April 27, 2010
Highlights
Big Easy
The 121 claim (30 km2) property, located near Thorburn Lake in east-central Newfoundland, was optioned from prospectors Alex Turpin and Colin Kendall. The option agreement, to earn a 100% interest subject to a 3% NSR with a 1.5% buyback for $1.5M, is:
A yearly, advance royalty payment, deducted from future NSR payments, of $20,000 per year, is also payable from the 4th anniversary on. The option agreement is subject to TSXV approval.
A total of 37 rock samples have been taken by the vendors, most from angular boulders or rubbly outcrop. They are all intensely silicified, and show argillic alteration and finely disseminated sulphides (mainly pyrite). Samples of silicified sandstone and conglomerates are locally vuggy, with banded cherty to chalcedonic quartz. The mean and high values are: Au - 248 ppb with a high value of 997 ppb (1 g/t Au); Ag - 9.9 ppm with a high value of 145 ppm (145 g/t Ag). Fifteen (15) of the 37 samples gave values > 100 ppb including three (3) > 900 ppb Au. In silver (Ag), ten (10) samples gave > 10 ppm with five (5) > 20 ppm (20 g/t Ag). The results are encouraging and show that the extensive alteration zone consistently hosts anomalous gold and silver values. The highest Ag grades were located to the north of Bottle Pond and Henry's Pond in the north central part of the property. Gold values were highest near the north end of Henry's Pond and near the northern extent of the alteration zone.
The area of alteration / mineralization was first located in the mid 1990's during follow up of an anomalous lake sediment value of 10 ppb Au in Henry's Pond and has been staked and worked periodically since that time. Historic work has given rock grab sample values up to 196 ppb gold and unexplained soil sample values up to 370 ppb Au. The property was optioned from the vendors in 2008, and this company carried out three days of exploration including rock sampling and Terraspec analysis. Their work located values up to 403 ppb Au and 4.6 ppm Ag in rock samples, plus identifying muscovite, chlorite and opal indicating an argillic to sub-prophyllitic alteration setting for the mineralization. Further exploration was recommended however the option was terminated when priorities changed in the company.
Property evaluations by Guy Mac Gillivray, Senior Geologist and Peter Dimmell, VP Exploration for Silver Spruce, included fourteen (14) due diligence samples and an examination of the alteration zone and the associated mineralization. All samples were subcrop to angular float of silicified sandstone and conglomerate that contained finely disseminated pyrite. All samples were anomalous in gold, with values up to 118 ppb and most were anomalous in silver with values up to 14 ppm and arsenic (up to 303 ppm). A train of angular boulders / rubbly outcrop has been traced over a strike length of 1.7 km and widths of 200-500 metres. The north and south extensions of the zone are lost under thick till cover.
The property is underlain by variably altered, Precambrian age, Musgravetown Group sandstones and conglomerates and lies in a favorable geological setting similar to other zones on the Burin and Avalon Peninsulas, where numerous occurrences of epithermal style alteration, some carrying gold mineralization, such as Hickey's Pond and the Stewart, are documented. The results to date indicate that the property has the potential to host a low to intermediate sulphidation gold / silver epithermal deposit.
A phased exploration program to include trenching / pitting to expose outcrop, an IP survey, soil geochemistry and diamond drilling to test the large alteration zone, is recommended over the next year or so.
Rambler South
The property totals 101 claims (2,250 ha) and was optioned from Northeast Exploration Services, Krinor Resources Inc. and Peter Dimmell (PMD). Terms of the option to earn a 100% interest subject to a 2.5% NSR, with a 1.0% buyback for $1.5 M, are: total payments of $95,000, issuance of 1.05M shares and a work commitment of $500,000 by the end of the second year. In addition, a yearly advance royalty payment, deducted from future NSR payments, of $10,000 per year, is payable from the 4th anniversary on.
