From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Wed Sep 17 2008 - 13:24:41 EDT
Sunridge Gold Announces 35% Increase in Copper Content to 990 Million Pounds at Emba Derho Deposit, Eritrea
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News Release 2008-17
Wed Sep 17, 2008
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Sunridge Gold Corp. (SGC/TSX.V) is pleased to announce that it has received an updated independent resource estimate from Wardrop Engineering Inc. ("Wardrop") for the Emba Derho copper-zinc-gold volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit located on its 100% owned Asmara Project in Eritrea. This new estimate is based on results from an additional 27 drill holes resulting in a 35% increase in contained copper, a 20% increase in contained gold and an 11% increase in contained zinc content all within the Indicated Resource category. The updated total Indicated Resources in the primary copper and zinc zones are now estimated to be 58.97 million tonnes containing 990 million pounds of copper, 1,900 million pounds of zinc, 485 thousand ounces of gold and 19.5 million ounces of silver.
The previous resource estimate by MSA Geoservices Ltd. (December 2007) was based on 178 drill holes. Since that time Sunridge has drilled 89 more holes for a total of 268 diamond drill holes to date at Emba Derho, 205 of which are included in this new resource estimate. This updated resource estimate is part of an ongoing Preliminary Economic Assessment Study by Wardrop for the Emba Derho deposit that is scheduled to be completed by Wardrop next month.
HIGHLIGHTS:
As the Emba Derho deposit is layered into distinct primary base metal zones resources for the copper-rich and zinc-rich zones are reported separately:
a.. Copper content has increased by an estimated 35% in the primary massive sulphide zone to 990 million pounds.
b.. Copper-rich zone: 38.43 million tonnes in the Indicated Resource category at an average grade of 1.02% copper and 0.99% zinc using a cut-off grade of 0.5% copper (previously 21.18 million tonnes at 0.96% copper and 0.36% zinc - see Note 1 below).
c.. Zinc content has increased by an estimated 11% in the primary massive sulphide zone to 1,900 million pounds.
d.. Zinc-rich zone: 20.55 million tonnes in the Indicated Resource category at an average grade of 2.35% zinc and 0.28% copper using a cut-off grade of 1.0% zinc (previously 27.90 million tonnes at 2.52% zinc and 0.46% copper - see Note 1 below).
e.. Gold content has increased by 20% in the primary massive sulphide zone to an estimated 485 thousand ounces.
f.. The new resource estimate is almost entirely in the Indicated Resource category.
g.. There are 63 additional drill holes not included in this current resource estimate that could further increase the size of the Emba Derho deposit.
Michael Hopley, President and CEO of Sunridge Gold said "Emba Derho continues to grow in size with the copper, zinc and gold content getting much larger. The project has rapidly advanced towards a production decision from the initial discovery in January 2006 to the first engineering study, a Preliminary Economic Assessment, due to be completed next month."
The Emba Derho copper-zinc-gold deposit is located approximately 12 kilometres northwest of the Eritrean capital city of Asmara and has excellent infrastructure including paved roads, power, water, an international airport and a sea port only 120 kilometres away by paved road or railway.
Summary of Indicated Mineral Resources at Emba Derho - Wardrop September 10th 2008
Zone Cut-off grade Million Tonnes Copper
% Zinc
% Gold
g/t Silver
g/t
Copper-rich Primary 0.5% Cu 38.425 1.02 0.99 0.18 9.31
Zinc-rich Primary 1.0% Zn 20.545 0.28 2.35 0.39 12.13
Total Contained Metal in Indicated Mineral Resources at Emba Derho - Wardrop September 10th 2008
Zone Cut-off grade Million Tonnes Million pounds Cu Million pounds Zn Thousand ounces Au Million ounces Ag
Copper-rich Primary 0.5% Cu 38.425 862 835 228 11.5
Zinc-rich Primary 1.0% Zn 20.545 127 1,064 258 8.0
58.970 990 1,900 485 19.5
Note: Contained metal estimates are rounded and remain subject to factors such as mining dilution and process recovery losses.
INFERRED RESOURCES:
In addition to the Indicated Resources the estimated Inferred Resource at Emba Derho contributes an additional 41 million pounds of copper, 63 million pounds of zinc, 11,100 ounces of gold, and 700,000 ounces of silver.
Summary of Inferred Mineral Resources at Emba Derho - Wardrop September 10th 2008
Zone Cut-off grade Million Tonnes
Copper
% Zinc
% Gold
g/t Silver
g/t
Copper-rich Primary 0.5% Cu 1.075 1.7 2.3 0.3 18
Zinc-rich Primary 1.0% Zn 0.156 0.3 2.6 0.3 16
Total Contained Metal in Inferred Mineral Resources at Emba Derho - Wardrop September 10th 2008
Zone Cut-off
grade Million Tonnes Million pounds Cu Million pounds Zn Thousand ounces
Au Million ounces
Ag
Copper-rich Primary 0.5% Cu 1.075 40 55 9.8 0.6
Zinc-rich Primary 1.0% Zn 0.156 1 9 1.3 0.1
1.231 41 63 11.1 0.7
Note: Contained metal estimates are rounded and remain subject to factors such as mining dilution and process recovery losses.
Emba Derho Resource Estimate Methodology
The updated resource estimates were completed by Wardrop Engineering, ("Wardrop"), an independent and internationally operating geological consultancy firm based in Swindon, U.K. and were in accordance with NI 43-101 requirements. The resource estimate dated September 10th, 2008 was carried out by Paul Gribble, C.Eng, FIMMM an independent Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.
