Mar 25 2015
ATAC Resources Ltd. announces plans for a $3 million Phase I exploration and drilling program at its 100% owned Rackla Gold Project in east-central Yukon.
The Rackla Gold Project covers an area of 1,700 sq/km and hosts Canada's first Carlin-type gold discoveries. The project area is divided into two distinct trends: (i) the 30 km long Nadaleen Trend which hosts drill-confirmed Carlin-type gold mineralization at the Conrad, Osiris, Ibis, Sunrise and Anubis zones: and (ii) the 20 km long Rau Trend which hosts the Tiger Gold Deposit and Ocelot silver-lead-zinc-tin discovery.
The majority of the 2015 exploration program will be conducted within the Nadaleen Trend and will focus on expanding the Conrad Zone and advancing the Carlin-type gold discoveries within the Anubis Cluster.
2015 Phase I Exploration Objectives:
- Shallow diamond drilling will continue to test the eastern portion of the Conrad Upper Zone;
- Diamond drilling will target the untested area between the Conrad Upper and Middle zones;
- Diamond drilling at the newly discovered Conrad Lower Zone will step out from hole OS-14-230 which intersected 42.67 m of 3.03 g/t gold; and,
- Rotary Air Blast ("RAB") drilling within the Anubis Cluster to target over
- 20 geochemical anomalies and structures that lie beneath a thin cover of overburden.
Conrad Zone
Conrad is the most advanced zone within the 12 sq/km Osiris Cluster and mineralization is found within three separate structural and stratigraphic settings. In the Conrad Upper Zone, gold mineralization occurs along the stratigraphic contact between limestone and an overlying pyritic siltstone cap unit where the thickest mineralization occurs along the crest of an anticlinal fold. The Upper Zone has been continuously traced by shallow drilling over a strike length of 800 m and remains open in both directions. Shallow diamond drilling will be conducted in 2015 at the eastern end of the Upper Zone with the goal of expanding the zone.
Mineralization at the Conrad Middle Zone is characterized by strong alteration and mineralization within multiple stacked, flat-lying bodies proximal to a laterally extensive, near vertical siltstone-limestone contact. Only 300 m of the presently known 800 m long favourable siltstone-limestone contact has been drill tested. Mineralization at the Middle Zone remains open along strike and at depth. The 2015 drill program will target the untested area between the Upper and Middle zones.
The 2014 Conrad Lower Zone discovery was marked by two significant gold intervals that returned 42.67 m of 3.03 g/t gold including 6.09 m of 13.61 g/t gold and 21.71 m of 3.15 g/t gold including 9.15 m of 5.85 g/t gold in OS-14-230. Phase I of the 2015 drilling program will test the lateral potential of the Lower Zone.
Anubis Cluster
The Anubis Cluster is located 10 km to the west of the Osiris Cluster along regional scale northwest-trending extensional faults. The 18 sq/km gold and pathfinder geochemical footprint of the Anubis area suggests a very large Carlin-type mineralizing event with a long-lived hydrothermal plumbing system. The discovery drill hole at Anubis intersected 8.51 m of 19.85 g/t gold in AN-12-001 and subsequent trenching and geochemical sampling outlined a cumulative 8 km strike length of anomalous fault structures with adjacent, strongly developed, gold-bearing Carlin-type alteration.
In 2015, ATAC will employ a track-mounted RAB drill at the Anubis Cluster in order to cost-effectively collect bedrock samples at known geochemical anomalies, faults and cross-cutting structures. Initial RAB drilling will be conducted at the Ana, Hydra, Draco, Columba and Corona showings.
Graham Downs, ATAC's CEO, says, "ATAC remains committed to advancing the Rackla Gold Project in a cost-efficient and accretive manner year over year. Conrad continues to deliver strong results from multiple zones and exploration in 2015 will focus on testing the area between the Upper and Middle zones while exploring the newly discovered Conrad Lower Zone. The Anubis Cluster will benefit from low-cost RAB drilling which we believe will help us vector in on the bedrock source of gold mineralization within the 18 sq/km area and develop targets for future diamond drilling."
True-widths for all Conrad and Anubis drill results mentioned in this release are estimated to be 60% - 100% of intersected widths.