Atacama Resources International, Inc. announced the start of a 10,000-metre diamond drilling program at its wholly-owned Cristina precious metals project in southwestern Chihuahua State, Mexico. The Cristina project consists of multiple outcropping quartz veins that are frequently greater than 10 metre in width and extend for a currently known strike length of up to five kilometres. At least four parallel mineralized vein zones have been mapped and sampled to date, however most of the resource estimate reported here is contained within the Guadalupe vein.

An interesting aspect of the Cristina deposit is the apparent vertical extent of the mineralisation within the system. Mineralisation in outcrop occurs at surface at elevations up to 2,000 metres above sea level (masl), while the deepest zone of mineralisation intercepted by drilling is at an elevation of 900 masl, a vertical range of approximately 1,100 m. The Cristina deposit is an epithermal to mesothermal vein system where the mineralisation is predominantly gold and silver, with lesser base metal values. At least four parallel vein zones trend east-west to northeast-southwest and are hosted in an andesitic volcanic sequence which forms part of the Lower Volcanic Sequence of the Sierra Madre Occidental range.

The andesites are intercalated locally with dacitic intrusions and related lava flows and breccias, and the sequence is in turn cut by andesitic and hornblende-plagioclase porphyry following fault trends. In some areas the veins are covered by post-mineral rhyolite of the Upper Volcanic Sequence. Cristina is similar to other active mines in the region including Fresnillo's San Julian and La Cienega mines, as well as First Majestic's Tayoltita/San Dimas mine.

The goal of targeting the higher-grade zones within the main Guadalupe Vein, as well as other high-grade veins in the area, is to both increase the size and the grade of the resource and demonstrate the underground resource potential at Cristina. The current mineral resource estimate comprises: Indicated resources of 17.5 Mt at 0.51 g/t gold, 33.8 g/t silver, 0.47% zinc, 0.19% lead and 0.04% copper (1.33 g/t AuEq grade), for a contained 752,000 gold-equivalent ounces. Inferred resources of 19.0 Mt at 0.51 g/t gold, 27.5 g/t silver, 0.50% zinc, 0.19% lead and 0.05% copper (1.27 g/t AuEq grade), for a contained 777,000 gold-equivalent ounces.

Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. The program is expected to continue over the next several months. Results from the drilling program will be released periodically as they are received and analyzed.