SRCGF - Spruce Ridge Receives Positive PEA at Great Burnt Copper-Gold Property

(TheNewswire)

TheNewswire - February 23, 2022 - Spruce Ridge Resources Ltd. (TSXV:SHL) (OTC:SRCGF) (“Spruce Ridge” or the“Company”) is pleased to announce that it has received the resultsof a Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) on the Company’swholly-owned Great Burnt Copper-Gold Project in Central Newfoundland. The PEA is incorporated in a Technical Report, with an updatedMineral Resource Estimate that has an Effective Date of January17 th , 2022, prepared by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. (the“Technical Report”).

John Ryan, CEO of Spruce Ridge, stated “We are veryencouraged to have received this PEA, which illustrates the robusteconomics of a copper-gold mine at Great Burnt.  Although the MineralResource is just over a million tonnes, the high copper grade providesa strong revenue stream, and we look forward to proceeding towardspossible mine development and production in the near term.  The PEAuses a copper price of US$4.00 per pound, and the spot price of copperhas been higher than that since last April.  The sensitivity analysisin the PEA indicates a base-case IRR of 23.3%, and if the financialmodel were to use the current NYMEX spot price of US$4.55 a pound, theIRR would rise to 81.5%.  With industrialized countries movingtowards near-total electrification of their economies in response toclimate change, we envisage an increasingly strong demand for copperto continue for the foreseeable future”.

The PEA is based on an underground mine, with 20-metredeep “starter pits” to provide rapid cash flow, on both the GreatBurnt Copper Deposit and the South Pond “A” Copper-Gold Zone. Following are some highlights of the PEA:

Following are some of the salient points of the cashflow analysis and financial model included in the PEA (all figures arein Canadian dollars unless indicated otherwise):

Table 1 shows the results of sensitivity analysisincluded in the PEA, using the price of copper as the dependentvariable.  The line using a current NYMEX spot price has been addedfor illustration purposes.

Access: The PEA assumes that a new all-weatherroad will be constructed to link with existing forestry roads atAtlantic Lake, 27 km from the Great Burnt Copper Deposit and 17.5 kmnortheast of the South Pond “A” Copper-Gold Zone.  This wouldreduce road distance from Great Burnt to Grand Falls-Windsor, thecommercial hub of Central Newfoundland, from its current 250 km toless than 90 km.

Mining Methods: The PEA envisages initial mining to take place in open pits to a depthof 20 metres at the Great Burnt and South Pond “A” Zone, whichwill partially finance the underground development phase. Underground access will be by decline ramp, with trackless transportof mineralized material and waste rock.  Mining will be bylongitudinal-retreat longhole stoping.  The Great Burnt Lower Zone,which has a relatively low dip, will be mined by a combination ofcut-and-fill and drift-and-fill methods.

Metallurgical Testwork: The Technical Report presents the results ofpreliminary metallurgical testwork carried out by SGS Lakefield.  Acomposite sample was made up of quartered drill core from the 2020drilling program on the Great Burnt Main Zone, with an average gradeof 2.82% Cu and 0.03 g/t Au, to approximate the run-of-mine grade. It responded well to preliminary flotation tests.  A locked-cycletest run on material ground to 80% minus 55µmproduced a concentrate grading 25.1% Cu and 0.23 g/t Au, with copperrecovery of 98.5% and gold recovery of 58.6%. The PEA used a grind to 80% minus 50µm, a copper recovery of 96%, aconcentrate grade of 25% Cu and a gold recoveryof 55%.

Preliminary tests were run on sorting using X-Rayatomic density, with a view to upgrading the run-of-mine material toreduce shipping and processing costs.  Copper recovery was 80%, andthe grade was increased to 5.35% Cu.  It was considered that the losswas excessive, and the PEA was completed on the assumption thatrun-of-mine would be trucked to a toll process plant.  Further tests,possibly using different sensing equipment, are being considered forthe future.

