More mineralization at Mount Polley for Imperial

Vancouver – Expansion efforts at the Mount Polley mine continue to return promising intercepts in new areas for Imperial Metals (III-T).

Imperial is probing five zones at Mount Polley to delineate new mineralization. The property already hosts five open pits. Three pits – Springer, Bell, and Cariboo – are clustered together near the center of the property; the high-grade Wight pit is at the north end of the project and the Southeast pit is at the south end.

Resources at the Wight, Cariboo, and Bell pits are now depleted, leaving only the Springer and Southeast zones to provide mill feed. But help is on the way – production at the Pond zone, which is 500 metres southwest of the Southeast pit, should commence within a few months and Imperial is defining solid potential at several other new zones.

Imperial has focused significant attention on the Boundary zone, which is adjacent to the depleted, high-grade Wight pit on its western edge. At Boundary Imperial is looking for deep mineralization, below that already captured in an open-pit model, that could be mined underground.

Recent drilling has returned just that – high-grade intercepts at depth. Hole 79 returned 157 metres grading 1.73% copper, 1.11 grams gold per tonne, and 10.53 grams silver per tonne from 158 metres depth. The intercept included 14.4 metres of 5.08% copper, 2.68 grams gold, and 36.1 grams silver. Other intercepts from Boundary have returned shorter intercepts, such as 12.8 metres of 1.51% copper, 1.11 grams gold, and 11.33 grams silver from 175 metres down hole 80 and 52 metres averaging 1.3% copper, 1.64 grams gold, and 7.49 grams silver from 40 metres down hole 82.

At the Pond zone Imperial’s strategy is the same – the company is looking for high-grade mineralization below the designed open pit that could be mined afterwards through underground methods. Intercepts of late include hole 35, which cut 71.3 metres of 0.57% copper, 0.22 gram gold, and 6.81 grams silver from 219 metres depth, and hole 43, which returned 9.3 metres of 6.4% copper, 0.89 gram gold, and 67.68 grams silver.

In contrast to the exploration strategy at Boundary and Pond, drilling at the Springer pit is seeking long copper-gold intercepts. Three recent holes at Springer returned mineralized intercepts exceeding 350 metres in length, demonstrating that although mining has begun at Springer the expansion potential remains significant.

Hole 70 cut 358.4 metres grading 0.4% copper and 0.31 gram gold from 9 metres depth. Hole 71 hit 367.9 metres averaging 0.45% copper and 0.27 gram gold from 46 metres downhole. And hole 72 returned 371 metres of 0.51% copper and 0.26 gram gold, also from 9 metres depth.

And recent exploration efforts at Mount Polley have confirmed mineralization in two new zones. At C2, which is directly south of the depleted Cariboo pit, hole 80 returned 19.3 metres of 1.85% copper and 2.15 grams gold, including 6.7 metres of 3.77% copper and 4.33 grams gild. The company says the high grades and favourable gold:copper ratio have “raised the profile of the C2 zone” and it is contemplating further drilling.

And in looking through historical records Imperial found evidence that a series of short holes in the 1960 had intercepted mineralization in an area just west of C2. Imperial dubbed the area the WX zone and drilled two holes, both of which returned copper-gold mineralization.

Hole 1 returned 45 metres of 0.31% copper and 0.29 gram gold from 115 metres depth followed by 52.5 metres grading 0.19% copper and 0.28 gram gold from 188 metres downhole. And hole 2 intercepted 90.4 metres of 0.36% copper and 0.96 gram gold from 117 metres depth.

Imperial says it will continue to drill these and other zones for the remainder of 2009, including the newly-acquired extension of the Boundary zone. In April the company inked an option agreement with Valley High Ventures () to acquire a 100% interest in a portion of a claim adjacent to Boundary. The new area will allow development of an open pit at Boundary. Valley High will receive $2.50 for each tonne milled for the first 400,000 tonnes and $1.25 per tonne after that.

In 2008 Mount Polley, which is 56 km northeast of Williams Lake, produced 60.3 million lbs. copper, 47,000 oz. gold, and 522,000 oz. silver. In 2009 the mine is expected to produce 42 million lbs. copper, 53,000 oz. gold, and 231,000 oz. silver.

As of January, Mount Polley’s proven and probable reserve count stood at 46.2 million tonnes grading 0.34% copper, 0.29 gram gold, and 0.95 gram silver. Based on that reserve, the mine’s life reaches to the end of 2015.

On news of the latest drill results Imperial’s share price gained 13¢ to close at $4.25. The company has a 52-week trading range of 93¢ to $7.94 and has 32 million shares outstanding.

Imperial is also in the midst of closing a takeover of Selkirk Metals (SLK-V). The new company will combine Imperial’s operating mines with Selkirk’s impressive host of development-stage and advanced exploration projects and will carry virtually no debt.

According to a plan of arrangement that is still subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, each Selkirk shareholder can choose to receive either 12¢ for each Selkirk share or one Imperial share for every 30 Selkirk shares.

Selkirk acquired its properties when Falconbridge exited British Columbia in 1989, after run-ins with the then-NDP government. The company’s key project is the Catface copper prospect on the west coast of Vancouver Island, west of Port Alberni. Three porphyry zones have been drilled; Selkirk is expected to release a resource estimate shortly.

The company’s other main asset is Ruddock Creek in the Scrip Range of the Monashee Mountains in southeast British Columbia. Ruddock hosts 2.34 million indicated tonnes grading 7.79% zinc and 1.61% lead as well as 1.49 million inferred tonnes averaging 6.5% zinc and 1.26% lead.

Funds to explore and possibly develop these projects will come from Mount Polley as well as Imperial’s 50% interest in the Huckleberry open pit copper-molybdenum mine, which is also close to Williams Lake. Huckleberry produced 37.2 million pounds of copper in 2008, down from 55 million pounds in 2007, with all production from the Main Zone Extension pit. Copper production is expected to increase this year to about 40 million pounds of copper as mining moves into the deeper, higher grade portions of the Main Zone Extension pit.

Rounding out Imperial’s projects are two development-stage projects: the Red Chris copper-gold property in northwest B.C. and the Sterling gold prospect in southwest Nevada.