The drill program, totaling 889 m in 11 holes (RSSB-10-6 to 16), which ended on March 31, was designed to test the near surface extent of the SB gold zone which was discovered by drilling in September 2009 (see News Releases dated Sept. 30 and Oct. 22, 2009). The SB gold zone is the presumed source of the strong gold in till anomaly in the South Brook area. Drill holes RSSB-10-6 to 13 were drilled over a 160 m strike length at approximately 20 to 30 m intervals, with holes RSSB-13 to 15 drilled under holes RSSB-10-6, 7 and 12. DDH RSSB-10-16 was drilled perpendicular to the assumed trend of the SB zone to test a possible fault structure offsetting the north-northeast trending Burlington Granodiorite (BG) contact. All holes intersected variably chloritized, pillowed to hyaloclastic, mafic volcanics of the Pacquet Harbour Group (PHG) along the contact with the BG. Shearing is variable however the contact zone between the PHG and the BG is strongly sheared with some gouge noted. Shearing (foliation) extends a maximum of a few metres into the BG.
The widest intersection was 3.5 g/t over 3 m including a high value of 6.5 g/t over 1.5 m, in RSSB-10-13. Other significant intersections include: 2.7 g/t Au over 1.5 m in RSSB-10-7 and 1.1 g/t over 1.5 m in RSSB-16. Unlike the 2009 drilling, no chlorite/biotite/quartz breccia was intersected, with the mineralization hosted in chloritized mafic volcanic units. Other weak gold values in the 100 to 300 ppb range over up to 1.5 m were noted in the chloritized volcanics in other drill holes. No significant gold values were noted in the BG. Silver with minor copper mineralization, grading 149.6 g/t Ag and 0.05% copper over 1.5 m from 45.5 to 47 m, was located in a quartz vein in RSSB-10-11. Only background values in Au and Zn were noted. This zone is considered to be separate from the SB gold zone. The significant mineralized sections are shown on the table following.
In September, drill holes RS-09-1 to 5, totaling 457 m, tested the presumed source area for the South Brook (SB) gold in till anomaly with four holes drilled at approximate 50 m intervals for a total of 150 m strike length and 1 hole, # 5, under Hole # 1. Gold values of 5.9 g/t over 0.8 metres in RS-09-1 and 1.3 g/t over 17.5 m in RS-09-3 are hosted in a quartz breccia, with recrystallized quartz fragments, cemented by fine grained chlorite or biotite which carries disseminated pyrite and minor chalcopyrite and 2.3 g/t over 1.85 m in RS-09-04 associated with the chloritized mafic volcanic units.
Four till exploration programs carried out from 1989 to 2007, with all samples processed by Overburden Drilling Management of Nepean, ON defined a "gold in till" anomaly, with gold grain counts up to 200 grains and background values < 10 grains with many at 0 grains, 3.5 km long and up to 1.5 km wide to the southeast of the "tongue" of BG. The assumed source area, defined in 2007 by ODM using close spaced (50 m) sampling, with gold grain counts up to 1,360 grains with 96% pristine, associated with chlorite, lies along the south side of the "tongue". The till anomaly is also not cut off to the northeast and may continue along the BG contact. The gold in the tills is very fine (generally 20-30 micron) free gold with a strong chlorite association. Further exploration including drilling is required to test these hypotheses.
The SB gold zone has been traced over a minimum 125 m strike length and remains open to the northeast. Gold values in the zone are erratic to date. It has been assumed that the source area for the gold in till anomaly is shear zone along the BG contact however, given the results of the drilling, it is possible that the main source lies either in a shear zone within the BG body or in crosscutting shears which offset the BG and extend into the mafic volcanic of the PHG.
Check assays are being carried out with results to be reported once they are received. Since it is believed that the source for the strong gold in till anomaly has not yet been defined, further exploration including geophysics, till geochemistry and trenching and/or drilling will be evaluated once all the assay data has been received and compiled.
Lazyman
The property which totals 114 claims (2,850 ha), was optioned from prospectors Alex Turpin and Colin Kendell in July 2009 (see news release July 19, 2009). Gold / arsenic mineralization in outcrop gives values from background (100 ppb or less) to 11.4 g/t gold. A total of 37 rock samples from outcrops of either arsenopyrite bearing sheared sediments and/or quartz veins, 36 from the Lazyman Showing and a single sample from an outcrop 2 kilometres to the west gave thirty one (31) samples with > 0.1 g/t gold, with 18 > 0.5 g/t and 10 > 1 g/t gold and the remaining 6 samples at < 0.1 g/t gold.
