Announcement • 19h
Novo Resources Corp. Reports Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate for Leven Star Reef At Belltopper Gold Project
Novo Resources Corp. reported an Inferred Mineral Resource of 760,000 tonnes at 3.6 g/t Au for 87,000 oz contained gold for the Leven Star Reef within the Belltopper Gold Project. The Leven Star Reef is relatively shallowly drilled (44 holes in total) and mineralisation remains open in multiple directions; providing a number of opportunities for resource growth. The Leven Star Reef Mineral Resource has been assessed on the basis of underground mining only. The Leven Star Reef represents one of eight high-grade gold-bearing reefs that comprise a recently upgraded Exploration Target at Belltopper Gold Project. The remaining seven reefs comprising the Exploration Target provide a robust opportunity for additional resource growth at Belltopper from multiple sources to complement the Leven Star Resource. Other known prospective historic gold reefs at the Belltopper Gold Project not currently within the Exploration Target also remain underexplored and provide near-term opportunity to grow the Exploration Target. Planning is advanced for drilling in Second Half 2026 to further define the current Exploration Target Reefs and test additional known historic reefs. High-priority, drill ready targets within the important “Belltopper Anticline Corridor,” will also be tested as part of the upcoming drilling program. The 2026 Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate with an effective date of 9 June 2026 for the Belltopper Gold Project Leven Star Reef is provided in Table 1. Table 1. Inferred Mineral Resources for the Belltopper Gold Project Leven Star Reef. Classification: Inferred Mineral Resource; Cut-off grade (g/t Au): 1.9; Tonnes (t): 760,000; Grade (g/t Au): 3.6; Troy ounces (Au): 87,000. The optimized MSO stope shapes were estimated with the following indicative parameters: Gold price: AUD 5,250/oz gold. Bulk density applied: oxide mineralisation 2.50 t/m3 (waste 2.35 t/m3), transitional mineralisation 2.60 t/m3 (waste 2.45 t/m3) and fresh mineralisation 2.65 t/m3 (waste 2.70 t/m3). AUD 162/t mining cost and AUD 119/t processing cost (including G&A and surface haulage). Metallurgical recovery at 88%. Mining is based on sub-level open stoping with 15 m level to level separation, mining recovery of 90%, minimum mining width at 1.5 m and 0.2 m HW and FW dilution. Victorian State Royalty of 2.75% and discount factor 8%. A period of between 5 to 10 years is considered appropriate for “eventual economic extraction” for the LSR, noting that gold price operating expenditure, and regulatory conditions may change during the period. It is assumed that mineralisation would be fed to a process plant within reasonable haulage distance. Underground resource reported diluted within Mineable Shape Optimisations (MSOs) generated above a gold cut-off grade of 1.9 g/t Au. The Leven Star Reef is part of Novo’s Belltopper Gold Project, a distinctive gold occurrence in the Malmsbury goldfield of central Victoria, located in the eastern area of the Bendigo Zone of the western Lachlan orogen. The deposit lies in Lower Ordovician turbiditic sedimentary rocks near two major Devonian granites, the Harcourt and Cobaw batholiths, and this spatial association is a central feature of its interpretation. The Leven Star Reef trends northeast, an unusual orientation for the Bendigo Zone, and drilling showed mineralisation to be continuous for approximately 800 m along strike. Geologically, Leven Star Reef is not a simple quartz-reef deposit. The mineralisation is hosted by a linear quartz-veined stockwork-breccia zone up to 10 m wide, rather than by the reverse fault-hosted laminated to massive quartz veins typical of many Victorian orogenic gold deposits. The Leven Star Reef cuts stratigraphy and post-dates both the dominant upright folding event and earlier reverse fault-hosted quartz veins; establishing it as a younger and geologically distinct event. Host rocks in the Belltopper Hill area show evidence of low-grade contact metamorphism superimposed on earlier regional sub-greenschist metamorphism. The stockwork-breccia zone is surrounded by an alteration halo up to 12 m wide, dominated by carbonatization, sericitization, sulfidation, and locally silicification. Pyrite is widespread and commonly linked to microfractures and veinlets, whereas arsenopyrite and stibnite are concentrated near stockwork veins and larger quartz structures. Mineralogically, Leven Star Reef is notable for its complex polymetallic assemblage, which differs from the simpler pyrite-arsenopyrite ± gold association of typical central Victorian orogenic systems. In addition to native gold, the deposit contains Te-Ni-As-Bi-Sb-Cu-Zn sulphides and Cr-W-F-Sn oxide minerals. Gold occurs both as rare visible grains and as elevated concentrations within arsenopyrite and bismuth minerals, with analyses indicating lattice-bound gold in arsenopyrite. The Leven Star Reef reaches up to 8 m in width, follows a narrow, brittle fault zone with associated intense fracturing and quartz vein development in the country rock. Deformity and reef width are locally controlled by lithology with some of the best development occurring in coarser-grained sandstone units and/or rheological domain boundaries. Three alternative geological/wireframe models for the Leven Star Reef were produced. The LSC model was considered the most realistic interpretation of the Leven Star Reef. The LSC model integrates additional downhole data obtained from the recently drilled (2023) diamond hole BTD001. Hole BTD001 successfully extended the Leven Star Reef mineralisation up to 120 m down-dip from the previous MD16 intersections and confirmed the position of the Far East Hanover Fault. The criteria for wireframe construction were: Mineralized indicator grade: 0.3 g/t Au, Maximum consecutive internal dilution (downhole) of 2 m, No minimum downhole width. The true width of mineralisation in hole BTD001 appears to be narrower than previously interpreted. Additionally, the multiple reefs originally interpreted to intersect around the depth of BTD001 are likely to converge at greater depth. This concept is further supported by multiple interpreted Leven Star Reef intersections identified at depth in both MD03 and LSDDH7. Leven Star Reef has been drilled intermittently since the 1980s, with the current database reflecting work by several operators over multiple campaigns. This includes Paringa’s early diamond drilling, Pittson’s 1990–1992 diamond drilling, Eureka’s 1994 RC and diamond-tail programme, GBM Resources Ltd. (GBM)’s 2007–2008 diamond drilling, GBM–Novo JV drilling in 2021–2022, and Novo’s 2023 BTD hole. Across the deposit, gross drill spacing is about 50 m along strike by 20 m down dip, although spacing is locally variable. The Leven Star Reef model is based on 44 drillholes; comprising 15 RC and 29 DD drillholes. The DD holes were also used for density analysis and metallurgical testwork. Survey control is mixed, reflecting the age of the drilling.
