Novo: Successful RC Drill Program Completed at Nunyerry North

HIGHLIGHTS

• Continued exploration success in the Egina Gold Camp, Novo’s highly prospective gold belt in the Pilbara, Western Australia.
• 30 holes for 2,424 m of shallow reverse circulation drilling completed at Nunyerry North in maiden drill program.
• All gold photonAssay^TM results now received, including best new intercepts of:
  • 11 m @ 1.98 g/t Au including 7m @ 2.92 g/t Au (NC014);
  • 4 m @ 4.15 g/t Au including 2m @ 7.42 g/t (NC015);
  • 5 m @ 1.84 g/t Au (NC017);
  • 7m @ 1.38 g/t Au (NC022);
  • 8m @ 1.31 g/t Au (NC024); and
  • 4m @ 3.56 g/t Au (NC027) including 2m @ 6.06 g/t Au
• Significant coarse nuggety gold recognised at surface with ongoing assessment of coarse gold grade variability in drilling.
• Nunyerry North follow-up drilling planned for H1 2024 including targeting down plunge and at depth for repeat structures, and on more regional step out targets.
• De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG) is rapidly progressing its drilling program and committed expenditure under the Egina JV arrangements. De Grey recently completed 192 infill aircore drill holes (5,251 m) at Becher as part of an initial 39,000 m drill program. Results are pending.
• Reverse circulation drilling of approximately 5,000 m in >35 drill holes has also commenced to test key targets defined by Novo at the Heckmair, Irvine and Lowe prospects within the Becher area.

Novo Executive Co-Chairman and Acting CEO Mike Spreadborough said “It is exciting to see a significant grade increase in the Nunyerry North results and especially close to surface. Plans are already in place for a follow-up program testing new shoots at depth and the eastern down-plunge extension, as well as a number of other targets within a 2 km radius.

We are also eagerly awaiting drill results from De Grey’s recently completed aircore drilling program at the Becher Project, which is part of our Egina farm-in and joint venture area and are very excited to announce that reverse circulation drill testing has commenced targeting mineralisation at Heckmair, Irvine and Lowe, as a follow-up to the outstanding work the Novo team conducted in 2022 and 2023 at Becher.”

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Novo Resources Corp. (Novo or the Company) (ASX: NVO) (TSX: NVO & NVO.WT.A) (OTCQX: NSRPF) is pleased to announce continued drilling success at the Egina Gold Camp in the Pilbara, Western Australia, with significant results returned from final gold in photonAssay^TM in the Company’s maiden reverse circulation (RC) drill program at Nunyerry North (Figures 1 and 2). The Nunyerry North project is a 70:30 joint venture with the Creasy Group.¹

Targeted RC drilling is also underway at the Becher Project, where De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG) (De Grey) has plans to test the Heckmair, Irvine and Lowe prospects before year-end. De Grey have recently completed 192 infill aircore (AC) drill holes for a total of 5,251 m at Becher as part of its planned initial 39,000 m drill program. Results are expected over the next 4 to 5 weeks.

The Egina Gold Camp is a contiguous tenement package, targeted on a series of structurally complex, gold-fertile corridors, hosted by rocks of the Mallina Basin in the north and mafic / ultramafic sequences further south. These corridors trend towards De Grey’s 11.5 Moz Hemi Gold Project to the north and northeast. This tenure has been one of the main focus areas for Novo’s exploration programs over the last eighteen months, culminating in the Egina JV with De Grey, and delineation of the Nunyerry North orogenic gold prospect. Several prospects remain to be tested in the southern part of the corridor in 2024.

Figure 1: Novo’s Pilbara tenure showing priority prospects, joint venture interests and the location of drilling at Nunyerry North and Becher.

Nunyerry North Drill Program²

Novo recently completed its maiden drill program of 30 holes for 2,424 m of shallow RC drilling at Nunyerry North with positive results for the program. Angled drill holes averaged 81 m depth and ranged from 36 to 120 m in depth.

These were conducted on 40 to 60 m spaced sections in two areas over the strongest gold-in-soil anomaly, with holes approximately 20 m apart on section (Figure 3). All holes were drilled oriented perpendicular to the estimated mineralized trend, with the intersected widths representative of the true width of the mineralization

Results received include best intercepts of:

• 11 m @ 1.98 g/t Au including 7m @ 2.92 g/t Au (NC014)
• 4 m @ 4.15 g/t Au including 2m @ 7.42 g/t (NC015)
• 8m @ 1.31 g/t Au (NC024) and
• 4m @ 3.56 g/t Au (NC027) including 2m @ 6.06 g/t Au.

with intercepts calculated using up to 3 m internal dilution and 0.3 g/t Au cut-off) (see Table 1 and Appendix 1 for hole locations).

Figure 2: Nunyerry North coarse gold in white translucent quartz veins from surface.

