Sandspring adds to Toroparu resource (October 04, 2010)

VANCOUVER — Sandspring Resources’ (SSP-V) latest resource estimate has added considerable tonnage to the inferred resource for its Toroparu gold-copper 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 indicated 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 of 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 at 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 TSX Venture Exchange in late November at 65¢. The company has 87 million shares outstanding.