Devotees of Antiques Roadshow or Pawn Stars often fantasize of stumbling across that one special item - a diamond in the rough as it were - that will transform their everyday lives and bring new enthusiasm to everything around them. It does happen - albeit rarely - but the shows wouldn't be the hits they are without the occasional big discovery to keep audiences and seekers enthralled. Such may be the case with a small mineral resources exploration company domiciled in Nova Scotia, Canada. In 2015, Silver Spruce Resources, Inc. (OTCBB: SSEBF) (TSXV: SSE) underwent a fundamental restructuring, which included the appointment of a new President & CEO, as well changes to the Board of Directors, in order to focus attention and resources away from what was then a depressed uranium market to more lucrative mining opportunities in other base minerals. What happened next is a bit of an early stage Cinderella story. Management at Silver Spruce Resources was alerted to an MLS property listing in Yavapai Country, Arizona, very close to the tiny town of Black Canyon City (population +/- 3,000). The 470.84 acre property was the site of the Kay Mine, once owned by Exxon Minerals (a subsidiary of Exxon Petroleum), and listed for sale by the current local owner. The listing included both the surface land as well as all rights and claims to the land and its contents below the surface. Without too much fanfare, the current owner sold the property to Silver Spruce Resources for $500,000 cash and $477,000 of TSXV: SSE stock. (Yes, you read that correctly...) Silver Spruce Resources had access to all the earlier reports about the mining project that had been conducted by Exxon when the property was under the oil giant's ownership. Review of those reports, and in conjunction with their own geographical and geological studies, revealed that the property contains substantial mining potential for several base minerals, including copper, zinc, silver, and gold. The estimates for gold in particular, suggest that there is as much as 1.6 million ounces of gold under the surface, and in total 6.4 million tons of product with an estimated value of $1.8 billion. These estimates were made using assay data from historic mine level plans and Exxon drill hole intercepts. To date, Silver Spruce Resources has yet not conducted sufficient work to definitively classify Exxon's resource estimate to be compliant with NI-43-101 resource definitions, and additional drilling is required to verify. However, Exxon geologists repeatedly state in their documentation that considerable upside remains as the project has not been fully explored and the known deposits are open down-dip and potentially along strike. After Investing $1.5 million in exploration studies, Exxon sold the land which is known as the Kay Mine Project because the commodity product contained in the mine was not consistent with their exploration goals (you can make decisions like that when your market cap is $355 billion), eventually paving the way for Silver Spruce Resources, Inc. (OTCBB: SSEBF) (TSXV: SSE) to cultivate exploration and extraction of the natural resources. Silver Spruce also owns mining property in southwestern Chihuahua, Mexico, however their primary focus this year is the Kay Mine in Arizona. Kay Mine is an advanced exploration project with potential of greater than 20 million tons of massive sulfide ore, according to Exxon Mineral Company reports. The Company's exploration program for 2017 consists of mapping, sampling, geophysics, and drilling. Upon completion of this work, Silver Spruce Resources will endeavor to create a NI 43-101 compliant resource report on the property. In case you aren't aware, an NI 43-101 report is a national instrument for the Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects within Canada. The Instrument is a codified set of rules and guidelines for reporting and displaying information related to mineral properties owned by, or explored by, companies which report these results on stock exchanges within Canada. It keeps mining companies honest and prevents investors from being scammed. Silver Spruce estimates Kay Mine to have an indicated resource containing 6.4 million short tons at a 2% copper cut off, and an estimated average grade of 2.2% copper, 3.03% zinc, 0.082 ounces of gold per ton, and 1.6 ounces per ton silver (1.65 million oz. au equivalent). These estimates were made using assay data from historic mine level plans and Exxon drill hole intercepts. Another key feature of the Kay Mine is the accessibility of necessary mining resources. Labor, water, electricity, roads, are all factors to consider when valuing a property for mining potential, and the historically productive Kay Mine, located in central Arizona, has all of these in abundance. The mine was productive in the early 1900s, but the advent of the World Wars redirected focus away from mining prospects in the area, leaving much of the area under-developed and under-explored. Silver Spruce Resource's other property, Pino de Plata in Chihuahua, Mexico, has mining indications on the property that date to the Spanish Colonial era of the 1600s. Although undrilled, since the 1800's, and including the past 30 years, artisanal, small scale surface mining of high grade silver/base metal veins (likely >1,000 gr/ton silver) is evident at workings at nine discrete locations on the property. As is the case at Pino de Plata, high base metal values (Pb, Zn, Cu) are often associated with high precious metal values in these epithermal veins. Coeur Mining's Palmerejo mine, located approximately 15 km NE of Pino de Plata, and within the mineralized portions of the structures, silver and gold can be zoned from top to bottom with higher silver values occurring in the upper parts of the deposit and higher gold values in the lower parts. While this notion is untested at Pino de Plata, company geologists remain optimistic due to similar geologic indications on the property. Silver Spruce's recently completed 43-101 exploration assessment yielded many silver values in excess of 200 gr/ton, and some greater than 500 gr/ton from areas that for the most part have either been high graded at surface or are highly altered and leached at surface. While a systematic program of exploration was outlined, it noted a key objective should be to identify potential drill targets in areas deemed to be the most prospective. From a management perspective, Silver Spruce Resources (OTCBB: SSEBF) (TSXV: SSE) has a C-Suite and Board of Directors that has decades of experience in mining, natural resources, geology and geophysics, financing and corporate strategy. The company has a market cap of $3.63 million, and carries no debt. SSE is focused on high impact precious metal and base mineral exploration opportunities, and making strategic acquisitions in well-established districts with sound models and infrastructure. They continue to seek properties and partnerships that have had some production and/or a resource that could be brought into NI 43-101 compliance. In the meantime, they continue to focus on the mining potential of the Kay Mine project. If you are considering adding a mining exploration stock to your portfolio, Silver Spruce Resources current $.04 cent price is worth considering. And, if the estimated $1.8 billion of product believed to be in the ground at Kay Mine is there and can be exploited, it will certainly make the $500,000 cash/$477,000 stock purchase price one for the record books.