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Atacama
Pacific Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE:ATM - News; "Atacama
Pacific") is pleased to report further Phase II drill assay results from
its 100%-owned Cerro Maricunga Gold Project,
located 20 kilometres south of Kinross's La Coipa Mine and 140 kilometres
northeast of Copiapo, in Chile's Region III.
Highlights
from the recent drilling include 222 metres grading
0.96 grams per tonne gold ("g/t Au")
including 68 metres at 1.46 g/t Au from Phoenix
Zone drill hole CMD-026 and, from the Crux Zone, 88 metres
grading 0.92 g/t Au starting at surface in hole
CMD-027. The gold mineralization is associated with oxidized diatreme breccias which have been traced to depths of 550
metre below surface. A summary of the drill assay
results are presented in Table 1. Section 1600 is attached.
"Drill
hole CMD-026 is the deepest drilled to date at Cerro
Maricunga and confirms the presence of a major
oxidized gold system extending from surface to depths of 550 metres and remaining open to depth", stated Carl
Hansen, President and CEO of Atacama Pacific. "Atacama Pacific has
completed over 15,000 metres during the current
drill program and, in light of the continued success,
we are considering increasing the drill program to 25,000 metres.
The Phase II program is scheduled to be completed by April 2011 and a
resource estimate is anticipated during the third quarter."
Table 1 - Summary of Cerro Maricunga Drill Assay
Results
(at a 0.3 g/t Au cut-off grade)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Hole #
Section
From To Interval Grade
Notes
(metres) (metres) (metres) (g/t Au)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Phoenix, SW
contact thru
CMD-026
1600 232 454 222 0.96 core of zone
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including
260
328
68
1.46
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
and
356
372
16
1.25
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Crux -SW
CMD-027
500
0
88 88 0.92
contact
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
including
0
28 28 1.49
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phoenix - NE
CMR-030
1500
30
56
26
0.67
contact
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
112
126
14
0.36
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
278
296
18
0.36
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phoenix - NE
CMR-032
1300
0
26 26 0.34
contact
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
72
200
128
0.34
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Drill holes prefixed "CMD" are diamond drill holes; holes prefixed
"CMR" are RC drill
holes. All drill holes were collared at -60 degrees. All
intervals represent down-hole
lengths and not true widths.
Phoenix
Zone Drilling
Drill
hole CMD-026 traced oxide-associated gold
mineralization at the Phoenix Zone to depths of 550 metres
below surface, a further 200 metres down dip of the
302 metres at 0.79 g/t Au, including 220 metres grading 0.92 g/t Au, returned from drill hole
CMR-002 (Atacama Pacific release dated Dec 1, 2010). The vertical southwest
contact of the Phoenix Zone on section 1600 has a halo of lower grade
mineralization: 40 metres of 0.23 g/t Au (CMR-002)
and 24 metres grading 0.29 g/t Au (CMR-026).
At
a down hole depth of 500 metres,
CMD-026 cut a barren dacitic porphyry which is locally
brecciated.
Drill
holes CMR-030 and CMR-032 targeted the north eastern contact of the Phoenix
Zone returning broad zones of lower grade gold mineralization essentially in
line with expectations.
Crux
Zone Drilling
Drill
hole CMD-027 returned 88 metres
grading 0.92 g/t Au from surface including a 28 metre
higher grade interval grading 1.49 g/t Au. The drill hole was collared at the
same location as CMR-016 (40 metres of 0.79 g/t Au,
Atacama Pacific release dated Feb 17, 2010), but drilled in the opposite
direction, significantly widening the Crux Zone mineralization on section 500
and confirming the extension of the Crux Zone diatreme
breccia along a northwest trending structure.
About
Atacama Pacific Gold Corporation
Atacama
Pacific's principal business is the acquisition, exploration and development
of precious metals resource properties in Chile. Atacama Pacific's principal
mineral property is the Cerro Maricunga
oxide-associated, breccia-hosted gold project,
located in Region III, 140 kilometres by road
northeast of the city of Copiapo. Atacama Pacific's
goal is to become a producer of gold through the exploration and development
of the Cerro Maricunga Gold Project. Atacama
Pacific also owns four other mineral properties within close proximity to the
Cerro Maricunga Project and a fifth property in
Chile's Region I.
Quality
Control / Quality Assurance Program
RC
chips and diamond drill core from Atacama Pacific's drilling campaign were
collected at the drill under the direct supervision of Atacama Pacific staff.
Both the RC samples and drill core were appropriately tagged, secured and
transported to the Atacama Pacific exploration camp and then to Atacama
Pacific's secure sample, logging and storage site in Copiapo,
Chile. Each RC chip sample was split to obtain a 15 kilogram sample for assay
purposes. Representative chips were collected from each sample for logging
purposes. Drill core was logged, marked at two metre
intervals for sampling and split longitudinally with a diamond drill saw. One
half of the core was bagged and sample tags attached and the second half of
the core was returned to the core boxes. All samples were appropriately
tagged and sent to Asesoria Minera
Geoanalitica Ltda.'s
("Geoanalitica") sample preparation
facility in Copiapo. Resulting pulps were then
returned to Atacama Pacific's storage facility in order to insert QA-QC pulps
and re-numbering (bar codes) before being transported by Atacama Pacific
personnel to Activation Laboratorios Ltda. ("Actlabs") in Coquimbo, Chile for analysis.
Samples
were analyzed for gold using fire assay techniques using two assay/ton
samples (about 50 gram) with an atomic absorption spectrographic finish for a
sensitivity of 5 ppb (.005 ppm) gold. Approximately
10% of the samples submitted to Actlabs comprise
field rejects for RC chip samples, coarse rejects for drill core, pulp
duplicates, standard and blank samples to ensure laboratory quality control
procedures.
Five
metre channel samples, collected by company staff,
are prepared by Geoanalitica in Copiapo
before being shipped to the Geoanalitica lab in
Antofagasta, Chile for assay. Sample security is similar to that in place for
the drill samples.
National
Instrument 43-101 Compliance
Under
National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") of the Canadian Securities
Administrators, the qualified person for the Cerro Maricunga
Property is Michael Easdon, a resident of Santiago,
Chile and a Professional Geologist registered with the State of Oregon, USA.
Mr. Easdon, an independent qualified person as
defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and verified the contents of this press
release.
For
further information please visit Atacama Pacific's website at
www.atacamapacific.com.
FORWARD
LOOKING STATEMENTS
This
release contains forward-looking statements, including predictions,
projections and forecasts. Forward-looking statements include, but are not
limited to, statements with respect to completion of economic assessments,
exploration results, the success of exploration activities generally, mine
development prospects, and future gold production Often, but not always,
forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as
"plans", "planning", "expects" or "does
not expect", "continues", "scheduled",
"estimates", "forecasts", "intends",
"potential", "anticipates", "does not
anticipate", or "belief", or describes a "goal", or
variation of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or
results "may", "could", "would",
"might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.
Forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, future events, conditions,
uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results,
performance or achievements to be materially different from any future
results, prediction, projection, forecast, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include,
among others, the results of due diligence activities, the interpretation and
actual results of current exploration activities; changes in project
parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of gold; possible
variations in grade or recovery rates; failure of equipment or processes to
operate as anticipated; labour disputes and other
risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or
financing or in the completion of exploration, as well as those factors
disclosed in Atacama Pacific's publicly filed documents. Although Atacama
Pacific has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual
actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in
forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions,
events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can
be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as
actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue
reliance on forward-looking statements.
To
view the map associated with this press release, please visit the following
link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/atm_map.pdf.
Neither
the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term
is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange), accepts
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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