ATAC Resources Ltd. July 17 said results of the first three holes drilled at Osiris, the easternmost of three properties that make up the Rackla Gold property in the Yukon, show the expansion potential of the Conrad deposit.

In June, ATAC Resources reported an inaugural resource for Osiris with 12.38 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 4.23 grams per metric ton (1.69 million ounces) gold.

Most of the gold outlined so far at Osiris is found in the Conrad zone, which hosts 6.49 million metric tons averaging 4 g/t (835,000 oz) gold considered amenable for open pit mining and 3.17 million metric tons averaging 4.46 g/t (455,000 oz) gold better suited for underground mining.

"With our maiden resource in hand, we are very pleased to establish the expansion potential at the eastern end of the Conrad deposit. The first three holes confirm that exceptional grades continue along strike at the Middle Zone and identify a predictable, easterly trending zone of near-surface mineralization within and adjacent to the eastern end of the resource open pit," said ATAC Vice President of Exploration Julia Lane.

The first target of this year's drilling is the 650-850 fault corridor, where last year's drilling encountered structurally controlled high-grade gold associated with brittle faulting, including 12.5 meters of 20.78 g/t gold in OS-17-238.

Hole OS-18-262, a 40-meter step-out to the east of OS-17-238, cut two zones of near-surface gold mineralization associated with the 650-850 fault corridor – 18.29 meters of 1.74 g/t gold starting at the bedrock surface and 13.89 meters of 4.14 g/t gold from 66 meters down-hole.

High-grade, strata-controlled limestone hosted mineralization was also intersected deeper in OS-18-262, returning 23.59 meters of 9.50 g/t gold starting at 363.71 meters down-hole.

Holes OS-18-261 and OS-18-263 tested the eastward extension of near-surface mineralization intersected in two holes drilled at Osiris last year, 12.19 meters of 9.44 g/t gold in OS-17-257 and 25.91 meters of 5.44 g/t gold in OS-17-259.

OS-18-261, drilled 45 meters east of OS-17-257 cut 3.05 meters of 10.5 g/t before it was abandoned at 47.65 meters due to drill-pad complications. The target area of this hole has been re-drilled and results are pending.

OS-18-263, drilled 55 meters further east cut 64.01 meters of 1.55 g/t gold 90 meters to the east of the Conrad resource boundaries and along trend of mineralization in holes OS-17-257, OS-17-259 and OS-18-261. The result confirms a continuous trend of near-surface mineralization that remains open on the eastern side of the Conrad deposit.

Hole OS-18-263 also intersected a deeper zone consisting of 12.19 meters of 5.27 g/t gold within a fault bounded slice of limestone at 309.37 meters.

Diamond drilling of the Conrad and Sunrise, a deposit about 650 meters southwest of Conrad is ongoing.

Shane Lasley

Previous drilling at the Conrad zone on the Osiris project has outlined 1.2 million ounces of gold in roughly 9.7 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging more than 4 grams of gold per metric ton.

As of July 17, roughly 3,800 meters of diamond drilling has been completed at the Osiris project. At the same time, Barrick Gold Corp. is drilling at Orion, a 780-square-kilometer (301 square miles) project immediately west of Osiris and in the middle of ATAC's roughly 185-kilometer- (115 miles) long Rackla land package.

"Two drills continue to focus on extending mineralization at both Conrad and Sunrise, while three additional drills continue to target gold mineralization on the Orion project," said Lane.

–SHANE LASLEY