ATAC Resources Ltd. ("ATAC") is pleased to announce that the 2013 drilling and exploration program has commenced at its 100% owned, 1,700 sq km Rackla Gold Project, Yukon.
2013 Exploration Program
- Initial diamond drilling will focus on expanding high-grade, near-surface Carlin-type gold targets that include Isis East, Sunrise and Anubis Zones; and,
- Regional exploration will advance existing showings to the drill stage and identify new gold targets throughout the property with an emphasis on the Nadaleen Trend and ten Tier 1 geochemical anomalies surrounding the 2012 Anubis discovery.
"ATAC has made nine drill discoveries on the Rackla Gold Project since 2008. We are excited to be back on the ground advancing over 40 early stage anomalies and targets that were identified throughout the property in 2012. The fully funded 2013 program will focus on maintaining our high discovery rate while building ounces by drilling key high-grade, near-surface targets that include the Isis East, Sunrise and Anubis Zones," stated Graham Downs, ATAC's CEO. "The Rackla Project is located in the only known Carlin-type district outside of Nevada and ATAC's land package is not subject to any underlying royalty or third party interests of any kind. Furthermore, having over $26 million in our treasury will enable the Company to complete multiple years of exploration in this very promising and under explored district."
2013 Diamond Drilling
Diamond drilling has commenced at the Isis East Zone, located at the southern edge of the 3 by 4 km Osiris area cluster of gold zones. Limited drilling in previous programs intersected strong near-surface Carlin-type gold mineralization of 6.28 g/tgold over 27.43 m (OS-12-120) and 3.33 g/t gold over 38.10 m (OS-11-040). Drilling at Isis East will continue to define the anticlinal hosted stratabound gold mineralization that has been intersected over an unfolded strike length of 200 m and to the current depth of 225 m. The gold mineralization at Isis East remains open for expansion to the east and at depth.
The Sunrise Zone is located 650 m northeast of Isis East and drilling here is scheduled to begin within the week. It was discovered late in 2012 and is located along a fault that is upslope of a 300 m long gold-in-soil geochemical anomaly. The Sunrise Zone is exposed at surface and was confirmed with discovery hole OS-12-173, which collared in mineralization and returned 14.86 m of 10.54 g/t gold and 13.71 m of 4.47 g/t gold. Systematic channel sampling along the length of a nearby excavator trench across the Sunrise Zone returned a weighted average grade of 24.60 g/t gold over 10 m. To date, only two holes have tested the Sunrise Zone. The 2013 drilling program will test gold mineralization along strike for the full 300 m length of the geochemical anomaly.
The Anubis Zone was the first drill-confirmed regional discovery of Carlin-type gold mineralization outside of the Osiris cluster of zones, located 10 km to the east. The Anubis showing is located within a 1 km long gold-in-soil anomaly contained within a larger and open-ended 1.5 by 2.5 km arsenic, thallium, antimony and mercury soil anomaly. The discovery hole, AN-12-001 intersected 8.51 m of 19.85 g/t gold with an undercut hole (AN-12-003) intersecting 16.76 m of 9.09 g/t gold. The Anubis Zone will be tested with mechanized trenching and drilled later this summer.
Maps and figures for all gold zones can be viewed on ATAC's website (www.atacresources.com).
2013 Regional Exploration
The 2013 regional exploration program will continue to build on the successful 2012 exploration program that identified over 40 early-stage anomalies or targets. Exploration emphasis in 2013 will be to advance existing targets to the drill stage and identify new gold targets. The primary areas of exploration focus will be within the 40 km long Nadaleen Trend at the eastern end of the property and within the 35 km long Rau Trend containing the Tiger Deposit at the western end. Widely spaced transect geochemistry surveys and prospecting will also be conducted between both trends to follow up on over 20 geochemically anomalous drainages identified by previous surveys.
Nadaleen Trend
Regional exploration crews are currently advancing the high priority Tier 1 Carlin-type gold targets within a 10 by 18 km area surrounding the Anubis Zone. Many of these promising targets exhibit strong coincident gold+/-pathfinder soil geochemical anomalies that are associated with favourable stratigraphy or northwest trending structures. To date, they have received little if any follow-up work. These anomalies are very similar to those that led to the discoveries of the Conrad, Osiris, Isis East and Sunrise Zones located 10 km to the east. Additional transect and infill geochemical surveys along with detailed prospecting will be conducted throughout the Nadaleen Trend in 2013.
Rau Trend
Recent exploration along the Rau Trend has identified over 10 significant gold targets and 23 anomalous drainages. Reconnaissance soil sampling in 2012 identified the Bengal Showing, located 3 km south of the Tiger Gold Deposit. Bengal occurs within a newly defined 5.6 km intermittent gold-in-soil anomaly underlain by a regionally extensive carbonaceous unit, where outcrop channel samples returned grades from below detection to 3.2 g/t gold across 1.0 m. The Bengal Showing target area will receive infill geochemical surveys and detailed prospecting in 2013.
True widths for all drill-holes mentioned in this news release are estimated to be 75% - 100% of intersected widths.
The technical information in this news release has been approved by Robert C. Carne, M.Sc., P.Geo., the President and a director of ATAC Resources Ltd., and a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.
Source: http://www.atacresources.com/