Without an access road through FNNND traditional pristine land. Cantex is drilling using small rotary equipment and hand digging with shovels. The crew have to take a fixed wing aircraft to and from Rackla Airport and a helicopter to the remote mountainous site. Fly In, Fly Out.
ATAC's road was rejected. That stock had dropped from $10 to a few pennies on the verge of bankruptcy until taken over by Hecla Mining for $0.12. They have proven gold resources. Helca is the largest silver miner in the US and is under current FN mining moratorium just like Cantex.
This was what ATAC former CEO said about their road:
"...ATAC wants to build a 65-kilometre all-season road from a point near Keno City, Yukon northeast to its Tiger gold property. The road would require eight bridges and 38 culverts. He says the company needs a road to keep the decade-old project alive.
"We've spent almost $90 million on this project. Almost a third has been spent on aviation and flying stuff around. It just shows you [the expense]. It's unsustainable — you can't do fly in, fly-out gold deposits," he said.
Downs says the next stage requires heavy equipment such as drills and excavators, as the project moves from exploration to feasibility studies.
"You can't fly in big excavators with a helicopter," he said."