The drill program, totaling 422 m in five holes, LZ-10-1 to 5, which ended March 28, was designed to test sheared, arsenopyrite bearing sedimentary units and stockwork quartz veins carrying arsenopyrite in outcrop over an area of approximately 300 meters strike length. The drilling tested an approximate 200 metre strike length intersecting both the arsenopyrite bearing sedimentary units and stockwork quartz veins, similar to that on surface. However, results were disappointing with the highest value 1.2 g/t Au over 1.5 m in drill hole LZ-10-3. Weakly anomalous values from 100 to 300 ppb Au over up to 1.5 to 2 m were intersected in other drill-holes.
Check analyses are being carried out with results pending. All data on the drilling will be compiled once all assays have been received. A decision on further exploration on the property will be made once all data has been received and compiled.
Drill core was sawed in half using a diamond saw, by SSE personnel, with one half of the core retained and the other half sent for analyses. Standard QA/QC techniques as described on the SSE website are carried out. Analyses for the drilling at Lazyman and most of the rock samples from the Big Easy property were carried out at Accurassay Laboratories (AC) in Thunder Bay, ON after sample preparation at their Gambo Bay, NL preparation facility. Core samples from the drilling at Rambler South and a few of the rock samples from the Big Easy, were analyzed at Eastern Analytical (EA) in Springdale, NL. a recognized local laboratory. All samples were analysed for Au by fire assay plus an ICP technique (11 elements at EA, 31 elements at AC) for other elements.
Maps showing the location of the optioned claims plus plan maps for the drilling at both Lazyman and Rambler South can be viewed on the company website at www.silverspruceresources.com.
ABOUT SILVER SPRUCE
Silver Spruce is a junior exploration company originally focused on uranium in the Central Mineral Belt (CMB) and elsewhere in Labrador, Canada. With interests in more than 7,000 claims totaling more than 1750 km2 in Labrador, Silver Spruce is the second largest landholder in one of the world's premier emerging uranium districts. The company also has gold/silver projects in Mexico and the island of Newfoundland making Silver Spruce a leading explorer in Canada and Mexico.
This release has been approved by Guy Mac Gillivray, Senior Geologist for Silver Spruce Resources Inc., who is a Qualified Person (QP) as defined in National Instrument 43-101.
For Further Information Contact:
SILVER SPRUCE RESOURCES
HEAD OFFICE
Gordon Barnhill, CFO & Director
Phone: 902.527.5700
Fax: 902.527.5711
E-mail: gbarnhill@silverspruceresources.com
Web: www.silverspruceresources.com
INVESTOR RELATIONS
Hugh Oswald, Ascenta Capital Partners Inc.
Phone: 604.684.4743 ext. 243
Toll Free: 1.866.684.4743 ext. 243
E-mail: hugh@ascentacapital.com
Web: www.ascentacapital.com
- Option of Big Easy, road accessible, gold / silver property - values to 997 ppb Au, 145 g/t Ag
- values up to 3.5 g/t Au over 3 m including 6.5 g/t over 1.5 m and 149.6 g/t Ag over 1.5 m
- SB zone diamond drilling Rambler South
- value of 1.2 g/t Au over 1.5m - diamond drilling Lazyman
Big Easy
The 121 claim (30 km2) property, located near Thorburn Lake in east-central Newfoundland, was optioned from prospectors Alex Turpin and Colin Kendall. The option agreement, to earn a 100% interest subject to a 3% NSR with a 1.5% buyback for $1.5M, is:
| Cash | Shares | |
| On signing | $ 20,000 | 350,000 |
| 1st anniversary | $ 30,000 | 400,000 |
| 2nd anniversary | $ 30,000 | 500,000 |
| 3rd anniversary | $ 30,000 | 350,000 |
| Totals: | $110,000 | 1,600,000 |
A yearly, advance royalty payment, deducted from future NSR payments, of $20,000 per year, is also payable from the 4th anniversary on. The option agreement is subject to TSXV approval.
