Atna's wholly owned, Reward gold mine project is located in southwestern Nye County about 5.5 miles south-southeast of Beatty, Nevada. The Reward mine is expected to produce approximately 139,000 ounces of gold over a four year mine life at estimated average cash cost of $435 per ounce of gold produced.

Current gold mine development work includes the completion of design engineering, development of contractor bid packages, and initial infrastructure development. Infrastructure development includes access road improvements, fencing, and placement of orders for long lead-time items, power line and water supply development. Anticipated cost for this phase of work will be approximately $3.0 million.

A drilling program is planned for September 2010 to test the potential for gold mineral resource extension. Many of the drillholes on the eastern flank of the Reward mineral resource model terminate in or contain ore grade mineralization indicating a probable extension to the mineral resource.

The State of Nevada has approved a plan to phase-in the environmental and closure bonds for Reward. The initial bonding requirements for initial development activities are approximately $0.9 million. A second bond of approximately $0.9 million must be posted prior to the commencement of facilities construction and a final bond must be posted prior to commencement of leach pad operations sometime in 2011. The total cost for reclamation and closure bonds is approximately $5.9 million.
In March 2008, Atna completed a positive economic feasibility study for the Reward Gold Project. The study, prepared by Chlumsky, Armbrust & Meyer, LLC. of Lakewood, Colorado,recommends development of a conventional open pit mining, ore crushing, and heap leach gold production operation. Operating synergies and cost benefits from the nearby Briggs Mine will positively impact the operation.

View, NI 43-101 Technical Report

Proven and probable gold mineral reserves estimated in the feasibility study total 7.1 million tons of gold averaging 0.024 ounce per ton containing 173,700 ounces of gold based on a gold price of US$845 per ounce, and an internal net value of greater than $0.01/ton and a 2.8:1 waste to ore strip ratio.

Gold mining operations at Reward would utilize conventional 100-ton open pit trucks and compatible loaders. Gold ore will be crushed to minus 3/8 inch and placed on a lined pad for leaching and gold recovery. Process solutions will be captured in solution tanks and circulated through activated carbon to capture entrained gold. This loaded carbon would subsequently be dewatered, packaged, and transported for final gold recovery to either the Briggs Gold Mine in Inyo County, California or to a third party gold processing facility.

Reward Geology and Location

The Reward gold property sits on the west slope of the Bare Mountains. The project encompasses 127 unpatented and patented federal lode and placer claims, totaling 2,213 net acres, plus three unpatented millsite claims covering 15 acres. Net Smelter Return gold royalties of 3 percent (actual or advance) are payable on some parcels. Atna has a ten year water rights lease with Barrick Bullfrog, Inc. for 178 US gallons per minute, the lease will expire August 2016.

Gold mineralization at Reward is largely confined to the Cambrian-Upper Proterozoic Wood Canyon Formation. It consists of quartzites, silty sandstones, and siltstones, with a few dolomite/limestone beds. Several hundred feet of section are present in the Reward mineralized area. There is a small amount of gold mineralization in quartzites of the conformably underlying Stirling Formation. Lithologies such as quartzite and siltstone, which fractured in a brittle manner within the fault zone, provided fertile ground for subsequently invading mineralization fluids. Limestone interbeds can be mineralized when they are silicified and therefore brittle

The Reward mineralization can be classed as a low-sulfide stockwork with epithermal characteristics, based on its structure and mineralogy. The geometry and mineralogy of the mineralization within the proposed open pits are sufficiently well-known that the identification of gold mineralization with mineable continuity and of consistent mineralogy is readily achievable. The Reward zone of faulting and stockworking strikes nearly north-south, and dips moderately to the east. The mineralized zone of veining and stockworking varies 15 to 140 feet thick and 2,000 feet long, lying on the hanging wall of the Reward fault. Mineralization remains open at depth below 400 feet, and along strike to the south. The mineralized zone remains open to the east along the southern 1,000 feet of strike.