Imperial Metals tags more hot holes

Vancouver — The latest drill results have expanded the newly discovered Northeast zone on the past producing Mount Polley copper-gold property some 56 km northeast of Williams Lake, British Columbia.

So far, Imperial Metals (III-T) has put 16 holes into the find, which lies only 1.5 km northeast of the Bell pit. The results are in for the first 6 holes and the values have been very promising.

Hole 1 returned 57 metres grading 2.54% copper, 1.15 grams gold, and 17.4 grams silver per tonne from 3 metres downhole. The hot hole was drilled vertically to a depth of 184.7 metres.

The second hole was collared from the same site and drilled at a 60-degree angle in the southwesterly direction. This hole returned 76.5 metres grading 0.74% copper, 0.34 gram gold and 5 grams silver.

Moving 25 metres north northwest, hole 3 was also drilled in the southwesterly direction and angled at 60 degrees, returning 193.5 metres grading 1.33% copper, 0.44 gram gold and 10.6 grams silver.

Collared just off section from hole 3 some 25 metres southwest, hole 4 averaged 0.34% copper and 0.21 gram gold over 158.4 metres from 0.6 metre downhole.

Drilled on section with hole 1 and collared 25 metres to the southwest, hole 5 cut 33.8 metres grading 0.49% copper and 0.3 gram gold from 3.7 metres downhole.

Moving about 75 metres southeast of the original hole, hole 6 cut 212.9 metres grading 0.98% copper and 0.32 gram gold from 7.1 metre downhole. Included in this section was a higher grade portion running 1.94% copper and 0.57 gram gold over 102.9 metres.

Collared 25 metres further to the southeast, hole 7 returned 204.1 metres grading 1% copper, 0.4 gram gold and 7.31 gram silver from 13.4 metres. Included in this section was a higher-grade portion running 1.72% copper, 0.56 gram gold and 12.3 grams silver over 112.9 metres.

Some 25 metres northwest of hole 6, hole 8 cut 73.8 metres grading 0.98% copper, 0.31 gram gold and 8.04 grams silver from 7.3 metres.

The new zone is hosted in the same type of hyrdothermal breccia as the other three deposits (Cariboo, Bell and Springer) on the property but magnetite is lacking, actinolite is sporadic and secondary biotite appears to be the dominant alteration mineral associated with the higher-grade values. The mineralization is dominantly sulphide comprising bornite and chalcopyrite with oxides disappearing after only a few metres depth.

The first bout of drilling tested the new zone over a 275 metre length.

Imperial has now moved the rig from the Northeast zone over to what was originally thought to be the most promising targets, expanding the resources below the Springer and Bell zones.

The junior plans on punching 4 holes below the Bell pit, which holds probable reserves of 3.4 million tonnes grading 0.36% copper and 0.36 gram gold.

At the essentially unmined Springer zone, which holds 15.3 million tonnes of probable reserves grading 0.4% copper and 0.39 gram gold, Imperial has laid out four holes for the current program.