Sandspring adds to Toroparu resource (September 15, 2010)

Vancouver – Sandspring Resources‘ (SSP-V) latest resource estimate has added considerable tonnage to the inferred resource for its Toroparu gold-project in Guyana just as the company releases more step-out drilling.

In June the company’s first resource update since taking on the project moved a significant chunk of the resource to the indicated category.

The latest update meanwhile does little to the indicate resource, in fact it drops slightly in tonnage and grade, but Sandspring did add roughly 100 million tonnes to the inferred category, significantly increasing the overall potential of the project.

The Toroparu indicated resource for an optimized open-pit shell now stands at 99 million tonnes grading 0.83 gram gold per tonne and 0.12% copper for 2.64 million contained oz. gold and 261.7 million lbs. copper. The inferred resource is estimated to be 140 million tonnes grading 0.76 gram gold and 0.07% copper for 3.42 million oz gold and 216.1 million lbs. copper.

Both the indicated and inferred resources incorporate a small saprolite component with a 0.41 gram gold cutoff within the largely fresh rock resource that has a 0.42 gram gold cutoff. The new resource incorporates 41,700 metres of drilling over 93 holes, 14,600 metres more than the last estimate.

Meanwhile step-out drilling to the northwest of the pit returned mixed results for Sandspring. The latest 13 holes included a few long intercepts at respectable grades while other holes were limited to numerous short hits.

Hole 93 cut 110 metres grading 0.9 gram gold and 0.06% copper from 243 metres depth and then a further 56.5 metres grading 1.08 grams gold and 0.09% copper from 484 metres. Hole 91 hit 33.5 metres averaging 0.98 gram gold and 0.04% copper from 310 metres then 172 metres carrying 0.72 gram gold and 0.09% copper from 453 metres downhole. Hole 88 returned 151 metres grading 0.76 gram gold and 0.05% copper.

The latest results are the first released since early July, when the company reported 15 holes of combined infill and step-out drilling. In that group of results hole 80, drilled 400 metres northwest along strike of the then current resource, hit 151 metres carrying 1.07 grams gold and 0.04% copper from 498 metres depth. The resource remains open to depth and along strike.

News of the latest results and resource update helped boost Sandspring’s stock price by 29¢ or 15.4% to close at $2.17 on just over a million shares traded. The company has made strong gains since it started trading on the Venture in late November at 65¢. The company has 87 million shares outstanding.