Imperial Metals cuts 1024 metres of 1% copper at Red Chris

Vancouver – Imperial Metals (III-T, IPMLF-O) hard-fought takeover battle for bcMetals is paying off with immense mineralized intercepts from the Red Chris copper-gold property in northern BC.

Imperial acquired bcMetals in early 2007 after a long battle with rival suitor Taseko Mines (TKO-T, TGB-X), eventually paying $74 million or $1.70 a share for the company. The prize in the battle was bcMetals Red Chris property, which hosts reserves of 276 million tonnes grading 0.249% copper and 0.266 gram gold per tonne according to a 2004 feasibility study. The study predicted a 25-year mine life at 30,000 tons processed a day.

The project had been thoroughly explored before Imperial came on the scene but the company decided to conduct a 6-hole, deep-drilling program over the summer. And the effort was worthwhile: hole 335 returned the longest intercept on the property to date.

Starting 5 metres from surface, hole 335 cut 1,024 metres grading 1.01% copper, 1.26 grams gold, and 3.92 grams silver per tonne. The upper 240 metres graded 1.84% copper, 1.74 grams gold, and 6.21 grams silver. The hole was collared in the centre of the East Zone, extends at least 679 metres below the currently designed open pit, and ended in strong mineralization.

Assay results from one other recent hole have been released and also show deep continuous mineralization. Hole 336, drilled in the centre of the Main Zone, returned 996.4 metres grading 0.4% copper, 0.38 gram gold, and 1.29 grams silver starting 4 metres below surface. Hole 336 also terminated in mineralization. Assays for four other holes are still pending.

East Zone mineralization is primarily chalcopyrite and bornite, while mineralization within the Main Zone is mainly chalcopyrite and pyrite. The Red Chris deposit is associated with the Red stock, a monzodiorite intrusion that has quartz, ankerite, potassium feldspar, and hematite alteration, and is subsequently cut by a sulphide-bearing quartz stockwork.

In other good news for Imperial, the recently-announced $400-million extension of BC’s electrical grid into the northwest region will bring 287 kV power supply to within 125 km of the Red Chris project. The Northwest Transmission Line will extend 335 km from Terrace north, to Bob Quinn Lake. The NovaGold (NG-T) – Teck Cominco (TCK.A, TCK.B-T, TCK-N) Galore Creek partnership is contributing $158-million toward the cost of the line.

On the negative side, a federal court judge ruled in late September that the federal environmental assessment of Red Chris, completed in May 2006, was procedurally incorrect and therefore must be set aside and revisited. The judge ruled that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Natural Resources Canada had no authority to re-scope the federal environmental assessment as a screening level review after first deciding it would proceed by comprehensive study review. The decision does not affect the provincial environmental assessment certificate issued in August 2005 that concluded the project is not likely to cause significant adverse effects.