A total of 37 rock samples have been taken by the vendors, most from angular boulders or rubbly outcrop. They are all intensely silicified, and show argillic alteration and finely disseminated sulphides (mainly pyrite). Samples of silicified sandstone and conglomerates are locally vuggy, with banded cherty to chalcedonic quartz. The mean and high values are: Au - 248 ppb with a high value of 997 ppb (1 g/t Au); Ag - 9.9 ppm with a high value of 145 ppm (145 g/t Ag). Fifteen (15) of the 37 samples gave values > 100 ppb including three (3) > 900 ppb Au. In silver (Ag), ten (10) samples gave > 10 ppm with five (5) > 20 ppm (20 g/t Ag). The results are encouraging and show that the extensive alteration zone consistently hosts anomalous gold and silver values. The highest Ag grades were located to the north of Bottle Pond and Henry's Pond in the north central part of the property. Gold values were highest near the north end of Henry's Pond and near the northern extent of the alteration zone.
The area of alteration / mineralization was first located in the mid 1990's during follow up of an anomalous lake sediment value of 10 ppb Au in Henry's Pond and has been staked and worked periodically since that time. Historic work has given rock grab sample values up to 196 ppb gold and unexplained soil sample values up to 370 ppb Au. The property was optioned from the vendors in 2008, and this company carried out three days of exploration including rock sampling and Terraspec analysis. Their work located values up to 403 ppb Au and 4.6 ppm Ag in rock samples, plus identifying muscovite, chlorite and opal indicating an argillic to sub-prophyllitic alteration setting for the mineralization. Further exploration was recommended however the option was terminated when priorities changed in the company.
Property evaluations by Guy Mac Gillivray, Senior Geologist and Peter Dimmell, VP Exploration for Silver Spruce, included fourteen (14) due diligence samples and an examination of the alteration zone and the associated mineralization. All samples were subcrop to angular float of silicified sandstone and conglomerate that contained finely disseminated pyrite. All samples were anomalous in gold, with values up to 118 ppb and most were anomalous in silver with values up to 14 ppm and arsenic (up to 303 ppm). A train of angular boulders / rubbly outcrop has been traced over a strike length of 1.7 km and widths of 200-500 metres. The north and south extensions of the zone are lost under thick till cover.
The property is underlain by variably altered, Precambrian age, Musgravetown Group sandstones and conglomerates and lies in a favorable geological setting similar to other zones on the Burin and Avalon Peninsulas, where numerous occurrences of epithermal style alteration, some carrying gold mineralization, such as Hickey's Pond and the Stewart, are documented. The results to date indicate that the property has the potential to host a low to intermediate sulphidation gold / silver epithermal deposit.
A phased exploration program to include trenching / pitting to expose outcrop, an IP survey, soil geochemistry and diamond drilling to test the large alteration zone, is recommended over the next year or so.
Rambler South
The property totals 101 claims (2,250 ha) and was optioned from Northeast Exploration Services, Krinor Resources Inc. and Peter Dimmell (PMD). Terms of the option to earn a 100% interest subject to a 2.5% NSR, with a 1.0% buyback for $1.5 M, are: total payments of $95,000, issuance of 1.05M shares and a work commitment of $500,000 by the end of the second year. In addition, a yearly advance royalty payment, deducted from future NSR payments, of $10,000 per year, is payable from the 4th anniversary on.
The drill program, totaling 889 m in 11 holes (RSSB-10-6 to 16), which ended on March 31, was designed to test the near surface extent of the SB gold zone which was discovered by drilling in September 2009 (see News Releases dated Sept. 30 and Oct. 22, 2009). The SB gold zone is the presumed source of the strong gold in till anomaly in the South Brook area. Drill holes RSSB-10-6 to 13 were drilled over a 160 m strike length at approximately 20 to 30 m intervals, with holes RSSB-13 to 15 drilled under holes RSSB-10-6, 7 and 12. DDH RSSB-10-16 was drilled perpendicular to the assumed trend of the SB zone to test a possible fault structure offsetting the north-northeast trending Burlington Granodiorite (BG) contact. All holes intersected variably chloritized, pillowed to hyaloclastic, mafic volcanics of the Pacquet Harbour Group (PHG) along the contact with the BG. Shearing is variable however the contact zone between the PHG and the BG is strongly sheared with some gouge noted. Shearing (foliation) extends a maximum of a few metres into the BG.