First pass drilling has defined several zones of mineralised quartz veining. The Main Lode #1 is essentially “blind” (only a small area of the target outcrops) and several other mineralised zones identified during reconnaissance drilling are completely blind (Figure 4). The primary target in the western part of the drilled area, Main Lode #1, has shown consistency in all sections and has a south-southeast dip of approximately 60 degrees (Figure 5 and 6) and an interpreted shallow plunge to the east.

Mineralisation is hosted in arrays of white quartz veins with minor sulphides including chalcopyrite. The vein arrays trend between two north dipping shear zones, the Freyda and Skadi Shear Zones, and are hosted in a 60 m wide zone of fine to medium grained mafic to high-MgO basalt within an ultramafic dominant package. It is important to understand that this maiden drill program only tests a small area of the overall Nunyerry North prospect.

It is recognized from surface work that the Nunyerry North prospect has significant visible gold or coarse nuggety gold, which provides challenges to obtain accurate assay results (Figure 2). Novo is conducting trials on the best methodology and sample size to allow accurate reporting of the gold assays.

Intercepts from the first four drill holes were sent for 1 kg screen fire-assay (total gold) to assess coarse gold variability. Most gold intercepts were enhanced using screen fire assay, with comparisons (full table of comparison is given Table 2) including:

• 4 m @ 1.0 g/t Au, re-reporting as 4 m @ 1.76 g/t Au using screen fire assay; and
• 7 m @ 0.75 g/t Au re-reporting as 8 m @ 1.42 g/t Au using screen fire assay.

A further 5 intercepts have been sent for 1 kg screen fire-assay.

Figure 3: Nunyerry North geological interpretation and drill hole location plan.

Figure 4: Nunyerry North long section (looking NNW) showing m x g/t Au (downhole width) for the Main Lode #1

Figure 5: Nunyerry North cross sections 590860E looking WSW.

Figure 6: Nunyerry North cross section 590660E (looking WSW).

Table 1: Significant RC drill results Nunyerry North (* results published Novo ASX release 17 October 2023)

Table 2: Comparison between the results for 500g Chrysos photonAssay^TM vs 1000g screen fire assay for selected holes at Nunyerry North, with orange highlights showing an increase in the grade when assayed with a larger sample and using screen fire assay.

Nunyerry North Forward Exploration Program

Based on the highly encouraging results from the maiden RC drilling program, further work at Nunyerry North will include:

• 3D targeting and detailed geological and structural modelling.
• Additional RC and diamond drilling to test extensions to the known mineralisation, and the southern and western soil anomalies in H1 2024.
• Generation of high-resolution aerial photography and digital elevation model (DEM) for the entire target area.
• Intercepts from 5 additional drill holes have been sent for 1 kg screen fire-assay to assess coarse gold variability, in preparation for future work programs.
• Detailed mapping and rock chip sampling in areas outside of the current limit of mapping.
• Petrological studies to define host rock composition, alteration and sulphide mineralogy.

Figure 7: The broader Nunyerry North Project area highlighting contoured gold results from soil sampling at Nunyerry North and completed RC drill holes

Becher Exploration Update

Novo’s highly prospective Becher Project, is located some 28 km from De Grey’s 9.5 million ounce Hemi gold deposit³, at the northeastern end of the Egina Gold Camp. Novo completed approximately 61,000 m of AC drilling at Becher in 2022 and 2023, exploring for intrusion-hosted and shear-related gold deposits, similar to De Grey’s gold deposits in the Mallina Project. In June 2023, Novo announced an earn-in arrangement that may result in the formation of the Egina JV with De Grey on the Becher Project and other Novo tenements. De Grey is required to spend A$25 million within four years to earn a 50% JV interest (including a requirement for a minimum spend of A$7 million in the first 18 months).⁴

As part of the exploration commitment, De Grey recently completed 192 infill AC drill holes for a total of 5,251 m at Becher, part of its planned initial 39,000 m program of AC, RC and diamond drilling.⁵ Results are expected over the next 4 to 5 weeks.

De Grey has also commenced >35 RC drill holes for approximately 5,000 m up to a planned depth of 280 m. RC drilling will test significant zones of gold geochemistry in three prospects, including Heckmair, Irvine and Lowe.

ANALYTIC METHODOLOGY

One metre cone split samples of RC chips were split directly off the cyclone on the drill rig and were sent to Intertek Genalysis (Intertek) in Perth, Western Australia with the entire sample smart crushed to -3mm (NVO02 prep code), with a 500 g split sample analysed for gold using Photon Assay (PHXR/AU01).

QA/QC for RC samples are inserted at the rate of 4 x 600g standards per 100, 4 x 600g blanks per 100 (including 2 coarse and 2 -80# blanks) and 4 riffle split duplicates per 100, providing a total of 12% QA/QC. Intertek also inserts customized Chrysos certified standards at the rate of 2 per hundred.

