ATAC finds gold-copper-rich skarn at Rau

ATAC Resources Ltd. Aug. 21 said it has identified significant gold and copper skarn mineralization at the Bobcat, a target about 4,500 meters southeast of the advanced-stage Tiger Gold deposit at Rau, the westernmost of three projects that make up the 1,700-square-kilometer (656 square miles) Rackla Gold property in the Yukon.

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

ATAC said two days of mapping and prospecting this year confirmed the presence of skarn alteration and mineralization likely associated with the under-explored Rackla Pluton about 1,500 meters to the west.

The company reports that 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.

Previous drilling about 1,000 meters to the west encountered elevated gold mineralization in potassic-altered granodiorite and skarn similar to that found at Bobcat but did not receive follow-up drilling.

"The potential to have gold-rich skarn mineralization at Rau is a significant development, as these types of deposits can be relatively high-grade and are often associated with copper-gold porphyry systems," states ATAC Technical Committee Chair Rob Carne.

Mapping in the Bobcat area has identified significant exposures of limestone and marble that lie roughly 1,500 meters east of the mapped surface expression of the Rackla Pluton.

ATAC said potential deposit-scale mineralization is likely to occur to the west-northwest, between this limestone-marble front and the Rackla Pluton.

"We continue to encounter a variety of exciting, high-grade mineralization that now potentially includes skarn and porphyry targets," said ATAC Resources President and CEO Graham Downs. "Given the proximity to our proposed access road these discoveries could quickly become strategic value propositions for our shareholders."

The company has dispatched crews to further investigate the Bobcat target and the surface exposure of the Rackla Pluton.

–SHANE LASLEY