Yukon’s resource-rich stomping grounds are one region I yet have to see with my own eyes.

For a span, this past spring and summer, Yukon prospectors were a cut above the rest. They were holding more of their heady equity gains in the dumbass resources market than, say, those in Colombia or Ghana or Quebec.

No more. ATAC Resources is off the bloom after distributing a summary of its first resource report on the Tiger Gold Deposit. Graham Downs’ ATAC (TSX: V.ATC, Stock Forum) just press-released the report; it shows 800,000 ounces of Tiger Deposit gold in both categories at a cutoff grade of 0.3 grams per tonne.

(On sulfides, ATAC uses a 1.0 grams/tonne gold cutoff.)

“The Yukon is still suffering from major disappointment in terms of lofty expectations for new discoveries in 2011 which have been unrealized to date,” says William Sheriff of another Yukon explorer, Golden Predator (TSX: T.GPD, Stock Forum).

Bill Sheriff told me this one day before the ATAC resource came public (earlier this week). In the case of ATAC, well, ATC stock has been off the bloom for a spell now. ATAC’s equity worth earlier in the year was three times what it is now. Bill Sheriff is still a believer in ATC and several other Yukon icons.

Mr. Sheriff, a Colorado resident and longtime uranium hand from Energy Metals Corp., said the equity crush these days is sapping most prospectors, and especially those with large institutional ownership and shares that went to the Yukon moon in January, February, March and April.

“I think this sets us up of for major upside surprises in the remainder of the year into January as I am very very V-E-R-Y optimistic that at least three new (Yukon) discoveries will be announced along with a plethora of continuing good results from KAM, GPD and ATC . KAM is Kaminak Gold (TSX: V.KAM, Stock Forum).

The Sheriff (I figure, folks call Colombia and Arkansas metals staker Bob Allen “Bullet,” ergo, I can call Bill ‘The Sheriff.’) continues, “The labs are still so backed up and when they do release results they are not necessarily in the order drilled or even complete holes. This means that in my estimate we have yet to see 80% of the drill results, maybe 90% from the Yukon this summer.”

Golden Predator’s equity worth in the Canadian stock market is about a third of ATAC’s measure. The prospector has more than 300 holes in the ground at Brewery Creek and five rigs, three of them running year round. Bill Sheriff and his GPD team just showed in a report 23.30 m of 5.67 g/t gold at Brewery Creek. (That is The Sheriff in photo at Brewery Creek. – Janet Lee photo; she’s The Sheriff’s Deputy)

“This (equity crunch) will prove to be a major surprise (and colossal mistake) to the majority that exited prematurely after the frustration of no apparent results,” says Mr. Sheriff, who seems to me a straight shooter. I do not own the shares, but if I do sprinkle some Yukon onto my briefcase of resource holdings, GPD almost surely would be first in the leather.

Just don’t shoot The Sheriff if a resource rebound – in compliant reports and in the stock market – takes a spell way up there; it’ll happen.

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