"These highly encouraging results from cyanide leach tests are a major development for the Nadaleen Trend as they suggest that potential exists to identify additional oxide gold mineralization along the regional scale Anubis Fault and 18 km2 Anubis Cluster," commented Graham Downs, President and CEO of ATAC. "The depth of oxidation at over 160 m is of particular significance as it indicates an extensive oxidizing environment exists at Orion. Additional drilling at Orion and along the Anubis Fault remains a top priority."

Oxidation at the Orion Zone has been identified in both the near-surface weathering environment and the Anubis Fault plane. Drilling at Orion encountered recoverable oxide gold mineralization to a depth of over 160 m from surface. Oxidation tends to be strongest immediately within the Anubis Fault plane but extends into the adjacent pyritic siltstone and brecciated intervals of the limestone unit. Gold recoveries generally increase with the intensity of oxidation.

A photograph showing oxide intensities from the Orion Zone can be viewed on ATAC's website.

Orion Diamond Drill Results

The Phase II drill program at the Orion Zone was successful in achieving its objective of confirming previous RAB drill results, identifying additional mineralization and acquiring important geological and structural information. The results from this program and previous drilling from the Anubis discovery (8.51 m of 19.85 g/t gold from AN-12-001) 300 m to the east are being modelled to guide future drilling in the area.

A total of 1,540 m of shallow diamond drilling was completed in ten holes at the Orion Zone. Drilling targeted the hanging wall pyritic siltstone and footwall brecciated limestone stratigraphy of the Anubis Fault near hole AN-10-010 that intersected 61.29 m of 2.75 g/t gold. Diamond drilling returned elevated gold and associated pathfinder elements (arsenic, antimony, mercury and thallium) that are characteristically peripheral to Carlin-type mineralized systems. A summary of the 2016 Orion Zone diamond drill holes are presented below:

Geochemical, geological and drill results suggest multiple opportunities for additional discoveries at targets along and adjacent to the 8 km Anubis Fault. Additional potential for gold mineralization also exists at depth where a favourable clastic carbonate unit is thought to occur beneath the siltstone host of gold mineralization at Orion and Anubis.

Orion Zone and 18 km² Anubis Cluster

The Orion Carlin-type gold zone is one of nine gold targets within the Anubis Cluster and occurs at the intersection of the Anubis Fault and a series of later cross faults. The Anubis Fault is one of two northwesterly trending graben-bounding structures and is strongly anomalous over its length for Carlin pathfinder elements (arsenic, antimony, mercury and thallium). Near-surface gold mineralization at Orion occurs in both variably calcareous siltstone and shales that form the hanging wall of the Anubis Fault. Mineralization also occurs within breccias developed in a massive limestone unit in the footwall of the Anubis Fault.

Diamond drilling has confirmed that the Anubis Fault displays extensional fault textures with angular siltstone breccia clasts indurated within a strongly oxidized matrix. The Anubis Fault corridor is anomalous for gold and pathfinder elements over an 8 km long cumulative strike length. To date, ATAC has only conducted shallow diamond drilling along a 400 m length of the Anubis Fault.

Hand pit and outcrop grab samples from eight other gold mineralized occurrences along the Anubis Fault corridor (Anubis Zone and Ana, Corona, Columba, Dorado, Draco, Hydra and Zodiac targets) have returned gold results from below detection to 139 g/t gold. Future exploration within the Anubis Cluster will continue to systematically test the anomalous Anubis Fault corridor and crosscutting structures. Updated Anubis figures can be viewed on the ATAC website.

QA/QC

Diamond drill samples were forwarded to ALS Minerals in Whitehorse, Yukon or North Vancouver, British Columbia where they were fine crushed before a 250 gram split was pulverized to better than 85% passing 75 microns. Pulps were then analyzed at ALS Minerals in North Vancouver, B.C. where gold determinations were carried out. Splits of the pulverized fraction were dissolved using a multi acid digestion and analyzed for 49 elements using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) together with mass spectrometry (MS) and atomic emission spectroscopy (AES). Gold analyses were by the Au-AA26 procedure that involves fire assay preparation using a 50 gram charge with an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish.

The cyanide soluble assays were performed by ALS Minerals (Au-AA13 method). The cyanide soluble gold recovery is the percentage of the fire assay value reporting to the leach solution.

Rigorous procedures are in place regarding sample collection, chain of custody and data entry. Certified assay standards, duplicate samples and blanks are routinely inserted into the sample stream of diamond drill samples to ensure integrity of the assay process. All diamond drill samples included in this news release have passed the QA/QC procedures as described above.

The technical information in this news release has been approved by Julia Lane, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for ATAC and a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

About ATAC

ATAC is a Yukon-based exploration company focused on developing Canada's only Carlin-type gold district at its 100% owned Rackla Gold Project. Recent work on the 1,700 km2 project has resulted in a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Tiger Gold Deposit, drilling of multiple high-grade Carlin-type gold zones and the identification of numerous early-stage gold exploration targets. The Rackla Gold Project has no underlying royalties or third-party interests. ATAC also holds a 15.8% interest in Arcus Development Group Inc. whose Dan Man project shares its southern boundary with Goldcorp Inc.'s Coffee Gold Project in west-central Yukon. ATAC is well-financed with approximately $15 million in its treasury.

On behalf of Management and the Board of Directors
of ATAC Resources Ltd.

Graham Downs, President and CEO

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