VANCOUVER, BC, July 15, 2020 /CNW/ - ATAC Resources Ltd.
(TSXV: ATC) ("ATAC") is pleased to announce that the phase one
exploration program at its Rau Project has begun, with plans for a
phase two diamond drilling program to follow. The Rau Project is
located at the western end of its 1,700 km2 Rackla
Gold Property in east-central Yukon.
The previously announced phase one program will include
systematic trenching and rotary air blast ("RAB") drilling to
prepare the Airstrip gold target for a phase two diamond drill
program. The phase two program is planned to begin in late August
with two diamond drills at Airstrip and further RAB drilling of
regional targets. Inclusive of both phases, 6,000 m of drilling (3,000 m RAB and 3,000
m diamond) is planned to be conducted this season.
2020 Exploration Overview:
- Phase one: excavator trenching, 1,500
m of RAB drilling, mapping and prospecting to develop
diamond drill targets at the Airstrip target, which hosts the
largest gold-in-soil anomaly (11.5 km2) on the
property;
- Phase two: 3,000 m diamond drill
program at Airstrip and 1,500 m of
RAB drilling at regional targets;
- Trenching, prospecting, hand pitting, soil sampling, mapping
and RAB drilling on regional early-stage geochemical targets,
including the Val target, where 2019 prospecting
returned a highlight sample of 11,663 g/t silver, 76.4%
lead, and 2.59% copper.
An eight ton excavator was recently relocated from the eastern
end of the Rackla Gold Project to the Rau Airstrip in preparation
for the start of exploration work. The excavator will be used to
develop a system of trails and trenches across the Airstrip
anomaly. Trail cuts and trenches will be systematically
mapped, prospected and sampled to define track-mounted RAB and
diamond drill targets. RAB drilling will utilize a downhole
televiewer to collect oriented downhole images, allowing for
structural interpretation and lithological and alteration
logging.
"Having an excavator of this size to work on the Airstrip target
will allow for highly efficient evaluation of our largest gold soil
anomaly on the Rackla Gold Property. The network of trails and
trenches will help uncover the source of the Airstrip gold anomaly
and provide critical geological and structural information
necessary for drill targeting," commented President and CEO
Graham Downs. "With a healthy
treasury of over $10 million, we are
excited to aggressively diamond drill Airstrip later this
season."
Airstrip Target
The exploration program will begin with excavator trenching at
the Airstrip target, where anomalous gold-in-soil responses cover
an area of over 11.5 km2 with values ranging from
detection up to 1,030 ppb gold. A first pass RAB drill program
conducted in 2016 intersected 1.43 g/t gold over 13.71 m in hole ASR-16-006 and 0.66 g/t
gold over 22.86 m in hole
ASR-16-004. Both holes ended in mineralization approximately
70 m down-hole. These drill holes
are located 430 m apart and have not
received follow up work.
A re-evaluation of the Airstrip target in 2019 suggests the
source of the gold-in-soil anomaly could be related to an
underlying reduced-intrusion-related gold system along trend the
Tombstone Gold Belt (e.g. Eagle Gold, Brewery Creek and Fort Knox).
Gold mineralization occurs in highly oxidized arsenopyrite-bearing
quartz veins, veinlets and stringers. The quartz veins are hosted
within Earn Group shale that has been variably metamorphosed to
phyllite, likely due to the nearby Dawson Thrust, a large regional
scale reactivated thrust fault. Gold-bearing geochemistry displays
a strong association between gold-bismuth-arsenic-tellurium.
Prospecting and hand pitting in 2019 returned grab samples
grading up to 1.63 g/t gold located more than 1 km east of the 2016
RAB drilling, bolstering the large size potential of the
Airstrip target.
Figure 1 – Airstrip Highlights
Regional Exploration
ATAC will follow up on high gold, copper, silver, lead and zinc
results from 2019 and prior field seasons across the Rackla Gold
Property. High-priority targets to be assessed by trenching,
prospecting, hand pitting, mapping and/or RAB drilling include Val,
Cub, Bobcat, Condor, Puma and Spotlight.
Connaught Project
An extensive prospecting, sampling and mapping program is being
planned for the Connaught property
in western Yukon. The main
objectives of this program are to identify the source(s) of the 1.8
km2 coincident silver-lead soil anomaly on the
southern portion of the property, and follow up on gold-in-soil
anomalism in the northeast portion of the property. Multiple
samples from hand-pits and prospecting in the southern anomaly
returned anomalous silver, lead and gold with a highlight sample
of 1,485 g/t silver, 43.96% lead and 7.90 g/t gold. See
news release dated January 16, 2020
for more information on the Connaught property.
East Goldfield Project
Property-wide airborne LIDAR and hyperspectral surveys were
completed in mid-June. Results from those surveys are being
reviewed, and will be used to develop a detailed geochemical survey
to be initiated shortly.
QA/QC
Prospecting grab samples referenced in this release represent
highlight results only, and include results from 2019 and previous
seasons. Below detection values for gold, copper, silver, lead and
zinc have been encountered in grab samples in these target
areas.
The technical information in this news release has been approved
by Adam Coulter, M.Sc., P.Geo., VP
Exploration for ATAC and a qualified person for the purposes of
National Instrument 43-101.
About ATAC
ATAC is a Vancouver-based
exploration company focused on advancing Yukon's premier precious and base metal
district and grassroots exploration in Nevada. Work on its ~1,700 km2
Rackla Gold Property in Yukon has
resulted in the Osiris Project Inferred Mineral Resource of
1,685,000 oz of gold at an average grade of 4.23 g/t (in 12.4 Mt),
a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Tiger Gold
Deposit (Pre-tax NPV of $118.2M and
IRR of 54.5%), and numerous early-stage gold and base metal
discoveries. ATAC is well-financed with approximately $10 million in working capital.
On behalf of Management and the Board of Directors of ATAC
Resources Ltd.
Graham Downs, President and
CEO
NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS
REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE
POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR
THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.
SOURCE ATAC Resources Ltd.