Imperial Metals to restart Mt. Polley

Vancouver — Imperial Metals (III-T) is amending its application for a permit to resume mining at the Mount Polley copper mine in central British Columbia.

Upon receipt of the permit, Imperial will begin mining the Northeast and Bell zones concurrently; mining of the Springer zone will follow.

Drilling at the Northeast zone is designed to expand the delineated minable resource, whereas at the Springer zone, the objective is to find deep, high-grade copper-gold mineralization.

Metallurgical tests indicate good recoveries for ore from the Northeast zone, with recoveries in the range of 89.9% for copper, 90.9% for gold and 64.5% for silver.

Mount Polley produced from 1997 until 2001, when operations were suspended as a result of low commodity prices.

Imperial Metals has 25.6 million shares outstanding and was trading close to $6.45 at presstime.