SANDSPRING Resources Ltd, a Canadian mining company with rights in Toroparu, Upper Puruni in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni), has announced that a new mineral resource estimate there indicates a concentration of gold at six million ounces, and copper at 477 million pounds.
It said this is 75% more than initially anticipated, and believes the Toroparu deposits are a new gold discovery with world-class potential.
Sandspring last week reported mineral resources at Toroparu of 2.64 million ounces gold, 261 million pounds copper and 3.42 million ounces gold, 216 million pounds copper Inferred.
The company said the resource model is still open to depth and mineralisation extending along a strike in both directions, which means that apart from the exciting finds, the project shows considerable potential for additional resource growth.
Abraham Drost, President of Sandspring, said the new mineral resource update of last week adds about 2.5 million ounces of gold and 150 million pounds of copper to the initial estimates.
The new results add considerably to the scope of an internal Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) being prepared by the company at this time, he stated.
“Two recent step-out holes to the northwest indicate potential for doubling the current resource. Beyond this, we noted that even the airstrip appears to have potential, with quartz veining at surface having never been tested.”
The Toroparu deposits occur within a major structural domain, and multiple zones have yet to be tested. Project economics are enhanced by favourable infrastructure, and the remarkably undiversified nature of the gold distribution, the company said.
The company expects to next month carry out a PEA of the main open pit to  evaluate the economics of phased mining of higher grade material in the early life of the mine, and to formalise a mine plan for the Toroparu Project, its website said.
Other sources, meanwhile, said the Torparu potential has helped boost the company’s stock price, which hit new highs as the market mulled the prospectivity of the area.
International marketing data showed that immediately after the disclosure, the stock price for the company surged 18%, and was trading at $2.19 (as of Sept 15, 2010 @ 11.40 AM), a 60% jump  from $1.37 per share since  May 31 2010.
In an exclusive interview with the U.S publication, The Gold Report, Drew Clark, an analyst with Byron Capital Markets said of Sandspring in Guyana:
“Sandspring is an emerging Guyana gold play. Toroparu was once mined through sluicing, and it wasn’t until a proper drill campaign testing the bedrock beneath the saprolite (deposits formed by decomposition of rocks that has remained in its original site) that the potential for size at Toroparu was demonstrated to the market.
“The competency of the Sandspring’s exploration team and prospectivity of the property is best demonstrated by the fact that for every meter drilled they have discovered 100 ounces of gold-equivalent ounces in the measured category.

“Another part of the story that’s just emerging,” Clark said, “is the potential for a new trend. Drilling is under way on one of the many off-trends identified with geophysics. That has the potential to demonstrate new areas of mineralisation.
“The prospect of delineating new resource ore bodies at Toroparu would expand the size and scope of the project considerably. Furthermore, the in-fill drilling on the resource extension 400 meters northwest of the current pit has the potential to significantly increase the pit shell size or even add a second pit to the pipeline.”

He said: “I believe the market will finally begin to recognise the robust economics of Toroparu. I conservatively value it at $3.15 per share. “
Byron Capital Markets is a Toronto-based investment dealer and a member of the Investment Industry Regulator Organization of Canada (IIROC).
The Gold Report is published by a U. S.-based company, and features top Wall Street analysts, leading portfolio managers and recognised newsletter writers giving their outlook on specific investment sectors and recommendations for companies in those sectors.
Sandspring Resources Ltd represents 10 years of private operational experience locally with the former private company E.T.K Inc recently becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary.
The company said the significant concentration of gold and copper at Toroparu may be a representation of the disseminated gold deposits being discovered in other domains in the Guyana Shield, such as Las Brisas in Venezuela.
Omai Gold Mines Limited, another Canadian-based company, produced 3.8 million ounces of gold between 1993 and 2005 from its mine at Omai.