Atlanta Gold Completes MSHA Training, Prepares For Underground Work And Surface Exploration At Its Atlanta Property In Idaho
Toronto - Atlanta Gold Inc. announced that it has completed MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration) training for all employees and some prospective employees who will be working at the Company's Atlanta gold project in Idaho. This training has been completed in anticipation of the early start up of work to establish a mining operation at the Atlanta property. Work expected to commence shortly includes the following:
- Surface diamond drilling
- Stripping of the Shear structure on surface to enable detailed sampling
- Establishing a portal on the east end of the Monarch structure to facilitate driving of a development adit parallel to the Shear to enable sampling of the structure and prepare for mining
To supplement our in house team, several mining contractors have been contacted to submit bids for this underground work.
Mining in the United States is regulated under a comprehensive federal safety law (Federal Mine Safety and Health Act) that is administered by the Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Currently under federal law, and enforced by MSHA, each U.S. miner must have an approved worker training program in health and safety, including at least 40 hours of basic safety training for new underground miners with no experience; 24 hours of training for new miners at surface mines with no experience; plus an additional eight hours of refresher training annually for all miners.
In historic mining operations conducted by previous operators at Atlanta, selective high-grade mining concentrated on extraction of ore from high grade sections at gold prices of US$20-$35 per ounce using cut-off grades of 0.5 (15.6 grams) up to and including 1935 and 0.4 ounces (12.4 grams) per ton thereafter. Consequently, most of the resources along the Atlanta Shear were not mined and remain in situ.
As soon as weather permits, the Company will collar a new portal at the east end of the patented property and drive a 10 feet by 14 feet by 1,000-1,200 foot decline starting between 6,700 to 6,800 feet above sea level (approximately 700 vertical feet above the 900 Adit). The objective of the footwall decline is to gain access for subsequent excavation of drill stations at 200 foot intervals to determine continuity of ore reserves at depth Crosscuts from the decline will allow us to test the structure for mineability at chosen intervals.
As planned and scheduled, in May 2008 the Company will begin to remove potential placer material from the surface within the previously-proposed Monarch pit design. This material, if determined to be ore grade, will be treated as a placer deposit. The Shear zone under the placer is approximately 100 feet wide by 2,000 feet long and the excavated unconsolidated material is expected to be approximately 20,000 cubic yards. This will be followed by a 4,000-6,000 foot core drilling program within the parameters of the shallow pit and small-pit benching to examine the shallow surface structure and access the higher grade portions of the reserves in the previously-proposed Monarch pit design.
SOURCE: Atlanta Gold Inc.