Nova Minerals gets fired up for gold and antimony news flow after strong quarterly

• Alaskan gold, antimony, and critical mineral developer Nova Minerals’ US grant application at advanced stage
• Nova continues to deliver strong exploration results from its Estelle project in Alaska as antimony and gold prices hit records
• Another critical mineral, gallium, also found at Estelle

Special Report: Nova Minerals is in a prime position to benefit from ‘America first’ policies outlined in a Presidential executive order to unleash Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential with expedited permitting.

While many Australian companies count potential costs of the tariff war, Alaskan developer Nova Minerals (ASX:NVA) could be a beneficiary as it advances its gold and antimony assets.

President Donald Trump has signed a number of executive orders to ramp up US domestic mineral production.

One order, about “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential”, focuses on expediting the permitting of Alaskan natural resource projects located on Federal and State lands, such as Nova’s Estelle.

Estelle is one of the world’s largest undeveloped gold projects and a potential antimony producer containing over 20 prospects including 4 large gold deposits with a combined 9.9Moz gold resource and 7 prospects with high gold-antimony elevations.

During the quarter, Nova’s CEO Christopher Gerteisen attended several defense contractor conferences and had related meetings in Washington DC and Alaska’s state capital, Juneau, as Nova continued to progress its US grant application for antimony development.

 High grade antimony and gold samples

Nova’s DoD application points to Estelle’s excellent exploration results for antimony, which has become one of the hottest commodities in the ongoing trade war with China.

 Assay results from rock and soil samples announced in the March quarter show the Stibium prospect, the Latin name for antimony, is an extensive 800m long by 400m wide gold and antimony rich zone with identified resource drill targets.

Highlights from the recent program include 11 rock samples grading greater than 30% antimony, with a high of 56.7%, plus high-grade gold up to 141g/t.

Ten soil samples graded over 0.1% antimony, with a high of 2.8%, as well as high grade gold up to 25.6g/t. Soil samples with grades exceeding 0.1% antimony and 1g/t gold are considered high-grade.

Those results followed surface samples from a 2023 program which graded up to 60.5% antimony and 1290g/t gold.

Near-term antimony potential

If successful, the grant would enable Nova to fast-track a near-term, material antimony-focused drill campaign at Stibium to compile a mineral resource estimate, just as the critical mineral’s price has soared following China’s export bans to the US.

Antimony prices have topped US$60,000/t this year, up ~5x since early 2024, and could hit US$100,000 per tonne.

China is the dominant global supplier of refined antimony, followed by Russia and Tajikistan. But China and Russia have stopped exporting the critical munitions component to Western nations.

Production of antimony has decreased over recent years and antimony deposits are rare and typically found in only small and shallow veins, accentuating the supply squeeze.

With its difficult to substitute heat, corrosion and flame resistance, antimony is also used in a wide array of civil applications from semiconductors to solar panels.

RFC Ambrian added in a February report that all these factors add up to put the antimony market under “severe stress”.

It sees record prices continuing in the medium term to induce new supply and identified only nine projects globally, one of which is Nova’s Estelle, with potential for near term antimony production.

Another critical prospect

Another hot prospect at Estelle identified last quarter is Wombat, which returned seven rock samples grading over 2g/t of gold and a high of 360g/t.

Significantly, multi-element analysis of samples from Wombat in 2023 and 2024  revealed high grade critical mineral gallium. Ten samples graded greater than 30ppm gallium and a high of 74.5ppm.

The DoD is also seeking to secure a domestic supply chain for gallium after China added the mineral to its export ban list.

RPM Style Gold Identified in Regional Sampling

Topping off a very successful exploration season, Nova also announced the discovery of further RPM style gold, north of the high-grade RPM deposit with 20 rock samples grading over 1g/t gold and a high of 52.3g/t,

In addition, till samples collected from the RPM glacial debris lobe identified 34 samples over 1g/t of gold, and up to 3.6g/t over a 1.7km length,

Debt free and cash in bank

With over $13 million in cash and no debt, Nova is ready for a breakout year of resource growth and development at Estelle.

With this strong balance sheet, Nova is progressing metallurgical and environmental test work, infrastructure permitting, advancing the PFS on its high grade RPM gold deposits, and working to push the Mineral Resource Estimate above the 10Moz gold mark.

This article was developed in collaboration with Nova Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.