ATAC Resources Ltd.'s Rackla Gold project saw roughly C$13 million of exploration in 2018. Barrick Gold Corp. invested about C$6 million at Orion, a gold project that lies in the middle of the 1,700-square-kilometer (656 square miles) Rackla Gold property. ATAC spent the balance at Osiris and Rau, situated on the east and west ends of Rackla, respectively.

Barrick has the option to earn up to 70 percent ownership of Orion by investing roughly C$63.3 million, including a two-stage C$55 million exploration earn-in pact on Orion.

Barrick's initial drill program at Orion in 2017 tapped robust Carlin-type alteration well away from any surface geochemical anomalies, demonstrating that favorable environments for the development of gold mineralization at Orion are more extensive than previously understood.

A 10,000-meter drill program carried out this year by Barrick primarily tested Carlin-type gold targets along the Anubis Fault corridor, where ATAC cut 8.5 meters of 19.85 grams per metric ton gold in the Anubis zone and 61.3 meters of 2.75 g/t gold in the Orion zone prior to optioning the property to Barrick.

Nine other prospecting discoveries within the Anubis Cluster – Ana, Corona, Columba, Dale, Dorado, Draco, Hydra, Lyra and Zodiac – have received only cursory follow-up since their discovery in 2013.

As Barrick explored Carlin-type gold mineralization at Orion, ATAC was expanding on the same style of deposits and targets on Osiris, immediately to the east.

In June, the explorer published a 1.69-million-ounce maiden gold resource for Osiris, where ATAC first discovered Carlin-type gold in Yukon Territory.

The Carlin-type gold at Osiris is found in 8 million metric tons of inferred resources averaging 4.08 g/t (1.06 million oz) gold that can be mined from an open pit. The balance – 4.34 million metric tons averaging 4.52 g/t (630,000 oz) gold – is considered better suited for underground mining.

The drill program this year at Osiris began with expansion drilling at Conrad, a zone that carries about 1.3 million oz of the Osiris resource.

The first target was the 650-850 fault corridor, where 2017 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.

Drilling this year also confirmed a continuous trend of near-surface gold mineralization east of Conrad, including one hole that cut 64.01 meters of 1.55 g/t gold 90 meters to the east of the resource boundary.

The explorer also drilled Sunrise, where 309,000 metric tons of open-pit inferred resource averaging 4.23 g/t (42,000 oz) gold; and 531,000 metric tons of underground inferred resource averaging 5.53 g/t (95,000 oz) gold has been identified.

Drilling in 2018 stepped out from OS-17-249, a 2017 hole that cut 15.24 meters of 13.52 g/t gold and 10.42 meters of 7.97 g/t gold.

ATAC says there is excellent potential for new discoveries at Osiris and carried out mapping, prospecting and rotary air-blast drilling across the project to test for extensions or new areas of mineralization.

ATAC also investigated the gold and base metals potential across Rau, its gold discovery at the western end of Rackla.

The Rau property covers a 12.5-mile trend of metals deposits and prospects that include: Tiger, a carbonate replacement style deposit with 5.68 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 2.66 g/t (485,700 oz) gold; Airstrip, a large gold anomaly about 4,000 meters south of Tiger; Ocelot, a silver-lead-zinc discovery about nine miles northwest of Tiger; and multiple other precious and base metals geochemical anomalies.

In August, the explorer reported the discovery of significant gold and copper skarn mineralization at Bobcat, a target about 4,500 meters southeast of Tiger.

The objective of the 2018 exploration at Bobcat was to follow up on a rock sample collected in 2010 with 7.37 g/t gold and 5.9 percent copper and another from 2012 with 13.7 g/t gold.

ATAC said preliminary hand-pitting returned numerous multi-gram gold and multi-percent copper grab samples; including one sample with 6.07 g/t gold and 7.41 percent copper, and another with 5.08 g/t gold and 3.69 percent copper.

These samples were collected from an open-ended 1,500- by 2,000-meter soil geochemical anomaly associated with a large magnetic low.

In March, the Yukon government and the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun filed a joint document that allows ATAC to move forward with plans to build a 65-kilometer (40 miles), private, all-season tote road to the Tiger gold deposit.

In addition to supporting exploration and development activities at Rau, this road could provide a staging area in support of exploration on the Orion and Osiris projects to the east.

ATAC Resources is a member of the Strategic Exploration Group, a collection of junior resource companies focused on exploring northwestern Canada. Members of the group enjoy a close working relationship with Archer, Cathro & Associates (1981) Ltd., a geological consulting firm with extensive knowledge and exploration expertise in Yukon and northern British Columbia.

-SHANE LASLEY

ATAC Resources Ltd. - TSX-V: ATC

President and CEO: Graham Downs

VP, Exploration: Julia Lane

Chief Operating Officer: Ian Talbot

Ste. 1016 - 510 West Hastings St., Vancouver, BC, V6B 1L8

Tel: 604-687-2522