Atna Expands Mineralization at Briggs Mine
GOLDEN, CO - Atna Resources Ltd. reported encouraging results of its second phase of drilling into the newly discovered Briggs Main Deep ("BMD") area at its Briggs Mine, Inyo County, California. The results of the second phase of drilling, targeting the Briggs Main Deep (BMD), continues to indicate a significant zone of gold mineralization located directly beneath the current mineable reserves at its 100 percent owned Briggs Mine.
James Hesketh, President and CEO of Atna, states, "We are delighted with the results of the follow-up work at Briggs Main Deep. The drilling continues to demonstrate promise for development of additional gold resource and reserve at Briggs. Our initial engineering analysis indicates that some portion of this material may be mined by deepening existing pit designs which would extend mine life and/or increase production rates."
The eight new reverse circulation rotary drill holes (7,450 feet) have extended the BMD mineralization to the north, south, and east of the previous drilling results. Mineralization has now been intersected in drill holes over a north-south distance of 1,000 feet and an east-west distance of 750 feet. Thickness of the sub-horizontal mineralized zone varies significantly within the drilled area ranging from 25 feet in the southern most intercepts to over 250 feet in the northern portion of the zone. The BMD mineralization remains open to the east and north.
Atna is currently modeling the BMD zone to estimate the tonnage and grade of the new mineralization. Briggs currently has a mineable reserve of 12.5 million tons grading 0.021 ounce per ton gold containing 267,000 ounces gold (see SEDAR filed Technical Report dated March 30, 2009). Atna began mining gold ore at Briggs in January 2009 and announced its first gold pour in May 2009. Approximately 974 ounces of gold in dor was shipped to the refinery by Briggs in the month of May, the first full month of leach pad production. Production at Briggs is expected to ramp up to a 40,000 ounce per year production rate by year end.
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