The widest intersection was 3.5 g/t over 3 m including a high value of 6.5 g/t over 1.5 m, in RSSB-10-13. Other significant intersections include: 2.7 g/t Au over 1.5 m in RSSB-10-7 and 1.1 g/t over 1.5 m in RSSB-16. Unlike the 2009 drilling, no chlorite/biotite/quartz breccia was intersected, with the mineralization hosted in chloritized mafic volcanic units. Other weak gold values in the 100 to 300 ppb range over up to 1.5 m were noted in the chloritized volcanics in other drill holes. No significant gold values were noted in the BG. Silver with minor copper mineralization, grading 149.6 g/t Ag and 0.05% copper over 1.5 m from 45.5 to 47 m, was located in a quartz vein in RSSB-10-11. Only background values in Au and Zn were noted. This zone is considered to be separate from the SB gold zone. The significant mineralized sections are shown on the table following.
In September, drill holes RS-09-1 to 5, totaling 457 m, tested the presumed source area for the South Brook (SB) gold in till anomaly with four holes drilled at approximate 50 m intervals for a total of 150 m strike length and 1 hole, # 5, under Hole # 1. Gold values of 5.9 g/t over 0.8 metres in RS-09-1 and 1.3 g/t over 17.5 m in RS-09-3 are hosted in a quartz breccia, with recrystallized quartz fragments, cemented by fine grained chlorite or biotite which carries disseminated pyrite and minor chalcopyrite and 2.3 g/t over 1.85 m in RS-09-04 associated with the chloritized mafic volcanic units.
Four till exploration programs carried out from 1989 to 2007, with all samples processed by Overburden Drilling Management of Nepean, ON defined a "gold in till" anomaly, with gold grain counts up to 200 grains and background values < 10 grains with many at 0 grains, 3.5 km long and up to 1.5 km wide to the southeast of the "tongue" of BG. The assumed source area, defined in 2007 by ODM using close spaced (50 m) sampling, with gold grain counts up to 1,360 grains with 96% pristine, associated with chlorite, lies along the south side of the "tongue". The till anomaly is also not cut off to the northeast and may continue along the BG contact. The gold in the tills is very fine (generally 20-30 micron) free gold with a strong chlorite association. Further exploration including drilling is required to test these hypotheses.
The SB gold zone has been traced over a minimum 125 m strike length and remains open to the northeast. Gold values in the zone are erratic to date. It has been assumed that the source area for the gold in till anomaly is shear zone along the BG contact however, given the results of the drilling, it is possible that the main source lies either in a shear zone within the BG body or in crosscutting shears which offset the BG and extend into the mafic volcanic of the PHG.
Significant Assay Values
SB Zone - DDH's RSSB-10-6 to16
Note: ND - non detect; NSV - no significant values; Ag - 0.5 g/t is detection limit;
SB Zone - DDH's RSSB-10-6 to16
| Hole # | From (m) | To (m) | Length (m) | Au (g/t) | Ag (g/t) | Cu (%) | Zn (%) |
| RSSB-10-6 | 34.5 | 36 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | nsv | nsv |
| RSSB-10-7 | 16.5 | 18 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | nsv | nsv |
| and | 25.5 | 27 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 0.06 | nsv |
| and | 36.5 | 38 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | nsv | nsv |
| RSSB-10-11 | 45.5 | 47 | 1.5 | nsv | 149.6 | 0.05 | nsv |
| RSSB-10-13 | 73.5 | 76.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 0.5 | nsv | nsv |
| including | 75 | 76.5 | 1.5 | 6.2 | 0.5 | nsv | nsv |
| and | 102.1 | 102.7 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 0.5 | nsv | nsv |
| RSSB-10-14 | 91.5 | 93.4 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 0.5 | nsv | nsv |
| and | 121.5 | 122.7 | 1.2 | 0.46 | 0.5 | nsv | nsv |
| RSSB-10-16 | 23.5 | 24.6 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | nsv | nsv |
| and | 42 | 43.5 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.5 | nsv | nsv |
Note: ND - non detect; NSV - no significant values; Ag - 0.5 g/t is detection limit;
Check assays are being carried out with results to be reported once they are received. Since it is believed that the source for the strong gold in till anomaly has not yet been defined, further exploration including geophysics, till geochemistry and trenching and/or drilling will be evaluated once all the assay data has been received and compiled.