The first 4 drill holes were also assayed using four acid digest and 50 g charge fire assay FA50/OE as a comparative exercise, after pulverizing a cone split duplicate sample to -80# (SP64 FA50/OE). The first four drill hole significant intercepts were also analysed by 1kg 106 micron screen fire assay with ICP-OES finish (Code SF 100/OE), using the Chrysos and coarse rejects.

There were no limitations to the verification process and all relevant data was verified by a qualified person/competent person (as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) and the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code) respectively) by reviewing the analytical procedures undertaken by Intertek.

ABOUT NOVO

Novo explores and develops its prospective land package covering approximately 9,000 square kilometres⁶ in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, along with the 22 square kilometre Belltopper project in the Bendigo Tectonic Zone of Victoria, Australia. In addition to the Company’s primary focus, Novo seeks to leverage its internal geological expertise to deliver value-accretive opportunities to its shareholders.

Authorised for release by the Board of Directors.

CONTACT

QP STATEMENT

Mrs. Karen (Kas) De Luca (MAIG), is the qualified person, as defined under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, responsible for, and having reviewed and approved, the technical information contained in this news release other than information concerning De Grey’s Pilbara Gold Project. Mrs De Luca is Novo’s General Manger Exploration.

JORC COMPLIANCE STATEMENT

The information in this report that relates to new Exploration Results at Nunyerry North is based on information compiled by Ms De Luca, who is a full-time employee of Novo Resources Corp. Ms De Luca is a Competent Person who is a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Ms De Luca has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and the type of deposits under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the ‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves’. Ms De Luca consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on her information in the form and context in which it appears.

The information in this news release that relates to previously reported Exploration Results at Nunyerry North is extracted from Novo’s announcement titled Maiden Drill Program at Nunyerry North (Updated) released to ASX on 17 October 2023and which is available to view on www.asx.com.au. The Company confirms that the form and context in which the Competent Person’s findings are presented have not been materially modified from the original market announcement.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some statements in this news release may contain “forward-looking statements” (or forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation) that represent the Company’s intentions, projections, expectations or beliefs concerning,future events as at the date of this news release and include, without limitation, planned exploration activities and the expected timing of receipt of drill results.. These forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, without limitation, customary risks of the resource industry and the risk factors identified in Novo’s annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2022, which is available under Novo’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date those statements are made. Except as required by applicable law, Novo assumes no obligation to update or to publicly announce the results of any change to any forward-looking statement contained or incorporated by reference herein to reflect actual results, future events or developments, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting the forward-looking statements. If Novo updates any forward-looking statement(s), no inference should be drawn that the Company will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.

_________________________
¹ Novo holds 70% interest in gold rights, other mineral rights, legal interest and mining information pursuant to the Croyden JV agreement as announced previously in Novo news release dated 15 June 2020. See also Novo’s Prospectus released to ASX on 7 September 2023.
² Refer to End note 2 above.
³ Refer to De Grey Mining Limited’s ASX Announcement dated 15 June 2023. No assurance can be given that a similar or any commercially mineable deposit will be determined at Novo’s Becher Project.
⁴ Refer to the Company’s news release dated 21 June 2023. See also Novo’s Prospectus released to ASX on 7 September 2023.
⁵ Works carried out under the De Grey earn-in arrangement. Refer to the Company’s news releases dated June 21, 2023 and June 28, 2023. See also Novo’s Prospectus released to ASX on 7 September 2023
⁶ Nullagine Gold Project area comprises approximately 1,080km² of Novo’s total tenure package of 9,000km².

APPENDIX

Appendix 1 – Nunyerry North RC drill hole locations in MGA_2020 zone 50 final DGPS survey

Appendix 2 – Nunyerry North RC drill results > 0.3 g/t Au holes NC007 to NC0030

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/94330573-c66f-4874-9aec-5fc95123abb9
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7d328ffe-f33c-4d2c-9d23-89e8bc1798b2
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/25aa7883-ae3a-4c8d-a4e7-9f63fad0d8e5
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a0d406b1-ca53-41c6-8325-1e0cf838e8d6
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0f7c468e-a148-4544-b4ab-9fd8dfc8d8ab
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/806c7bb2-0b46-4470-84e6-38961f1f5a58
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f27e1924-0d88-468f-a599-13b79e2d54f1

Figure 1

 

Novo’s Pilbara tenure showing priority prospects, joint venture interests and the location of drilling at Nunyerry North and Becher.

Figure 2

 

Nunyerry North coarse gold in white translucent quartz veins from surface.

Figure 3

 

Nunyerry North geological interpretation and drill hole location plan.

Figure 4

 

Nunyerry North long section (looking NNW) showing m x g/t Au (downhole width) for the Main Lode #1

Figure 5

 

Nunyerry North cross sections 590860E looking WSW.

Figure 6

 

Nunyerry North cross section 590660E (looking WSW).

Figure 7

 

The broader Nunyerry North Project area highlighting contoured gold results from soil sampling at Nunyerry North and completed RC drill holes