The Emba Derho deposit has three distinct zones of mineralization, a surface oxide gold zone from which most base metals have been leached and a small supergene zone which in turn is underlain by the primary sulphide zone. The primary sulphide zone is divided into a zinc-rich mineralization (zinc-rich primary sulphide) zone which is underlain by a copper-rich primary sulphide zone (copper-rich primary sulphide). These zones are shown graphically in the diagram at the end of this release. For the purpose of this resource estimate the minor supergene zone tonnage is included within the primary sulphide zone although it was modelled and estimated separately. Because of the mineral zonation the resources have been reported according to the following cut-off scenarios:
a.. 1.0% zinc cut-off grade for the zinc-rich primary zone, and
b.. 0.5% copper cut-off grade for the copper-rich zone.
The Emba Derho deposit is a copper/zinc/gold/silver volcanogenic massive-sulphide (VMS) deposit that has been defined by Sunridge in 205 drill holes over a strike length of 1,100 metres, a width of approximately 100 metres to 600 metres and down to a depth of about 400 metres from surface. The resource estimate was completed by Wardrop using industry standard methods in accordance with CIM and NI 43-101 requirements, utilizing Gemcom Surpac modelling software. The estimate was based upon data from 205 diamond drill holes (total of 56,148 metres) and a geological model supplied to Wardrop by Sunridge geological staff. The geological model created by Sunridge staff used 40 metre cross-section spacings. Ordinary kriging was used to estimate grades into blocks with dimensions of 15 m (easting), 15 m (northing) and 5 m (RL). The search ellipsoid dimensions and directions chosen for the grade interpolation process were metal specific.
Specific gravities used in the model were based on 827 specific gravity measurements made on drill core. Block density values were assigned in the supergene and primary sulphide zone using a regression formula applied to Cu, Pb, Zn and Fe block grades.
It is anticipated that the potential mining of the mineralised zone would be by open-pit methods.
The Company will file a NI 43-101 Technical Report regarding the Emba Derho updated resource estimates within 45-days of the date of this news release.
Additional Potential
The foregoing Indicated and Inferred resource estimates do not include an additional 63 drill holes completed since this resource estimate was prepared. Many of these drill holes were designed to better define and hopefully expand the near surface gold-rich oxide zone at Emba Derho, but due to delays in assay results, the estimated resources based on the latest drilling for this zone are not included in this release but will be reported at a later date. In addition some of these drill holes tested the underlying primary sulphide zone and might result in further increases in tonnages and grade.
The Company has three other deposits on its 100% owned Asmara Project in Eritrea which are the Debarwa copper/zinc/gold VMS deposit, the Adi Nefas zinc/gold VMS deposit and the Gupo Gold deposit. The Adi Nefas and Gupo Gold deposits are located less than 6 kilometres from Emba Derho deposit.
Sunridge Gold Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration, discovery and development of precious and base metal projects. The Company has 62.2 million shares outstanding and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SGC. For additional information on the Company and its projects please view the slide show on our website at www.sunridgegold.com or call Don Halliday or Greg Davis at the numbers listed below.
NOTES:
1.. The Emba Derho deposit is layered into distinct metal zones as is the case in most of these types of VMS deposits therefore the upper oxide gold zone, the primary zinc-rich zone and copper-rich zone are reported separately. The copper-rich primary sulphide zone is defined as those blocks that have a grade of 0.5% copper or greater; the zinc-rich primary sulphide zone is defined as those blocks that have an average grade of 1.0% zinc or greater. There is also an "overlap" copper/zinc zone where blocks meet both critirea. In the previous resource estimate by MSA Geoservices (December 2007) the overlap zone was included with the zinc-rich primary sulphide zone. In this updated resource estimate it was decided to include the overlap zone in the copper-rich sulphide zone.
2.. This new resource estimate does not yet include an updated resource estimate of the size and grade of the uppermost oxide gold zone at Emba Derho. This will be included in the Preliminary Economic Assessment report expected in October 2008.
3.. A Quality Assurance/Quality Control program was part of the drilling program on the Emba Derho deposits. This program includes chain of custody protocols as well as systematic submittals of standards, duplicates and blank samples into the flow of samples produced by the drilling. The database archive used by Wardrop in the estimate of the resources at Emba Derho was reviewed and verified by Paul Gribble, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.
4.. A description of the geology, sampling procedures, and the Company's laboratory Quality Assurance / Quality Control procedures will be described in the previous NI 43-101 Technical Report and will be updated and contained within the new Technical Report that will be filed within 45 days of the date of this release. This report will then be also available at www.sedar.com.
5.. Samples from the drilling were prepared at African Horn Testing Services (Eritrea) and analyzed at Genalysis Laboratories (a NATA registered laboratory) in Perth, Western Australia.
6.. The results of the Wardrop resource estimate have been reviewed by Sunridge technical staff including Michael J. Hopley the Qualified Person for Sunridge. The Company believes that the Wardrop resource estimate for Emba Derho was conducted in a professional and competent manner. Mr. Hopley is also the person responsible for preparation of the technical information contained in this news release and is President and Chief Executive Officer of Sunridge.
7.. Inferred Resources are resources that have not been defined in sufficient detail to be characterized as Measured or Indicated Resources. Mineral resources have not had economic considerations applied to them and are therefore not characterized as Mineral Reserves.
SUNRIDGE GOLD CORP.
"Michael Hopley"
Michael Hopley, President and Chief Executive Officer
For further information contact:
Don Halliday, Executive Vice President
Email: odealmeida@sunridgegold.com
Tel: 604-899-1505 (direct)
Greg Davis, VP Business Development
Email: greg@sunridgegold.com
Tel: 604-688-1263 (direct)
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