Atna eyes Grayd’s Alaskan properties

Atna Resources (ATN-T) plans to join forces with Grayd Resources (GYD-V) to explore the latter’s Dry Creek and Anderson Mountain properties in the Bonnifield district of Alaska.

To earn a 51% interest in the properties, Atna must spend $5 million on exploration over the next five years. The company has already committed about $1 million for this year’s program, which will consist of 10,000 ft. of diamond drilling.

The Dry Creek and Anderson Mountain properties comprise a 17,700-acre land package about 60 miles south of Fairbanks. Geologically, the properties are underlain by Paleozoic-aged sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Yukon-Tanana Terrane.

The Dry Creek property hosts two zones of volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) mineralization. These occur on the northern and southern limbs of an east-westerly trending synclinal fold.

“The Dry Creek property has an extremely large alteration system, and there is known mineralization that extends over considerable distances within the stratigraphy,” says Peter Holbek, vice-president of Atna. “The only thing missing from this property is a big thick intersection that indicates a large deposit.”

At the Anderson Mountain property, 18 miles southwest of Dry Creek, VMS-style mineralization can be found in Devonian-to-Mississippian-aged felsic volcanics and sediments. Also, numerous massive sulphide boulders (some as thick as 1.5 metres) can be found protruding beneath the scree-covered slope of Anderson Mountain.

Beginning in July, Atna will conduct a drill program focused on the DC North horizon of the Dry Creek property. Grayd has drilled off a narrow zone of steeply dipping zinc-and-silver-rich massive sulphide lenses that extend for roughly 5,000 ft. and have been tested to a maximum depth of 600 ft.

Atna plans to drill 500-to-1,000-ft. stepouts and target the downdip extension of this horizon. Two diamond drills are already on site, and the first few holes will be about 1,000 ft. deep.

Significant intersections from previous drilling at Dry Creek include hole 98-60, which cut 160 ft. averaging 0.1% copper, 2% lead and 4.2% zinc, plus 0.01 oz. gold and 2.1 oz. silver per ton, and hole 97-4, which hit 11 ft. averaging 0.88% copper, 11.7% lead, 25.9% zinc, 0.1 oz. gold and 10.1 oz. silver.

The northern limb of the Dry Creek syncline dips gently to the south and hosts the WTF zone. In the early 1980s, exploration at Dry Creek focused on the WTF zone, where drilling delineated a resource of 3.1 million tons grading 6% zinc, 2.5% lead, 6.7 oz. silver and 0.03 oz. gold. This narrow zone of mineralization ranges between 0.3 and 5 metres thick.