Lazyman
The property which totals 114 claims (2,850 ha), was optioned from prospectors Alex Turpin and Colin Kendell in July 2009 (see news release July 19, 2009). Gold / arsenic mineralization in outcrop gives values from background (100 ppb or less) to 11.4 g/t gold. A total of 37 rock samples from outcrops of either arsenopyrite bearing sheared sediments and/or quartz veins, 36 from the Lazyman Showing and a single sample from an outcrop 2 kilometres to the west gave thirty one (31) samples with > 0.1 g/t gold, with 18 > 0.5 g/t and 10 > 1 g/t gold and the remaining 6 samples at < 0.1 g/t gold.
The drill program, totaling 422 m in five holes, LZ-10-1 to 5, which ended March 28, was designed to test sheared, arsenopyrite bearing sedimentary units and stockwork quartz veins carrying arsenopyrite in outcrop over an area of approximately 300 meters strike length. The drilling tested an approximate 200 metre strike length intersecting both the arsenopyrite bearing sedimentary units and stockwork quartz veins, similar to that on surface. However, results were disappointing with the highest value 1.2 g/t Au over 1.5 m in drill hole LZ-10-3. Weakly anomalous values from 100 to 300 ppb Au over up to 1.5 to 2 m were intersected in other drill-holes.
Check analyses are being carried out with results pending. All data on the drilling will be compiled once all assays have been received. A decision on further exploration on the property will be made once all data has been received and compiled.
Drill core was sawed in half using a diamond saw, by SSE personnel, with one half of the core retained and the other half sent for analyses. Standard QA/QC techniques as described on the SSE website are carried out. Analyses for the drilling at Lazyman and most of the rock samples from the Big Easy property were carried out at Accurassay Laboratories (AC) in Thunder Bay, ON after sample preparation at their Gambo Bay, NL preparation facility. Core samples from the drilling at Rambler South and a few of the rock samples from the Big Easy, were analyzed at Eastern Analytical (EA) in Springdale, NL. a recognized local laboratory. All samples were analysed for Au by fire assay plus an ICP technique (11 elements at EA, 31 elements at AC) for other elements.
Maps showing the location of the optioned claims plus plan maps for the drilling at both Lazyman and Rambler South can be viewed on the company website at www.silverspruceresources.com.
ABOUT SILVER SPRUCE
Silver Spruce is a junior exploration company originally focused on uranium in the Central Mineral Belt (CMB) and elsewhere in Labrador, Canada. With interests in more than 7,000 claims totaling more than 1750 km2 in Labrador, Silver Spruce is the second largest landholder in one of the world's premier emerging uranium districts. The company also has gold/silver projects in Mexico and the island of Newfoundland making Silver Spruce a leading explorer in Canada and Mexico.
This release has been approved by Guy Mac Gillivray, Senior Geologist for Silver Spruce Resources Inc., who is a Qualified Person (QP) as defined in National Instrument 43-101.
For Further Information Contact:
SILVER SPRUCE RESOURCES
HEAD OFFICE
Gordon Barnhill, CFO & Director
Phone: 902.527.5700
Fax: 902.527.5711
E-mail: gbarnhill@silverspruceresources.com
Web: www.silverspruceresources.com
INVESTOR RELATIONS
Hugh Oswald, Ascenta Capital Partners Inc.
Phone: 604.684.4743 ext. 243
Toll Free: 1.866.684.4743 ext. 243
E-mail: hugh@ascentacapital.com
Web: www.ascentacapital.com
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The company seeks Safe Harbour.