibnite (antimony) vein systems.
At RPM, about 7,000m of drilling will be carried out to expand the eastern strike extension at RPM North, increase measured and indicated resources at RPM Valley, and test near-deposit expansion targets along the ridgeline north of RPM North. The remaining 3,000m consists of targeted drilling at Stibium, where a new drill pad is expected to provide more direct access to the target zone while avoiding the broken ground encountered during previous ridge-line drilling.
NVA will complement drilling with extensive regional mapping and surface exploration across RPM, West Wing, Stibium, and Portage Pass, as well as further bulk sampling of the exposed stibnite veins at Styx. Field operations are expected to run for at least three months during the Alaskan summer, leveraging near 24-hour daylight for continuous drilling seven days a week.
Antimony Production Progress
In parallel with exploration, the company continues to progress its Estelle gold resources towards pre-feasibility study completion and its antimony assets towards initial production in late 2026 or early 2027. Assay results from its first lab-scale antimony metal and military-grade antimony trisulfide samples are expected to represent an important milestone in establishing a domestic US antimony supply chain.
The processing plant and all associated equipment are currently on order and are expected to be shipped to Port Mackenzie in the coming months. Once delivered, delivery and installation activities will lead into commissioning of downstream refining operations.
NVA has also started construction of the Stibium access trail following the successful delivery of heavy earthmoving and haulage equipment along with construction materials to site. Strong progress has already been achieved toward the base of the Stibium antimony prospect. In addition, expansion works for the site airstrip and apron are scheduled to begin shortly to support increasing operational and logistical requirements.
Gold Studies and Infrastructure Development
NVA is also advancing Estelle’s gold deposits through integrated PFS-level engineering, metallurgical testing, environmental baseline work, and infrastructure studies aimed at derisking project development and supporting future permitting activities.
Work is focused on optimising the overall mine development strategy for the RPM and Korbel deposits, including mine planning, processing design, infrastructure layout, geotechnical investigations, hydrology, and site-wide engineering trade-off studies. Technical programs to be carried out in 2026 are intended to improve confidence in key design parameters, support project scalability, and refine an integrated development scenario aligned with future construction and operational requirements.
Metallurgical and process engineering programs continue to evaluate recovery optimisation, flowsheet refinement, and processing assumptions to support PFS-level design criteria and improve overall project economics. The company also progressed baseline environmental and community studies to support environmental assessment and permitting requirements. These datasets will provide critical inputs for infrastructure design, water management, reclamation planning, and long-term mine development permitting.
