Atna Resources options Monterde project in Mexico

After walking away from the Madison cobalt project in Missouri, junior Atna Resources (ATN-T) is focusing its attention on a deal with privately owned Kimber Resources to option a 100% interest in the past-producing Monterde gold-silver prospect in Mexico.

The property is in the Sierra Madre Occidental volcanic belt and is accessible by road. Between 1937 and 1943, the deposit yielded 67,000 tonnes grading 19 grams gold and 311 grams silver per tonne.

Atna can earn a 100% interest in the property by spending US$2.5 million and paying Kimber US$500,000 over 30 months.

The cash-rich junior is targeting a mineralized envelope that is minable by open-pit methods, as well as high-grade lenses adjacent to the old workings. Kimber Resources estimates that the resource hosted in the central portion of the Carmen shear contains 10.5 million tonnes grading 2.1 grams gold and 66.7 grams silver. The estimate is based on historic data, underground sampling, trenching and limited drilling. Preliminary cyanide leach tests have provided satisfactory gold recoveries on crushed material.

Atna anticipates that gold can be produced at the annual rate of 90,000 oz. at a cash cost of less than US$150 per oz. The pre-production capital expenditure is pegged at US$24 million.