Canadian mining company Sandspring Resources Ltd has identified silver resources on its property in Guyana and will use this to secure additional financial support. Last week, the company announced that it has put off completing a feasibility study for its proposed large-scale gold mine at Toroparu, Upper Puruni River as a result of uncertainty in the gold market. On Monday, in a statement, the company announced the addition of silver at its wholly owned Toroparu Project. The silver resource lies within the boundaries of the company’s Main Pit and Southeast Pit areas that are the subject of the Company’s pre-feasibility study.
“The declaration of this silver resource is significant for Sandspring at this time of volatility in the mining sector,” Sandspring Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rich Munson was quoted as saying. “We have initiated discussions to utilize this silver resource to secure additional financial support for development of the Toroparu Project,” he said.
According to the statement, the presence of the silver resource was identified in testing during the period of May through August of 2014. The results estimate an in-pit measured and indicated silver resource of 6,295,000 ounces.
“The addition of the silver resource derives from some extensive work completed by our in-house exploration team…We are pleased with the addition of the silver component to the Toroparu Project as the PFS resources and reserves were defined prior to receipt of comprehensive silver analyses. Metallurgical testing has demonstrated recoverability of silver in both of the proposed mineral processing streams, flotation and Carbon-in-pulp,” Munson stated.
The company last week also announced that it will re-establish its small-scale mining division. Sandspring’s Toroparu Gold Project in Region Seven was one of three large-scale mines including Troy Resources Limited and Guyana Goldfields who were set to open mines and begin gold production this year. Troy Resources and Guyana Goldfields have moved ahead with their plans and are set to begin production this year. Sandspring, however, last week cited the uncertainty in the gold market and challenges in raising capital for the deferral of its feasibility study.
In a statement, the company had said that it is undertaking a series of steps to enhance its ability to move forward while responding to the extended period of volatility and uncertainty in the gold market and the challenges in raising equity capital that continue to face junior developers.
Sandspring said that it has completed all field and design engineering work required for the feasibility study for its Toroparu Gold Project. However, the company has elected to defer the additional expenditures required to complete the final stages of the Toroparu Gold Project feasibility study such as value engineering and optimization studies.
The company had said that it wants to produce 228,000 ounces of gold per annum from its proposed Toroparu Gold Project. It had envisioned beginning production this year but that is not going to happen now.
