Nova Strikes Gold & Copper in Alaska's West Wing

ANCHORAGE, AK – March 02, 2026 – Nova Minerals has announced a significant discovery within its flagship Estelle Project in Alaska, confirming a new, large-scale gold-copper system in a previously underexplored area known as West Wing. The findings, stemming from a successful 2025 surface sampling program, have delineated a substantial mineral anomaly and returned exceptionally high-grade samples, sparking excitement about the project's potential and bolstering its strategic importance for U.S. resource security.

The announcement sent a clear signal to the market, with Nova's NASDAQ-listed shares (NVA) climbing 8.52% on the news, adding approximately $25 million to the company's valuation and underscoring investor confidence in its ongoing exploration strategy.

A New High-Grade Frontier

At the heart of the announcement is a newly defined gold-copper anomaly at West Wing, measuring an impressive 1,500 meters by 800 meters. This discovery is supported by compelling assay results that point to a rich, polymetallic system. Rock samples collected from the surface have yielded grades as high as 15.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and a remarkable 6.9% copper. One sample, E397403, was particularly noteworthy, containing both 5.5 g/t gold and 6.9% copper.

Soil sampling further reinforced the scale of the system, with 16 samples grading over 1.0 g/t gold, peaking at 3.8 g/t, and 16 soil samples showing over 0.2% copper. These results build upon initial reconnaissance work in 2024, which had already hinted at West Wing's potential with rock samples reaching up to 25.8 g/t gold.

Nova General Manager and Geologist, Mr. Hans Hoffman, commented on the breakthrough. “Field crews covered a lot of ground at Estelle in 2025 focusing on the less developed prospects and exploring for new ones," he stated in the press release. "The most outstanding results came from West Wing where geologists were following up on two soil samples >1.0 g/t Au from 2024. Results from 2025 included 16 soil samples greater than 1.0 g/t Au over a 1 km strike length. Multi-gram gold and multi-percent copper rock samples were also reported.”

Intriguingly, the mineralization at West Wing presents a unique geological profile compared to other prospects within the vast Estelle Project. The anomaly is primarily hosted in hornfels sedimentary rock, though it sits adjacent to the Estelle pluton. Hoffman noted that a few soil samples were collected from a quartz feldspar porphyry, suggesting "West Wing could be a different deposit style than is typical for Estelle." This geological variance could have implications for future exploration and metallurgical processing but also highlights the diverse mineral potential across the district.

Bolstering America's Critical Mineral Supply

The discovery's significance extends beyond its gold content. The high concentration of copper aligns perfectly with Nova Minerals' broader strategy to develop a domestic supply of critical minerals for the United States. This find is particularly timely, as the U.S. government has increasingly focused on securing its own resource supply chains for national and economic security.

Copper was officially added to the U.S. Geological Survey's critical minerals list in late 2025, a recognition of its vital role in electrification, renewable energy infrastructure, and defense applications. With global demand projected to surge by over 40% by 2040, domestic sources of copper are becoming a strategic imperative. The West Wing discovery positions Nova to potentially contribute to this need.

This new copper potential complements Nova's established critical minerals initiative focused on antimony. In late 2025, the company's subsidiary was awarded a US$43.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of War to develop a domestic supply of military-grade antimony, also located at the Estelle Project. The discovery of a significant copper system alongside its gold and antimony resources transforms the Estelle Project into a multi-faceted asset crucial for America's goal of resource independence.

The Geologist's Triumph: A Methodical Approach

The West Wing discovery was not a stroke of luck but the result of systematic and persistent exploration. It serves as a case study in modern mineral discovery, where historical data, geological modeling, and methodical fieldwork converge. The 2025 exploration program was a masterclass in execution, with geological teams traversing 75 kilometers to collect over 430 soil samples and 170 rock samples.

This painstaking "boot leather" geology, following up on subtle clues from the previous year's work, successfully unlocked a major new system within a district-scale project that already contains over 20 prospects. It validates the company's belief that significant undiscovered potential remains within its 35-kilometer mineralized trend in the prolific Tintina Gold Belt—a region that hosts over 220 million ounces of gold endowment.

With the West Wing system now identified, Nova has designated detailed mapping and drill targeting as a top priority for its 2026 field season. This next phase will be crucial in moving from a surface anomaly to defining a potential resource that could be factored into the project's overall economics.

Economic Potential and Future Outlook

While it is still early days for the West Wing prospect, its discovery significantly enhances the economic picture for the already robust Estelle Project. Prior to this find, a 2023 Scoping Study for the project's Korbel and RPM deposits—which together host nearly 10 million ounces of gold—projected an impressive 53% internal rate of return (IRR) and a rapid 11-month payback period on an initial capital investment of $385 million.

The addition of a new, high-grade gold-copper system like West Wing has the potential to dramatically improve these metrics, either by providing high-grade starter material, extending the mine's life, or adding valuable by-product credits from copper production. The company has a clear path forward, with upcoming milestones that include further results from the 2025 program, airborne geophysical surveys, and an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) that will eventually incorporate data from West Wing.

The market's positive reaction reflects an understanding of this potential. Investors are rewarding Nova not just for the discovery itself, but for its dual-pronged strategy of advancing a world-class gold project while simultaneously building a domestic supply chain for minerals critical to the nation's future. As the 2026 field season approaches, all eyes will be on West Wing to see if the drill bit can confirm what the surface samples so strongly suggest.