Nelson Resources Lodges NOI for Gold Point Bulk Sample in Nevada
Key Takeaways
- Nelson Resources has lodged a Notice of Intent (NOI) with the Bureau of Land Management to collect up to 1,000 short tons (~910 tonnes) of remnant mineralised material from the historic Orleans Mine at its Gold Point Gold-Silver Project in Nevada.
- The bulk sample targets material from the 300-foot and 400-foot levels of the Orleans Mine, where previously reported gold grades range from 0.97 g/t to 7.27 g/t and silver grades from 41 g/t to 215 g/t across eleven samples.
- Nelson deliberately scoped the program at or below the 1,000-ton BLM threshold to qualify as a Notice-level operation — a faster, lighter-touch regulatory pathway that avoids the more resource-intensive Plan of Operations process.
- Extraction cannot commence until the NOI is approved and a financial bond is in place; once both extraction and processing are underway, the program is indicatively expected to take approximately four months to complete.
- Nelson is earning up to a 90% interest in the Gold Point project, which has been consolidated under a single owner for the first time in more than 140 years within a Tier-1 Nevada mining jurisdiction.
NOI lodged for 1,000-ton metallurgical bulk sample at Gold Point’s Orleans Mine
Nelson Resources (ASX: NES) has lodged a Notice of Intent (NOI) with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to collect up to 1,000 short tons (~910 tonnes) of remnant mineralised material from the historic Orleans Mine at its Gold Point Gold-Silver Project in Nevada. The program is a metallurgical characterisation exercise, not a decision to mine or commence commercial production. The NOI has been submitted and is awaiting approval; extraction cannot commence until the NOI is approved and a financial bond is in place.
Gold Point sits in Nevada, a Tier-1 mining jurisdiction, within a historic district consolidated under a single owner for the first time in more than 140 years. Nelson is earning up to a 90% interest in the project.
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What the bulk sampling program is designed to achieve
The proposed program has three core objectives:
- Evaluate process response and inform an optimal flowsheet for the remnant material
- Quantify gold and silver recoveries under representative processing conditions
- Characterise performance differences between higher-grade and lower-grade remnant profiles, where those profiles can be sampled and processed as separate lots
The bulk sample is a scale-up of the existing laboratory testwork announced on 15 July 2026, when four composite samples of approximately 20kg each were submitted to Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) in Reno. Laboratory results alone cannot confirm how material will behave in a commercial mill; the bulk sample is designed to test whether those laboratory results hold at scale and to generate a more representative grade-recovery profile. Material targeted comes principally from the 300-foot and 400-foot levels of the Orleans Mine workings and associated remnant stockpiles.
Orleans Mine drilling results from the same workings provide the geological context for why the remnant material is being targeted: high-grade gold intercepts from the Orleans Mine underground program confirmed the structural controls and grade continuity that the bulk sample is now designed to characterise at processing scale.
Previously reported grade range of remnant material
Eleven samples from stope-collapse material and adjacent remnant intervals were previously reported in the 15 July 2026 ASX announcement and are reproduced below solely to illustrate the grade range the bulk sample is intended to represent. Gold values range from 0.97 g/t to 7.27 g/t and silver values from 41 g/t to 215 g/t, a variability that is precisely why separate lot characterisation by grade profile is planned.
| Sample ID | Level | Description | Au (g/t) | Ag (g/t) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C239322 | 300 | Hematite-quartz stope collapse | 7.27 | 41.4 |
| C239334 | 800 | Hematite-quartz stope collapse | 4.92 | 53.7 |
| C239331 | 400 | Hematite-quartz stope collapse | 4.87 | 215 |
| C239321 | 300 | Hematite-quartz stope collapse | 1.51 | 125 |
| C239323 | 300 | 0.6m fault breccia interval | 4.12 | 99.8 |
| C239324 | 300 | 1m fault breccia interval | 1.8 | 55.7 |
| C239325 | 300 | 0.8m fault breccia interval | 0.97 | 145 |
| C239327 | 300 | Hematite-quartz stope collapse | 4.72 | 51.8 |
| C239328 | 300 | Hematite-quartz stope collapse | 5.39 | 105 |
| C239329 | 300 | Hematite-quartz stope collapse | 1.46 | 53.8 |
| C239330 | 300 | Hematite-quartz stope collapse | 1.98 | 41 |
Source: Previously reported in ASX announcement dated 15 July 2026
Understanding the BLM Notice-level threshold — what it means for investors
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is the US federal agency that manages public land in Nevada, and any company that wants to disturb or sample that land must first satisfy its regulatory requirements. A Notice of Intent is the submission required before small-scale surface disturbance or sampling on BLM-managed land.
The 1,000-ton threshold is significant: at or below this volume, a bulk sample qualifies as a “Notice-level operation,” a lighter-touch regulatory pathway that does not require a full Plan of Operations. Nelson’s proposed scope was deliberately set within this limit. Notice-level approval is generally faster and less resource-intensive than a Plan of Operations, which is a more detailed and time-consuming process. Should a larger sample be required beyond this threshold, Nelson is already preparing a Plan of Operations as a contingency.
For investors, the practical implication is that the chosen scope was structured to keep the permitting pathway as streamlined as possible.
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Permitting, milling and what comes next
Gernot Abl, Non-Executive Chairman
“This proposed bulk sampling program is a logical next step in our evaluation of the Orleans remnant material. By generating detailed metallurgical data under controlled conditions, we will define an optimal process flowsheet, quantify gold and silver recoveries across the range of grade profiles, and better understand the characteristics of higher-grade versus lower-grade material. Having recently visited Gold Point with Matt Dumala and reviewed underground conditions with the Nevada Rand team, we see this work as essential technical input to any future evaluation of the system.”
The program must clear several sequential steps before extraction begins:
- NOI approval from BLM (submitted, pending)
- Financial bond/guarantee lodged
- Third-party mill facility confirmed and campaign window secured (Nevada and surrounding states are being evaluated)
- Sample-selection and lot-control plan finalised, to enable separate higher-grade and lower-grade characterisation
- Extraction commences; processing at the confirmed mill facility to follow
Once both extraction and processing are underway, the program is indicatively expected to take approximately four months from start to completion of the final lot. The announcement emphasises this estimate is indicative only and will be refined once a mill slot is confirmed. Both KCA laboratory results and bulk-sample metallurgical results will be reported to market once available and fully interpreted.
The Gold Point gold-silver system has now been confirmed to extend beyond the historic district boundaries, with skarn-hosted mineralisation adding a broader structural footprint to a project that was already being consolidated under a single owner for the first time in over 140 years.
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