Ivanhoe cuts 42 metres of 30% copper at Monywa

Vancouver – Drilling by Ivanhoe Mines (IVN-T) in the Sabetaung pit floor at the Monywa Copper Project, in Myanmar, has intersected spectacularly high-grades of copper mineralization.

Three in-fill drill holes in the Sabetaung pit floor tied into a zone of high-grade chalcocite (Cu2S) mineralization returning intercepts of up to 42 metres of over 30% copper. The holes were drilled on 25-metre centres.

Sabetaung open pit operations have been the primary source of copper ore since Monywa production commenced in 1998.

Results from the drilling include:

• Hole SDD0416 Intersected 32 metres (from 72 metres downhole) grading 5.95% copper; Below this intercept, 28 metres of 1.67% copper was intersected, followed by 84 metres assaying 0.43% copper;
• Hole SDD0425 The hole cut 46 metres (from 70 metres downhole) of 7.43% copper, including a 22 metre intercept of chalcocite mineralization averaging 10.63% copper; Further downhole, another 28 metres grading 1.7% copper was intersected, followed by intervals of 50 metres of 2.68% copper, 14 metres of 3% copper and 42 metres of 0.6% copper;
• Hole SDD0427 A 42 metre intercept (from 3 metres downhole) intersected 30.42% copper in a high-grade chalcocite zone; a further 18 metres of 0.8% copper was encountered downhole followed by 30 metres of 0.3% copper.

The zone of chalcocite enrichment has an exposed strike length of 63 metres in the pit face. Drilling has, so far, extended the plus-1% copper mineralization over 190 metres below the present Sabetaung pit floor. Further drilling, along with geophysics, is aimed at delineating this new, high-grade copper zone and additional structures into a measured resource. An independent consulting firm has been retained for the in-fill drilling as well for a new Sabetaung resource estimate.

Ivanhoe has been active in Myanmar since 1992 and is involved in the Monywa copper mine through a 50/50 joint venture with Mining Enterprise No. 1, a state-owned company.

Ivanhoe is ramping-up copper production from the mine, which is expected to increase 40% by October 2004, to 39,000 tonnes (86 million pounds) annually. This is the first of a two-phase increase planned for the mine. Implementation of the second phase will see further copper production increases to 50,000 tonnes annually.

Ivanhoe Mines, as of the latest figures, reports 271.7 million shares outstanding. At presstime, the issue trades in the $5.60 per share range, near the lower end of its yearly range of $15.30-$4.16.