Mr. John Ryan reports
GREAT BURNT COPPER-GOLD PROPERTY - A PROJECT UPDATE
Spruce Ridge Resources Ltd. holds a 100-per-cent interest in the Great Burnt property in central Newfoundland. John A. Ryan, chief executive officer, is pleased to present this update of the Great Burnt property and the status of its activities.
Mineral resource estimates
A National Instrument 43-101 technical report addressed to Spruce Ridge Resources, with an effective date of Sept. 4, 2015, by P&E Mining Consultants Inc., estimated mineral resources for the Great Burnt copper deposit, as well as the South Pond A copper-gold zone. The Great Burnt copper deposit is divided into three zones: the Main, Lower and North Stringer zones. The attached table gives the reserve estimates (the South Pond A zone mineral resource estimates were subsequently revised by P&E after additional documentation on copper and gold assays in the 1980s was located).
GREAT BURNT MINERAL RESOURCE AT 1.00-PER-CENT CU CUT-OFF
Class of resource Tonnes Grade Cu (%) Cu, pounds (Au, oz)
Great Burnt Main zone
Indicated 360,000 2.65% Cu 21,000,000
Inferred 239,000 2.44% Cu 12,900,000
Great Burnt Lower zone
Indicated 22,000 3.23% Cu 1,600,000
Inferred 424,000 2.23% Cu 20,800,000
North Stringer zone
Indicated 13,000 1.24% Cu 400,000
South Pond "A" deposit
Indicated 47,000 1.77% Cu, 1.61 g/t Au 1,800,000 (2,400)
Inferred 191,000 1.51% Cu, 1.06 g/t Au 6,500,000 (6,500)
Totals
Indicated 442,000 2.55% Cu 24,800,000 (2,400)
Inferred 854,000 2.13% Cu 40,200,000 (6,400)
Great Burnt Main zone
In the 2016 drilling program, four closely spaced holes (GB16-08 to 16-11) were drilled into the Main zone to obtain core samples for a proposed program of metallurgical testwork prior to a contemplated preliminary economic analysis (PEA). Three of the four returned much higher copper grades than expected. The grades of the core samples were therefore not representative of the deposit as a whole, and the metallurgical work and PEA were postponed. Gold values were reported for several sampled intervals, but they did not reproduce well and further work is needed to make any estimate of the overall gold content of the Main zone.
In the 2018 drilling program, six holes were drilled on the Main zone. Four of these holes also returned good grades and widths. Split core from these drill holes was preserved in vacuum-packed bags, and will be added to cores preserved in deep freeze from the 2016 drilling to be used in planned metallurgical testing.
The second attached table lists all the drill intercepts on the Main zone, with true width (TW) calculated or measured from cross-sections, and grade-thickness products (GTP), which are the multiples of true widths and copper grades (Cu times TW). Intercepts with GTP of less than two have been excluded.
Planned work on the Great Burnt Main zone:
- Diamond drilling: The longitudinal section on the company's website shows targets for 15 proposed drill holes designed to add new data that will make a revised resource estimate for the Main zone more robust. Eleven of the holes will test the zone within the limits of the conceptualized starter pit. These drill holes comprise approximately 2,500 metres of diamond drilling planned for the summer of 2019. Down-hole electromagnetic surveying is also planned to be performed on the deeper holes to search for downward extensions of the zone.
- Metallurgical testing: Preliminary metallurgical testwork is planned using drill core preserved from the 2016 and 2018 drilling programs.
- Revised mineral resource and PEA: All the post-2015 drilling data will be incorporated in an updated mineral resource estimate and PEA, which is expected to be based on a starter pit, similar to the one outlined on the longitudinal section, followed by underground mining of the remainder of the Main zone and the Lower zone.
Great Burnt Lower zone
The Great Burnt Lower zone is a relatively flat-lying zone, with a moderate dip to the southeast. It may be a folded continuation of the Main zone, or a physically separate zone. It has been drilled on a wide spacing. A visualization on the company's website illustrates the geometry of the Main and Lower zones. The best historic drill intercept on the Lower zone, in hole GB130, averaged 3.49 per cent copper (Cu) over 11.62 metres (TW approximately 8.34 metres), including 8.54 per cent Cu over 1.98 metres (TW approximately 1.47 metres). There are no drill holes that penetrate the plane of the Lower zone within 75 metres of the GB130 pierce point.
Two of the drill intercepts that had been previously interpreted as being in the Lower zone, GB90 and GB135, appear, on the latest analysis, to align themselves better with the Main zone, and are included in the attached table and shown on the current longitudinal section.
Planned work on the Great Burnt Lower zone
- Diamond drilling and down-hole EM surveying: A further 2,500 metres is planned to firm up the resource estimate on the Lower zone, also with down-hole EM surveying to look for extensions of the zone and/or new zones in the vicinity.
South Pond zones
The South Pond A copper-gold zone is open at depth and requires additional drilling to fully delineate it. The South Pond B zone is 1,100 metres long and comprises only gold mineralization; with drill intercepts of up to 4.75 g/t Au over 4.33 metres (true width 3.0 metres) and 1.16 g/t Au over 28 metres (true width approximately 25 metres). It is also open at depth and requires further drilling. If the company is successful in obtaining a permit to cut an access trail from the Great Burnt Main zone to the South Pond B zone, the plan would be to drill a couple of holes to confirm the results from drilling that was done in the early 1980s.
