Mining News: Northern Neighbors: Orion RAB results awash, core rig takes over

Atac Resources Ltd. Aug. 22 reported the start of a second phase of 2016 drilling at the Orion gold target, which is located within the Nadaleen Trend at the eastern end of the company’s Rackla Gold project in the Yukon Territory. The initial phase of the 2016 program at Orion consisted of rotary air blast drilling in the vicinity of the Anubis Fault and crosscutting structures. Results from this drilling are inconclusive due to high volumes of water encountered and the corresponding losses in sample material volume and quality. “RAB drilling in 2015 proved to be an effective tool for quickly and cost-effectively localizing the source of gold mineralization in bedrock. However, the volume of groundwater encountered in the 2016 RAB drilling was unexpected and the phase 1 RAB drill results are not considered to be either accurate or reliable,” explained Atac Vice President of Exploration Julia Lane. One RAB hole drilled an Orion in 2015, ARB-15-026, returned 47.24 meters of 3.79 g/t gold and bottomed in gold mineralization. The second phase of 2016 drilling will re-test a number of this year’s RAB targets with diamond drilling to provide improved geological information and sample quality. The diamond drill program also will be used to test the Anubis Fault and crosscutting structures at depths beyond the limits of the earlier RAB drilling.

-Shane Lasley