Apex drops Atna’s Chanarcillo property (October 28, 2002)

Vancouver — Apex Silver Mines (SIL-A) will cease exploration of Atna Resources‘ (ATN-T) Chanarcillo silver property in Chile.

The decision follows the release, by Atna, of drill results from a 19-hole 2,830-metre program of reverse-circulation work. The drilling was funded by Apex, which could have earned a 70% interest in the property.

Holes 1 through 9 tested the Hilltop Breccia, a carbonate breccia, that was drilled to determine bulk-tonnage silver potential. The remaining holes, 10 through 19, tested various other targets., including stockwork zones and geophysical targets which are believed to have potential for hosting sulphide skarn mineralization.

Atna says mineralization at the Hilltop Breccia is insufficient to indicate a viable bulk-tonnage deposit with of a minimum of 30 million tonnes grading 100 grams silver per tonne.

Hole 11 was drilled to test a broad zone of sheeted veins exposed in recent road cuts. The hole intersected a previously unknown high-grade structure that seems never to have been mined.

Hole 19 was drilled within the garnet-quartz-epidote skarn zone peripheral to carbonate hosted mineralization and intersected relatively high background values of zinc and silver.

Drill holes that targeted previously mined high-grade structures either intersected post-mineral intrusive dykes or failed to return significant intersections.

Atna reports that data from all drilling and from all previously conducted geological, geophysical and geochemical surveys are being compiled to determine if further work is warranted.

Chanarcillo is a mining camp with more than 100 million oz. of historic silver production. It’s at an elevation of 1,100 metres, 14 km east of the Pan American Highway and 50 km south of the city of Copiapo.