ATAC Resources has announced initial exploration results from the Rau Project, located at the western end of the Company's Rackla Gold Property, Yukon.
Image: Bobcat Area Gold and Copper Geochem July 2019. Photo courtesy of CNW Group/ATAC Resources Ltd.
Exploration at Rau in 2019 is focused on the eastern side of the 660 km2 project in proximity to the Rackla Pluton. The program is designed to follow up on gold, copper, silver and tin anomalies identified in 2018. Work completed to date includes prospecting, soil sampling, geologic mapping, rotary air blast (RAB) drilling and ground based induced-polarization and magnetometer geophysical surveying.
Initial hand-pitting and prospecting near a strongly anomalous (6,940 ppm Cu) copper-in-soil location returned a sample of oxidized polylithic fault breccia containing 6.39% copper. Further prospecting 300 m west returned a sheared siltstone cut by quartz veins containing 643 g/t silver. Both samples are located proximal to the intersection of two untested faults — defined on surface as prominent linear features — likely tapping mineralizing fluids emanating off of the nearby Rackla Pluton.
This area of new mineralization is located approximately 800 m north of the Bobcat gold-copper skarn target, where recent exploration returned numerous multi-gram gold and multi-percent copper grab samples, including 6.07 g/t gold with 7.41% copper and 7.37 g/t gold with 5.90% copper. Diamond drilling has recently commenced at Bobcat to test for the bedrock source of this mineralization, as well as to obtain stratigraphic and structural information to guide further targeting.
“Results from the area proximal to the Rackla Pluton continue to expand the mineral potential across an emerging, regional-scale polymetallic district,” states Graham Downs, President and CEO of ATAC. “Mineralization styles vary throughout the Rau project, and demonstrate the potential for not just high-grade gold discoveries, but an entire suite of strategic metals. We’re currently mobilizing a diamond drill to test priority anomalies and systematically improve understanding of the underlying geology, which will be combined with additional geophysical and surficial data to further refine the exploration model for the district.”
A soil grid completed late in 2018 east of Bobcat identified a 1.2 km x 1 km silver, lead and tin soil anomaly that remains open to the east. The line farthest east on the 2018 grid contained a sample assaying 14.55 g/t silver in soil.
The grid was extended in early 2019 and identified an encouraging new 900 m x 400 m gold-in-soil anomaly that overlays a parallel 700 m x 500 m copper-in-soil anomaly. This anomaly demonstrates the continued potential for intrusion-related discoveries in the district.
In addition, early prospecting 4.5 km north of Bobcat, and south of the Blue Lite and Spotlight skarn anomalies, has identified large quartz boulders mineralized with course grained bismuthinite and pyrite containing 2.87 g/t gold. This target is located on the southern margin of a second interpreted buried intrusion defined through review of geophysical datasets.
QA/QC
Samples were forwarded to ALS Minerals in Whitehorse and North Vancouver where they were fine crushed before a 250 gram split was pulverized to better than 85% passing 75 microns. Pulps were then analyzed at ALS Minerals in North Vancouver where gold determinations were carried out. Rock sample gold analyses were by the Au-AA25 procedure that involves fire assay preparation using a 30 gram charge with an atomic absorption spectroscopy finish. Initial multi element data for 48 elements was determined by the ME-MS61 procedure that involves a four acid digestion followed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy. Over limit values for silver and copper are determined by the Ag/Cu method that utilizes a four acid digestion followed by an atomic absorption spectroscopy finish.
All prospecting grab samples reported in this release represent significant results only. Low or below detection values for gold, copper and silver were encountered in unreported grab samples.
The technical information in this news release has been approved by Julia Lane, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for ATAC and a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.
Source: Company Press Release