Additional exploration targets
A helicopter-borne EM and magnetic survey of the 15-kilometre-long Great Burnt property was performed in 2007 by Aeroquest International for a previous operator. A reappraisal of the data has indicated several rather subtle EM anomalies with similar characteristics to the Great Burnt Main zone that remain to be tested. Also, prospecting from previous operators located mineralized boulders with up to 2.5 per cent zinc and 13 per cent copper in grab samples, in an area called the End zone, six kilometres north of the Great Burnt Main zone. The company has no immediate plans for this target, or any of a handful of other exploration-level targets on the property; proposing to dedicate its exploration activities on the Great Burnt Main and Great Burnt Lower zones.
DRILL INTERCEPTS IN THE MAIN ZONE, GREAT BURNT COPPER DEPOSIT
Section Drill hole No. From (m) To (m) Length (m) Avg. Cu (%) True width (m) GTP (Cu * TW)
750 GB16_08 60.00 67.50 7.50 m 9.45% Cu 5.57 m 52.67
420 GB88 243.23 253.90 10.67 m 6.12% Cu 8.41 m 51.46
630 GB18_05 95.76 114.02 18.26 m 7.01% Cu 5.64 m 39.56
570 GB18_06 104.56 114.53 9.97 m 7.45% Cu 4.53 m 33.72
750 GB16_09 64.70 70.45 5.75 m 6.68% Cu 4.77 m 31.84
720 GB16 27.89 37.03 9.14 m 4.34% Cu 6.89 m 29.90
420 GB86 203.61 217.78 14.17 m 2.52% Cu 11.32 m 28.52
345 GB135 360.30 366.15 5.85 m 5.20% Cu 5.21 m 27.08
780 GB14 45.11 54.86 9.75 m 4.36% Cu 5.31 m 23.15
750 GB16_11 63.50 69.50 6.00 m 4.35% Cu 4.85 m 21.12
780 GB01_04 54.48 69.34 14.86 m 1.90% Cu 10.87 m 20.65
345 GB89 232.87 235.46 2.59 m 8.76% Cu 2.15 m 18.81
840 GB19 23.77 46.63 22.86 m 2.29% Cu 8.19 m 18.76
540 GB79 140.36 144.78 4.42 m 6.22% Cu 3.01 m 18.71
780 GB01&02 0.00 8.99 8.99 m 1.69% Cu 10.14 m 17.10
870 GB06 5.94 14.78 8.84 m 2.19% Cu 7.41 m 16.24
780 GB77 48.16 63.70 15.54 m 2.50% Cu 6.32 m 15.80
345 GB90 290.47 299.01 8.54 m 2.04% Cu 6.91 m 14.09
720 GB17 49.68 58.52 8.84 m 2.67% Cu 4.81 m 12.86
750 GB16_10 60.50 68.00 7.50 m 2.12% Cu 5.66 m 12.00
870 GB08 14.63 22.25 7.62 m 1.70% Cu 6.73 m 11.44
750 GB05 5.18 9.60 4.42 m 3.25% Cu 3.48 m 11.32
660 GB25 28.04 33.22 5.18 m 2.70% Cu 3.97 m 10.71
690 GB18_04 47.80 51.80 4.00 m 4.42% Cu 2.41 m 10.64
840 GB18 18.14 23.62 5.48 m 2.48% Cu 4.01 m 9.94
720 GB07 3.05 15.09 12.04 m 0.93% Cu 10.10 m 9.39
870 GB18_01 5.33 14.54 9.21 m 1.28% Cu 6.51 m 8.34
540 GB62 119.63 120.70 1.07 m 9.51% Cu 0.78 m 7.44
540 GB58 108.97 110.95 1.98 m 5.10% Cu 1.44 m 7.35
600 GB78 124.82 128.02 3.20 m 3.28% Cu 2.14 m 7.02
660 GB46 87.93 113.69 25.76 m 0.93% Cu 7.53 m 7.00
750 GB12 6.10 9.14 7.01 m 1.33% Cu 5.13 m 6.82
480 GB70 135.94 138.99 3.05 m 3.39% Cu 1.84 m 6.22
600 GB48 69.80 71.78 1.98 m 3.26% Cu 1.69 m 5.50
600 GB52 91.14 92.96 1.82 m 2.96% Cu 1.45 m 4.30
450 GB04_01 315.28 316.15 0.87 m 5.40% Cu 0.63 m 3.40
660 GB29 46.63 49.07 2.44 m 2.30% Cu 1.36 m 3.13
450 GB84 191.87 195.99 4.12 m 1.02% Cu 2.76 m 2.81
600 GB57 121.62 122.68 1.06 m 4.48% Cu 0.60 m 2.70
285 GB138 431.92 435.17 3.25 m 0.96% Cu 2.60 m 2.49
390 GB92 331.32 332.54 1.22 m 1.90% Cu 1.06 m 2.01
Drill holes GB1 and GB2 were drilled in opposite directions from the same collar in the middle of
the mineralized zone. True width of the combined intersection was measured on the cross-section.
Core angle is the angle between the axis of a drill hole and the plane of the Main zone, at the
pierce point, as measured on cross-sections.
About Spruce Ridge Resources Ltd.
Spruce Ridge holds a 100-per-cent interest in the Great Burnt copper/gold property in central Newfoundland, which covers a series of copper-plus-or-minus-gold-rich volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits. In 2015, Spruce Ridge optioned its Viking/Kramer gold properties in western Newfoundland to Anaconda Mining Inc.
Dr. Colin Bowdidge, PhD, PGeo, a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and a director of the company, has prepared and/or reviewed the technical contents of this press release.
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