Atna bides time at Marg property

Atna Resources (ATN-T) has kicked off a field program on its 67%-owned Marg polymetallic property near Mayo, Y.T.

The project, a joint venture with 33%-owner Cameco (CCO-T), is underlain by Devonian-Mississippian metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks that host four closely stacked massive sulphide lenses. The lenses are continuous over a strike length of 700 metres and a downdip length of 450 metres, the average thickness being 6.1 metres.

In 1997, Franzen Engineering calculated an indicated resource of 5.5 million tonnes grading 1.8% copper, 4.6% zinc and 2.5% lead, plus 62.7 grams silver and 0.98 gram gold per tonne. The Marg deposit is partly open along strike and downdip.

A sulphide showing, dubbed the Jane zone, occurs in the same host rocks, 6 km from the Marg deposit. Atna has begun a program of prospecting, mapping and geochemical sampling to target potential extensions of the known deposit and previously unexplored areas of the property. The company’s objective is to at least double the resource.

Meanwhile, Atna has received mixed results following a third round of drilling at the San Antonio I concession in the Dominican Republic. The work confirmed the presence of volcanogenic massive sulphides over a wide area, but failed to prove that the mineralized area is large enough to be mined economically.

Atna holds an option to earn a 60% interest in the concession from Energold Mining (egd-v) by spending US$3 million on exploration and issuing US$300,000 worth of shares over four years.

Measuring 8 km long by 3 km wide, the property is underlain by volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Maimon formation. Since signing the option agreement in 1998, Atna has explored the concession with geochemical and geophysical surveys, plus three phases of diamond drilling. To date, 4,618 metres in 26 holes have been completed. Drilling was conducted by Kluane International Drilling, Energold’s 50%-owned contract drilling company, which specializes in manually portable hydraulic-powered diamond drill rigs.

Seven of the latest 10 holes cut semi-massive mineralization. Hole 19 tested a geochemical and geophysical anomaly midway between the previously defined Copper and Parcela zones, hitting a mineralized siliceous exhalative averaging 0.5% copper, 1.63% zinc, 21.7 grams silver and 0.33 gram gold over 7.9 metres, including 1.2 metres of semi-massive and massive sulphide mineralization grading 1.43% copper, 6.26% zinc, 77 grams silver and 1.43 grams gold. Moving 100 metres to the west, hole 21 cut similar mineralization averaging 0.57% copper, 0.85% zinc, 85.3 grams silver and 1.14 grams gold across 3.9 metres, including 1.4 metres of semi-massive sulphides grading 0.75% copper, 2.91% zinc, 136.4 grams silver and 2.13 grams gold.

Hole 22 was drilled downdip from previously intersected massive sulphide mineralization in the Parcela zone. Parcela is a massive sulphide lens with a strike length of 400 metres, a downdip of 125 metres and a thickness of up to 12 metres. Hole 22 intersected 3.4 metres of semi-massive to massive sulphides grading 2.71% copper, 1.85% zinc, 26.8 grams silver and 0.48 gram gold.

The Copper zone, 1.8 km east of Parcela, was further tested by hole 25, which cut 9.6 metres averaging 0.46% copper, 1.36% zinc, 8.7 grams silver and 0.71 gram gold, including 2.8 metres of semi-massive sulphides grading 1.12% copper, 3.18% zinc, 11.4 grams silver and 1.61 grams gold. The zone was previously defined by four holes along a strike length of 400 metres and a downdip of 175 metres.

Atna is compiling all geological, geochemical and drilling data to determine the course of future work.