Atco Mining Mobilizes for Inaugural Drill Program at Atlantic Uranium Project in the Athabasca Basin
Vancouver, Feb. 22nd, 2024 - Atco Mining Inc. (the "Company" or "Atco") (CSE: ATCM) (OTC: ATMGF) (Frankfurt: QP9) is pleased to announce that mobilization has commenced in preparation for the Company's inaugural drill program at the 3,061-hectare Atlantic Project ("Atlantic" or "the Project"). The Atlantic Project is situated in the prolific Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan (Figure 1). The Project is currently under option with Standard Uranium Ltd., 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:
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Approximately 2,000-3,000 metres planned across 4-6 drill holes, targeting high-grade unconformity-related uranium mineralization.
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One diamond drill 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.
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Additional drill holes will follow up on highly anomalous uranium results and major structure intersected in drill hole BL-16-32.
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Diamond drilling crews mobilized to the Atlantic Project on February 19th
The Company considers uranium mineralization with concentrations greater than 1.0 wt% U3O8 to be "high-grade".
"This is a significant step for our team" says Etienne Moshevich, CEO of Atco Mining. "The fact that we are already drilling is extremely exciting. We are giving our shareholders a chance at drilling a very mature uranium project in one of the most prolific high-grade mining jurisdictions in the world surrounded by companies with substantially higher market caps than ours. With the drill team on site and ready to go, this is going to be a very busy time for us and I can't wait to update our shareholders with our progress in the coming weeks."
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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
The winter program will be the first drill campaign completed following successful identification of high-priority targets by Standard Uranium 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.
This current 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.
A team from Base Diamond Drilling arrived at the Project on February 19th to begin access trail and drill pad preparation, and the Standard Uranium team is slated to mobilize on February 26th, 2024.
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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, 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:
Email: info@atcomining.com
Telephone: (604) 681-0084
www.atcomining.com
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.
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