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Silver Spruce Reports Acquisition of Extension Claims on the Pope's Hill REE Property
South Central Labrador
Highlights
- 491 claims (approx. 123 km2) acquired by staking to protect the on-strike extensions of the favourable geological units and La / Ce lake sediment anomalies - 50% ownership
- Area unexplored for REEs with total strike potential of approximately 100 km
- follow up geophysical surveys (Magnetics, radiometrics, VLF-EM) started on original claim group
November 30, 2010 - Bridgewater, NS - Silver Spruce Resources Inc. (TSXV: SSE) is pleased to announce that it has acquired another 491 claims (approx. 123 km2) in five licences on the southwest and northeast extensions of the company's road accessible Pope's Hill (PH) rare earth element (REE) property in south central Labrador. The original PH property, as well as claims added in October, are 100% owned by Silver Spruce (News Releases, October 28, May 6, 2010), while the new extension claims, staked on November 6 and held in the name of Silver Spruce Resources Inc., have been acquired in a 50/50 deal with another company. A joint venture agreement for exploration on the properties is under discussion and will be announced when completed. The new claims lie along the extreme southwest extension, and the northeast extension of the PH REE trend and cover areas considered to be prospective for REE mineralization based on geology, geochemistry (lake bottom results - anomalous La and Ce) and structural features. No REE exploration has been carried out in the area.
The original PH property, acquired by SSE in May 2010, consists of a core 62 claims (1,550 ha) located in the Pope's Hill area, approximately 100 km from Goose Bay along the paved portion of the Trans Labrador Highway (TLH). The claims were acquired to cover thorium and REE mineralization located in 2006 during uranium exploration. Values up to 7.9% total rare earth elements plus yttrium (TREE+Y) were located with three samples giving values > 1% including two samples > 5% TREE+Y (News Release May 6, 2010). The rock units are mapped as granitic to mafic gneisses of late Paleoproterozoic age, with some pegmatites. Linear monzonite bodies, possibly related to a major structure, lie just to the north and south of the mineralized area along the highway.
The 1,297 claims (324 km2) acquired in late October (news release Oct. 28, 2010), extend 40 km northeast and 40 km southwest of the original showings, protect the on-strike extensions of the mineralized zone and strongly anomalous lake sediment values in La and Ce with values up to 690 ppm against a background of 30 ppm. The SSE 100% owned property, with the original 62 claim property included, now totals 1,359 claims (approx. 340 km2).
Thirty-one samples were taken in follow up exploration in October (news release Oct. 28, 2010) on the original 62 claim property. All samples gave anomalous REE and Th values with twenty-two (22) giving values over 1% TREE+Y, including 16 > 5%, and 5 > 10% with a high value of 24% TREE+Y. TREE+Y values varied from a low of 0.07% to a high of 24.07% averaging 5.73% for the 31 samples. Two of the highest values (> 10%), were outcrop samples while the other three were from locally derived, angular float. The anomalous trend has been traced over a 4 km strike length extending to the east from a bedrock aggregate pit on the TLH, across a small brook which flows to the north, then eastward to the Pinus River. Overburden depths are not great (estimated at 2-3 m maximum) however outcrop is limited away from the road. One sample taken on the TLH where radiometrics showed anomalous counts per second, 30 km to the east of the original group, gave 0.3 TREE+Y.
Mineralization carrying REE values is a dark grey to black, sub metallic mineral, which is disseminated and in veins, is non magnetic to moderately magnetic and carries minor pyrite and pyrrhotite (2-4%) in places. All of the REE bearing samples are also weakly to moderately radioactive with significant Th content and minor uranium values (up to 461 ppm but generally < 100 ppm). No work has been carried out to characterize the minerals carrying the rare earth elements to date, however these studies will be undertaken starting in the next couple of weeks.
The company also announces that it has started follow up geophysical exploration on the original 62 claim property where the high grade REE values were located. This consists of a magnetic survey, since the REE bearing units are variably magnetic, a radiometric survey to locate significant radioactivity associated with the REE mineralization and a VLF-EM survey to define shear systems that may exist in the area. This work is expected to be completed in the next couple of weeks with results expected before Christmas. Targets generated will be tested in the early part of the New Year.
Maps showing the property location, plus a compilation map and pictures of the Pope's Hill area can be viewed on the company website www.silverspruceresources.com.
Analyses on the Pope's Hill rock samples in 2006 were carried out at the ACME Laboratories facility in Vancouver, BC after sample preparation at Eastern Analytical in Springdale, NL. They were analyzed by a REE package (Group 4B REE), which consists of a 0.2 g sample treated by a LiBO2 fusion followed by an ICPMS finish. All 2010 rock analyses were carried out at the Activation Laboratories (Actlabs) facility in Ancaster, Ontario after sample preparation at their facility in Goose Bay. The analysis is by their Code 8 REE package which uses a lithium borate fusion and then analysis by either ICP or ICP-MS. Values were checked by Actlabs using internal standards. The reanalysis of the samples carrying high (> 0.3% P2O5) phosphates was by the FUS XRF method also at Actlabs.
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 7,500 claims totaling more than 1,750 square kilometers in Labrador, Silver Spruce is the second largest landholder in one of the world's premier emerging uranium districts. The company also has rare earth element (REE) properties in Labrador - Pope's Hill, RWM and the Straits and 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 Peter Dimmell, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration, Silver Spruce Resources Inc., who is a Qualified Person (QP) as defined in National Instrument 43-101.
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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 Corporation seeks Safe Harbour.
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