Atac said four diamond drills and a fifth stand-by drill have been contracted for 2010 to complete a proposed phase 1 drill program of a minimum of 18,000 meters, or about 120 hole.

Three drills will continue to define and expand the open Tiger zone to the northwest and southeast, and begin the systematic evaluation of the East zone discovered late in the 2009 field season. The same three drills also will be used to explore the 5-kilometer-long gold-bearing trend that lies immediately northwest of the Tiger zone, where six targets with oxide mineralization similar to the Tiger zone have been identified.

The fourth drill will be used to test geochemical and geophysical targets at Atac’s other properties comprising the Rau project. These properties lie within a 180-kilometer-long belt of favorable geology.

The junior also said access-route staking is finished and preliminary engineering studies are near completion in preparation for permitting a proposed 48-kilometer pioneer road to the property.

The Rau Gold Project hosts Nevada-style gold mineralization. Recent drilling at the Tiger zone traced stratabound gold mineralization over a strike length of 650 meters. The gold is hosted in stacked horizons within fractured, brecciated and altered carbonate rocks. In the central and southwestern parts of the zone, the gold occurs with various combinations of arsenopyrite, pyrite and pyrrhotite; but in the deeply weathered northwestern part, the gold is associated with limonite, which formed by oxidation of the pre-existing sulphide minerals and iron carbonate gangue.

Most of the intercepts obtained in 2008 and 2009 lie within 100 meters of the surface and many holes intersected mineralization directly below a thin layer of overburden cover.

The East zone was discovered in holes Rau-09-44 and Rau-09-61 where sulphide intercepts 90 meters apart averaged 3.71 grams per metric ton gold over 36.78 meters and 3.36 g/t gold over 23.06 meters, respectively. In contrast to the overlying Tiger zone, the mineralization is characterized primarily by pyrite and quartz replacement within coarse hydrothermal dolomite and iron carbonate interpreted to occur either stratigraphically or structurally below the discovery horizon.

Atac said the recognition of the East zone is significant as it demonstrates that gold mineralization at Rau occurs in diverse structural and stratigraphic settings. The East zone will be targeted with extensive drilling in early May.

Six recently discovered surface zones lie between 2.5 kilometers, or 1.5 miles, and 5 kilometers, or 3 miles, northwest of the Tiger zone. They are defined by strong soil geochemical anomalies and 13 select gold-bearing oxide talus samples that returned grades between 1.57 g/t and 18.5 g/t gold. Corresponding silver, lead and zinc values for these samples ranged from 3.18 g/t to 241 g/t, 0.01-19.35 percent and 0.06 to 1.13 percent, respectively.

Another 12 oxide talus samples collected within three of the zones returned average grades of 168 g/t silver and 8.96 percent lead with individual assays ranging from 34.4 g/t to 483 g/t and 0.23-35.74 percent, respectively. Gold response for these samples ranged from 0.06 g/t to 0.88 g/t, averaging 0.37 g/t. All six zones will be priority drill targets for the 2010 exploration program.

Atac said other exploration work planned for 2010 will include wide-ranging soil geochemical surveys; reconnaissance- and detailed-scale geological mapping and prospecting; additional induced polarization surveys; and orientation-type gravity surveys to determine the effectiveness of this exploration technique. Planned development-related studies also will include comprehensive metallurgical tests, wildlife surveys, continued water quality monitoring; archaeological research, and detailed surveys of access routes.