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North Atlantic Resources Ltd.: Initial Resource Estimate for the FT Gold Project, Mali

Posted on: Monday, 18 September 2006, 18:00 CDT

Dr. Jon North, President and CEO of North Atlantic Resources Ltd. ("the Company") (TSX: NAC) reports:

The initial resource estimate for the FT Gold Deposit has been completed on behalf of the Company by SRK Consulting Inc. The deposit contains 303,400 ounces of gold in the indicated and inferred categories based on the results of 73 diamond drill holes and 150 reverse circulation drill holes. The vast majority of the drill holes intersected the deposit above 150 meters vertical depth. Five ore zones were modelled; two at the Tiekoumala segment, and three at the Foulalaba segment. The modelled zones are based on a minimum true width of three meters. The results of the initial resource estimate are reported in the following table.

 Mineral Resource Estimate, FT Deposit, Tiekoumala and Foulalaba Segments ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Deposit     Oxide category         Sulphide category       Indi-  Infer-             (saprolite +                                  cated      red             transition zone)                             ounces   ounces                                                            gold     gold ------------------------------------------------------------------------             Tonnes Grams Conta-    Tonnes Grams  Conta-                     gold   ined            gold    ined                      per ounces             per  ounces                    tonne   gold           tonne    gold ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tiekoumala 237,000 1.14   8,700 3,169,000  1.13 114,600  123,300 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tiekoumala  79,000 0.94   2,400 1,399,000  1.08  48,700           51,100 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Foulalaba  348,000 1.14  12,700 3,048,000  1.19 116,300          129,000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Total                                                    123,300 180,100 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Total ounces gold indicated + inferred                           303,400 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Description of the deposit

The FT Gold Deposit consists of the west-northwest trending Tiekoumala segment and the northwest-trending Foulalaba segment. The overall strike length of the deposit is 2,100 meters. The Tiekoumala segment has two vertical to steeply southwest-dipping zones and the Foulalaba segment has three zones that dip steeply northeast. The distribution and relative size of the various zones of the deposit are illustrated on the attached map. The cut off grade of 0.5 grams per tonne gold was applied by SRK Consulting based on typical cut off grades for producing gold mines in west Africa.

The deposit has been tested to a vertical depth of approximately 150 meters and is open in all directions along strike and down dip. The continuity along strike is unknown and will be determined by future exploration and delineation drilling. The mineral assemblage of the deposit consists of quartz, biotite, and muscovite with disseminated arsenopyrite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, and minor chalcopyrite. Accordingly, this mesothermal mineral assemblage is expected to be continuous down dip, possibly for several hundred meters or more.

Many of the drill holes in this database contain ore grade intersections that are not included in the current resource estimate. Many of those intersections are not continuous from section to section because they are nearly orthogonal to the deposit and oblique to the cross sections used in the resource model. Those features are interpreted as northeast-trending mineralized cross structures analogous to those at the Sadiola and Morila gold deposits in Mali that were not fully understood until the deposits were exposed by mining.

Future drilling and expansion of the ore reserve

Future drilling is planned to expand the FT gold resource along strike, down dip to at least 500 meters vertical depth, and to evaluate the nature, distribution, and significance of the northeast-trending ore shoots that have not been included in the current resource figure.

President's report

Dr. Jon North, the President and CEO of North Atlantic Resources reported: "We are delighted to be able to report this initial gold resource estimate 15 months after the discovery of the FT Gold Deposit. This initial resource estimate is based on very shallow drilling above 150 vertical meters and we expect that there is continuity of the deposit in all directions that will lead to a final ore reserve that is a multiple of the current figure. Accordingly, this is our "beach head" ore resource that will be expanded through additional delineation drilling in the next 12 to 18 months".

The drilling at the FT Gold Deposit was completed by the professional staff of West African Drilling Services. The drill core samples were both HQ and NQ size and were cut in half by a diamond saw on site. Half of the core from one meter long samples was shipped to the Analabs Morila facility, and ALS Chemex, Vancouver and analyzed for gold by fire assay-AA on a 50 gram sample charge. Two meter long intervals of RC samples were split on site and sent to Analabs Morila facility and analyzed for gold by fire assay-AA on a 50 gram sample charge. The Company inserts a standard, duplicate, and blank in each batch of 20 samples analyzed to monitor laboratory accuracy and precision. The drafting was completed by Burt Consulting Services.

The Company's current land holdings consist of 1,491 square km (368,400 acres) of mineral rights in 7 gold projects in the Republic of Mali.

The technical information contained in this release and the technical work is being supervised by Jon North, Ph.D., P. Geo., who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

North Atlantic Resources Ltd. is engaged in the research, area selection, acquisition, and exploration of gold deposits in the Republic of Mali, west Africa.

North Atlantic has 19,142,308 common shares issued and outstanding (21,246,058 shares on a fully diluted basis).

Please visit www.nac-tsx.com to view maps and more project details.

Please note, there are 2 maps available of the "FT Gold Deposit, Republic of MALI" project.

http://www.ccnmatthews.com/docs/soild055.jpg

http://www.ccnmatthews.com/docs/soild330.jpg

This press release has been prepared by North Atlantic Resources Ltd. and no regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

 Contacts: North Atlantic Resources Ltd. Jon North, P.Geo. President and CEO (416) 703-6348  North Atlantic Resources Ltd. Nathalie Roy Corporate Affairs (416) 703-6348 (416) 703-6507 (FAX) info@nac-tsx.comwww.nac-tsx.com

SOURCE: North Atlantic Resources Ltd.


Source: MARKET WIRE

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