May 5, 2009 - Bridgewater, NS - Silver Spruce Resources Inc. (TSXV: SSE) is pleased to report the results of the 2008 exploration on its 100 % owned Double Mer (DM) and Straits (ST) properties in Labrador. Stream sediment, radon gas and soil geochemistry, ground scintillometer surveys, prospecting, geological mapping and compilation evaluated radiometric and lake sediment anomalies and prospecting discoveries. The Double Mer property is located on the north shore of Lake Melville approximately 110 km to the east of Goose Bay, while the Straits property is located along the Straits of Belle Isle between the communities of Red Bay and Mary's Harbour. Both properties were acquired in 2006 from a Newfoundland prospector, Alex Turpin, who retains a 1 % NSR. Both properties have been reduced to the areas which show the most promise, allowing them to be maintained for at least the next year without requiring further work.
Double Mer : The property consists of 408 claims (10,200 ha/10.2 km2) in 7 licences in one contiguous block, located on the north shore of Lake Melville, in the east central area of Labrador, approximately 110 km to the east of Happy Valley - Goose Bay. A combined radiometric / magnetic survey in 2006 resulted in 40 strong to moderate strength radiometric targets selected for follow up by scintillometer prospecting and soil geochemistry. Exploration in 2008 consisted of geological mapping/prospecting, soil geochemistry and radon gas sampling and ground radiometric surveys over the higher priority airborne radiometric targets and anomalous U values in lake sediments.
Two styles of uranium mineralization are noted - pegmatite hosted (primary) and structurally-controlled (secondary) in structural traps, in the form of breccia and/or mylonite zones, developed in the polydeformed gneisses. One hundred and sixty three (163) rock samples were taken, mostly in the southern part of the property, over a 10 km long, linear, east-west to east-northeast trending, anomalous radiometric zone (Anomalies DM-1 to 17), identified by the airborne survey. Seventy-six (76) samples gave values > 500 ppm U3O8, with 42 > 1,000 and 7 over the 95th percentile of 2,200 ppm with a high of 4,281 ppm (0.43%) U3O8. Prospecting over anomaly DM-2, in the southwest, gave eight values > 1,000 ppm with a high value of 3691 ppm (0.37 %) U3O8. In the central part, most elevated scintillometer readings occur to the south of the old Whim Creek Consolidated (WCC) trenches and drill-holes, especially at the east end of the DM-9-10 grid where six samples gave values > 1,300 ppm U3O8, with a high of 4,281 ppm (0.43%) U3O8. At DM-11, 18 of 36 samples gave values > 500 ppm with 8 > 1,200 ppm U3O8. In the northwestern part of this anomaly, mineralization appears to be continuous along a 250 meter long, high strain, gneissic zone, characterized by a 1-3 meter wide, hematized breccia/mylonite zone that gave scintillometer readings ranging from 1000 to 3000 cps. The highest uranium in soil value is 208 ppm (background < 10 ppm) on the DM-13 grid where 7 rock samples gave values > 500 with 3 > 1,000 ppm U3O8 and a high of 2,312 ppm U3O8 and 1,460 ppm Mo. The mineralization, anomalous over widths up to 30 meters, is associated with short, steep, scarps characterized by breccia units, Radon gas values show a strong correlation with uranium in soil values in this area. In the DM-16 to 17 area, scintillometer readings define an anomalous zone extending across the center of the grid in a southwest-northeast trend with readings of 1,000-2,000 cps, and highs of 3,000-8,000 cps. Fourteen rock samples gave > 500, with 8 > 1,000 U3O8 and a high of 2,229 ppm U3O8, and 252 ppm Mo. The host is a highly deformed, white, recrystallized, quartz pegmatite up to 40 meters wide, but generally 5-10 m, which can be traced over a 300 m strike length. Further work is required to define these showings which have both strike and width potential.
Straits : The property consists of 1,668 claims covering government uranium in lake sediment anomalies associated with a north-northwest trending fault structure and Proterozoic, metamorphosed, felsic volcanics, now metamorphosed to orthogneiss. Exploration in 2008 included soil and stream sediment geochemistry, ground scintillometer surveys, prospecting, and geological mapping. The two most significant showings were in the south central part of the property near the coast. The "BB shot" showing, with scintillometer values up to 34,000 cps (background < 200 cps), gave values up to 67,439 ppm (6.7 %) U3O8 in outcrop along the contact of a, weakly gneissic, fine-grained granite, and a pegmatite with associated magnetite and biotite. The "Bingo" showing, approximately 3 km from the BB shot, and also associated with the contact of the granite and orthogneiss, gave 17 anomalous values (>10 ppm U3O8) with a high value of 5,887 ppm U3O8, associated with uranophane staining. Three other anomalous areas were also defined: Area 1 - In the south-west, in uranium bearing pegmatites; Area 2 - In the central part where anomalous uranium values in rocks and streams were located, and Area 3 - in the north where anomalous uranium in soil values are coincident with airborne radiometric anomalies. The mineralized zones are narrow, to a maximum of 1-2 m wide, but generally 1 m or less. Uranium/thorium ratios averaged 5:1 in samples giving uranium values >250 ppm. Anomalous values in Th, Cu (to 2,720 ppm) and Pb (>5,000 ppm) were also found with the higher thorium values giving low uranium values. The property is considered lower priority than the DM property due to the narrow width of the mineralized zones and the thorium association.
The 2008 exploration results for both properties have allowed the company to define areas of higher potential to allow consolidation and downsizing (reduction) of the property, retaining only those areas of highest potential.
Field crews were equipped with Garmin (Rino) GPS units and RS-120 Super Gamma scintillometers. Radon Gas was measured using a Pylon model AB-5R portable radiation monitor and Pylon model 300A Lucas type scintillation cells which detect alpha particles from radon (Rn) and thoron (Tn) decay, convert them to photons (light pulses) and feed them to the AB-5R monitor, which counts the light pulses and displays the results in counts per minute (CPM). All stream sediment, soil and rock analyses were carried out at the Activation Laboratories (Actlabs) facility in Ancaster, Ontario after sample preparation at the Actlabs preparation facility in Goose Bay. Uranium and other elements were analyzed by an ICP technique with results in excess of 250 ppm uranium reanalyzed by delayed neutron counting (DNC) for uranium. A quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program, is in place to increase confidence in the results generated. Compilation maps of the properties and the QA/QC criteria can be viewed on the company website at www.silverspruceresources.com.
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 9,000 claims totaling more than 2,000 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 gold/silver projects in Mexico and the island of Newfoundland, and base metal projects in central and western 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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