ATAC starts $10M program at Rackla

ATAC Resources Ltd. June 5 reported the start of a C$10-million exploration program at its Rackla Gold project in the Yukon.

The company currently has two drills targeting Carlin-type gold targets at the Conrad zone at the eastern end of the 1,742-square-kilometer (673 square miles) Rackla property.

Following the completion of an earn-in agreement with Barrick Gold Corp. in April, Atac divided the roughly 185-kilometer- (115 miles) long Rackla property into three projects - Rau, which encompasses 660 square kilometers (255 square miles) at the western end of Rackla; Osiris, a 302-square-kilometer (117 square miles) property at the eastern end of Rackla that hosts the Osiris, Conrad, Ibis, and Sunrise discoveries; and Orion, a 780-square-kilometer (301 square miles) section in the middle that hosts the Orion, Anubis, and eight other early stage Carlin-type gold prospects.

ATAC's 2017 program is to include roughly 15,000 meters of drilling targeting high-grade gold at the Osiris and Rau projects.

Currently, two drills are targeting the Conrad zone at Osiris.

Barrick, meanwhile, has budgeted around C$4.9 million for a separate program at Orion this year.

This work is starting with grassroots target delineation through detailed mapping, prospecting, geochemical sampling and trenching.

The major has the option to earn an initial 60 percent interest in Orion by investing C$35 million on exploration at the project over the next five years.

"ATAC will conduct advanced-stage drilling on its wholly-owned Osiris and Rau projects while Barrick focuses on systematically exploring the Orion project, said ATAC President and CEO Graham Downs. "With this two-pronged exploration approach, we are able to evaluate significant portions of the Rackla Gold Property while continuing to advance existing high-grade gold zones."

-SHANE LASLEY