Atna Res Ltd ATNAQ

News

[RRM53]

I talked with the IR rep earlier in the week and this seems to be the situation: 1. the prefeasability report is complete and may in fact have been delivered to Barrick with the confirmation that the $12 million earn in expenditure has been made. This would start the clock on the 60 day period for their decision as to whether they(Barrick) will "back in" by agreeing to spend $30 million over the next 3 years. It's my belief that this is too good a situation to walk away from but is presently too small for a the LARGEST GOLD COMPANY IN THE WORLD to devote managerial resources to-it doesn't seem likely that there is enough information yet for Barrick to make such a commitiment. They need deals with 10 million ounce potential to impact on their stock. They have also picked up 2 or 3 much larger situations in the Placer merger which call on them to make similar type decisions. In fact in one case I know of, Barrick has already requested an extension to their decision deadline and has been turned down flat. The people at Atna say they will not grant any extension to the 60 day period and it may be that Barrick might make an investment in Atna and leave them as operators of the project. This would be ideal for everyone (especially us Atna shareholders)and it would give Barrick some price appreciation potential if the project continues to develop as it has up to now. 2. There should be further drill results from both the surface and the Ogee zone fairly soon-next week would be nice. Now that the last financing is free trading as of Feb 2/06 and there has been no stampede for the exits perhaps we will see some share price improvement in the coming weeks. anyone with any furher insights please contribute.