Study under way in Chile

Vancouver — Atna Resources (ATN-T) has launched a 20-hole drill program aimed at confirming the resource estimate at its newly acquired Barreal Seco oxide copper project in north-central Chile.

“We consider that Barreal Seco, with its low entry cost, will provide the first building block to reach our goal of creating a mid-cap mining company,” says David Watkins, Atna’s president. “It provides Atna with an opportunity to establish a producing mine with positive cash-flow in a short time frame.”

Under the agreement, Atna must spend US$250,000 before December and complete a prefeasibility study for mining the oxide resource. This latest drilling will form the basis of a resource calculation and open-pit design, leading to a completed prefeasibility study by October.

The project is located 80 km northeast of the port city of Chaaral. Previous work, including more than 20,000 metres of drilling, outlined an oxide resource of 17 million tonnes grading 0.7% copper, using a cutoff grade of 0.3%, and a sulphide resource of 54 million tonnes grading 0.65% copper, using a 0.4% cutoff.

Given the potential for a low strip ratio of 0.2-to-1, Atna believes the copper oxides can be mined as a 10,000-tonne-per-year open-pit operation, running through an SX-EW plant to generate a 10-year mine life.

Hosted in andesitic volcanics and sedimentary rocks, mineralization occurs in a specularite-rich breccia body measuring 600 metres by 240 metres by 450 metres. The oxide zone lies in the top 90-120 metres. This is followed by a 10-to-20-metre enrichment zone, which leads into the primary copper sulphides. Copper oxide mineralization includes atacamite, malachite and chrysocolla.

Once the prefeasibility study is complete, Atna can enter into a 50-50 joint-venture agreement with the local owners. The Vancouver-based company also holds the right to purchase 100% of the property by paying US$5 million in five equal installments, beginning after three years, or three months after commercial production.