Sandspring Resources’ Guyana Shield Goldrush in Full Swing at Toroparu

by Richard Badauskas

Sandspring Resources’ (TSX-V: SSP, OTCBB: SSPXF) Toroparu Gold Copper Project, located on the Upper Puruni River in North West Guiana, was originally established to exploit a small scale placer gold deposit, but has quickly developed into a multi million ounce gold play with very substantial upside. The potential of Toroparu hasn’t been lost on investors, who have pushed shares in the company to record highs.

Toroparu is contained within a land package that covers 250,000 acres and encloses 25 kilometers of a fault line known as the Puruni River Shear, which is a north west trending zone of primary gold and copper sulphide mineralization, which was previously exploited for near surface alluvial gold by local miners.

Toroparu is serviced by its own road and airstrip, contains a fully equipped camp for 60 men, and is permitted to process 3,000 tonnes per day of ore from a 500 meter long shallow pit measuring 25 meters in depth. Most of the placer gold has been recovered, and much of the activity has now centered on exploring the immediate strike line by drilling and trenching and stripping the pit floor to expose the harder saprolite ore that overlays the main deposit. Drilling programs have already defined a NI 43-101 compliant, indicated mineral resource of 2.64 million ounces of gold, and 261 million pounds of copper, and inferred 3.42 million ounces of gold, and 216 million pounds of copper, over a strike length of 800 meters. This line is open at depth and both directions of strike, and runs across a broad gold copper trend that is 10 kilometers long, pitted with alluvial gold works.

An optimized open pit design that overlays the current pit contains 98,937,000 tonnes at 0.83 g/t gold and 0.12% copper and inferred 140,054,000 tonnes at 0.76 g/t gold and 0.07% copper. Drill holes have intersected mineralization down to a vertical depth of 415 meters, with typical intersections within the pit recording 1.15 g/t au and 0.09% cu over 246 meters, 1.33 g/t au and 0.09% cu over 120 meters and 1.04 g/t au and 0.09% cu over 102 meters. A step out hole 450 meters north of the proposed pit recorded 1.07 g/t au and 0.04% cu over 151 meters and attests to the massive potential of the strike line.

The potential for further expansion of resources at Toroparu can be measured by the fact that it lies in the heart of the Guyana Shield, surrounded by the El Callao District, which hosts +20 million ounces and Kilometer 88 with + 20 million ounces. Host rock lithologies and style of mineralization at Toroparu closely resemble those at Brisas del Cuyuni concession, located 150 kilometers to the west, which is part of the Brisas and Las Cristinas district where a 1.4 kilometer long series of gold copper mineralized zones in similar rocks has a total resource of 482.7 million tonnes with average grades of 0.66 g/t gold and 0.13% copper for 10.2 million ounces and 1.4 billion pounds of copper. The Guyana Shield carries deformed and metamorphosed greenstones over a 400 kilometer long shear zone that strikes across Venezuela, Guyana, and then skips across to West Africa which is currently considered the best location for discovering and developing elephant sized gold deposits.

The area immediately around Toroparu has attracted a number of explorers with promising results. Sacre-Coeur Minerals (TSX-V:SCM), which recently recieved a preliminary takeover approach, is exploring along the Lower Puruni River, and has identified multiple alluvial and hard rock targets over a 20 kilometer trend known as Million Mountain, for an initial resource of 451,000 ounces of gold. SCM has established a small scale alluvial mine to help defray the exploration costs of the hard rock areas that is expected to grow the resource base for gold and other metals. Takara Resources (TSX-V:TKK) is developing the Tassawini Gold project, which is 125 kilometers to the north and has a resource of 499,000 ounces with growth potential. TKK also has a joint venture with Newmont at the nearby BRL venture.

Guyana Goldfields (TSX: GUY) is developing the nearby Aurora project with a growing resource currently at 4.6 million ounces of gold. GUY is planning to process 8,000 tonnes of ore per day, to produce 250,000 ounces per year for 16 years, at a capital cost of US$283 million over 16 years and is capitalized at C$943.8 million.

Sandspring Resources, capitalized at CAD$222 million, has suggested a possible tenfold increase in production rate from the current 3,000 tonnes to 30,000 tonnes per day for an open pit bulk mining operation. This potential has helped boost the company`s stock price, which has hit new highs as the market mulls the prospectivity of the area, and the comparison with Sandspring’s larger peer, Guyana Goldfields, which is also trading a new highs.