The Technical Report includes an updated MineralResource Estimate that incorporated the results of the 2020 diamonddrilling program on the Great Burnt Main Zone, which was summarized innews release 2021-12 on July 8 th , 2021.  It isrepeated in Table 2 below.

John Ryan, CEO, added “We are awaiting assay resultsfrom last fall’s 3,000 metre drill program on the South Pond “B”Gold Zone, and anticipating that this may give us a possible additionto the Mineral Resource.  Furthermore, we will be doing infill andstep-out drilling at the South Pond “A” Copper-Gold Zone, whichwill firm up - and possibly add to - that Mineral Resource.  We willalso be following the recommendations of the Technical Report to doadditional drilling on the Great Burnt Copper Deposit, with a view toconverting some of the Inferred Mineral Resource into the Indicatedclassification.”

Colin Bowdidge, Ph.D., P.Geo. andEugene Puritch, P.Eng., Fec, CET, Qualified Persons as defined inNI43-101, have reviewed and approved the technical information in thisnews release . Mr. Bowdidge isa director and VP Exploration of Spruce Ridge and Mr. Puritch isindependent of Spruce Ridge.

About Spruce Ridge Resources Ltd.

Spruce Ridge holds a 100% interest in 26,640 hectaresin Central Newfoundland, including:

• the 2,890-hectare Great Burnt VMS copper-goldproperty;

• the 4,575-hectare Pipestone nickel prospectand;

• the 19,175-hectare Foggy Pond property

In addition to its mineral assets, Spruce Ridge acquired leases with petroleum and natural gasrights, plus shut-in oil and gas wells, pipelines, and facilities, inthe Unity area of southwestern Saskatchewan and is in the process ofputting these assets back into production.

Spruce Ridge currently holds 5,594,955 shares of CanadaNickel Company Inc. and 10,000,000 shares of Noble Mineral ExplorationInc.

For further information please contact:

John Ryan, President and CEO

Spruce Ridge Resources Ltd.

Phone: 519-822-5904

Email: spruceridgeresources@gmail.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor itsRegulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policiesof the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacyor accuracy of this release.  This News Release includes certain"forward-looking statements" which are not comprised ofhistorical facts.  Forward-looking statements include estimates andstatements that describe the Company’s future plans, objectives orgoals, including words to the effect that the Company or managementexpects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-lookingstatements may be identified by such terms as “believes”,“anticipates”, “expects”, “estimates”, “may”,“could”, “would”, “will”, or “plan”. Sinceforward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address futureevents and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherentrisks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based oninformation currently available to the Company, the Company providesno assurance that actual results will meet management’sexpectations.  Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved withforward-looking information could cause actual events, results,performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially fromthose expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is notlimited to, the intention to complete the transactions, and theCompany’s objectives, goals or future plans. Factors that couldcause actual results to differ materially from such forward-lookinginformation include, but are not limited to an inability to completethe transactions, failure to identify mineral resources, failure toconvert estimated mineral resources to reserves, delays in obtainingor failures to obtain required regulatory, governmental, environmentalor other project approvals, political risks, inability to fulfill theduty to accommodate First Nations and other indigenous peoples,uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financingneeded in the future, changes in equity markets, inflation, changes inexchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in thedevelopment of projects, capital and operating costs varyingsignificantly from estimates and the other risks involved in themineral exploration and development industry, and those risks set outin the Company’s public documents filed on SEDAR. Although theCompany believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparingthe forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable,undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which onlyapplies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can begiven that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or atall. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update orrevise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of newinformation, future events or otherwise, other than as required bylaw.

This news release does notconstitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy norshall there be any sale of any of the securities in any jurisdictionin which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful, includingany of the securities in the United States of America. The securitieshave not been and will not be registered under the United StatesSecurities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”) or any statesecurities laws and may not be offered or sold within the UnitedStates or to, or for account or benefit of, U.S. Persons (as definedin Regulation S under the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from suchregistration requirements is available.

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