Mining
Tuesday, February 27th, 2024 4:03 pm EDT
Key Points
- Atco Mining Inc. has commenced drilling activities at the newly announced Atlantic Uranium Project, a joint venture covering 3,061 hectares in the eastern Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan.
- Under the option agreement with Standard Uranium Ltd., Atco can earn a 75% interest in the Project over three years. The drilling program, led by Standard Uranium’s geological team, started on February 26th, 2024, targeting high-priority areas identified through geophysical surveys and previous drilling results.
- The winter drill program aims to follow up on anomalous uranium results from previous drill holes and test newly outlined gravity lows. Target area A, characterized by a significant density anomaly coinciding with electromagnetic conductors and interpreted faults, will be the primary focus of the drilling campaign, with approximately 2,000-3,000 meters planned across 4-6 drill holes.
Atco Mining Inc. (the “Company” or “Atco”) (CSE:ATCM); (OTC:ATMGF); (Frankfurt:QP9) is pleased to announce that drilling activities have commenced at the newly announced, joint-ventured 3,061-hectare Atlantic Uranium Project (“Atlantic” or the “Project”). Atlantic is situated in the prolific eastern Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan (Figure 1).
The Project is currently under option with Standard Uranium Ltd. (“Standard Uranium”), an arms-length company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV: STND). Pursuant to the option, Atco can earn a 75% interest in the Project over three years.
Highlights:
- Standard Uranium’s geological team arrived at site on February 26th and drilling has started on the first hole of the inaugural Atlantic program.
- One diamond drill hole is testing high-priority target area A on the Project (Figure 2), investigating a significant density anomaly coincident with modeled electromagnetic (“EM”) conductors, and interpreted faults.
- Additional drill holes will follow up on highly anomalous uranium results and a major structure intersected in previous drill hole BL-16-32.
- Approximately 2,000-3,000 metres planned across 4-6 drill holes, targeting high-grade unconformity-related uranium mineralization.
The Company considers uranium mineralization with concentrations greater than 1.0 wt% U3O8 to be “high-grade”.
“We are extremely excited that we’re able to kick-start our drill program so quickly,” said Etienne Moshevich, CEO of Atco. The next four to six weeks are going to be an important time for our Company and I look forward to updating our investors with our progress over the coming quarters.”
Figure 1. Regional summary map of the Atlantic Project highlighting nearby uranium occurrences, historical drill holes, geophysical anomalies, and EM conductors.
2024 Winter Drill Program
Atco’s joint-venture partner, Standard Uranium, and its team arrived on site on February 26th, 2024, and diamond drilling on the first hole is currently underway. The winter program is the first drill campaign undertaken by Standard Uranium on the Project following its successful identification of high-priority targets in 2022-2023.
The Project covers 6.5 km of an 18 km long, east-west trending conductive exploration trend which hosts numerous uranium occurrences. Standard Uranium completed a high-resolution ground gravity survey on the western claim block in 2022, revealing multiple subsurface density anomalies, potentially representing significant hydrothermal alteration zones in the sandstone rooted to basement conductors.
The drill program is designed to follow up on highly anomalous uranium results returned from drill hole BL-16-32, in addition to testing the newly outlined gravity lows defined by the 2022 ground survey. On the western Atlantic claim block, drilling by Denison Mines in 2016 (Hole BL-16-32) identified 342 ppm uranium over 0.5 metres at the base of the sandstone, just north of target area A (Figure 2). Winter drilling will be focused in target area A which is defined by a 1,400-metre x 850-metre density anomaly at the unconformity coinciding with stacked EM conductors and an interpreted regional fault. Figure 2 shows the 3D density anomaly target at the unconformity depth slice, with projected basement EM conductors and interpreted fault trends.
Figure 2. Geophysical map of the western Atlantic claim block, highlighting drill hole BL-16-32 and key geophysical features defining high-priority target areas A and B. Residual gravity-low anomalies are shown at the unconformity depth slice. Target area A will be the focus of the winter 2024 drill program.
The scientific and technical information contained in this news release, including the sampling, analytical and test data underlying the technical information contained in this news release, has been reviewed, verified and approved by Mr. Neil McCallum, PGeo, a director of both Atco Mining and Standard Uranium and a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101.
About Atco Mining (CSE: ATCM):
Atco is a junior exploration mining company focused on exploring for green energy metals throughout Canada. Atco is also exploring salt opportunities in Western Newfoundland. Investors are encouraged to visit the company’s website here: www.atcomining.com
For further information contact:
Atco Mining Inc.
Email: info@atcomining.com
Telephone: (604) 681-0084
Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not in any way approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.
