IMZ Announces Major
Increase in Reserves at Pallancata Mine
Scottsdale, Arizona,
August 25, 2008 – International Minerals Corporation (TSX and SWX: “IMZ”)
announces a major increase in mineral reserve estimates for the Pallancata
silver-gold mine in southern Peru.
Pallancata is jointly owned by IMZ (40% interest) and Hochschild Mining plc
(“Hochschild”, 60% interest and operatorship).
The new Proven and Probable Reserve
estimate (“Reserves”), on a 100% project basis, comprise 5.9 million tonnes
at an average grade of 330 grams per tonne (“g/t”) silver and 1.2 g/t gold,
containing a total of 62.3 million ounces of silver and 232,000 ounces of
gold (or approximately 75.5 million ounces of silver equivalent using $10.50
per ounce silver and $600 per ounce gold).
These
new Reserves represent a more than 80% increase from the previously-announced
Reserve estimates in March 2008 and more than a 450% increase from the
Reserves estimated in a pre-feasibility study in August 2007.
In
addition, a further 10.1 million ounces of silver and 34,000 ounces of gold
(approximately 12 million ounces of silver equivalent) are contained in
Inferred Resources of 852,000 tonnes at an average grade of 369 g/t silver
and 1.2 g/t gold.
Commenting
on the news, Stephen Kay, President and Chief Executive Officer of IMZ said,
“We are extremely pleased that IMZ’s discovery of Pallancata in 2003
continues to fulfill its rich potential with this significant addition to
mineral reserves. With the expected ramp-up of underground production from
the current rate of approximately 1,000 tonnes per day (tpd) to 2,000 tpd by
the end of 2008, we expect Pallancata to produce significant cash flow for
many years to come.”
Table
1 below shows estimated Mineral Reserves and Resources for the Pallancata Mine
(effective date of June 30th, 2008) based on information supplied by the mine
operator, Hochschild. Resources and
Reserves are reported at a cut-off grade of 148 g/t silver equivalent, which
reflects a marginal economic cut-off value of $44 per tonne using metal
prices of US$10.50 per ounce of silver and US$600 per ounce of gold. Hochschild’s
data and methodology have been reviewed by IMZ’s Technical Manager Nick
Appleyard, who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101
(“NI 43-101”). IMZ will be filing a Technical Report on Sedar in support of
this disclosure within 45 days.
Table 1: Pallancata Mine – Mineral
Reserve and Resource Estimates (as of June 30, 2008)
|
Estimate Category
|
Tonnes
|
Average Grade
(g/t silver)
|
Average Grade (g/t gold)
|
100% Basis --Contained Silver Ounces
|
100% Basis --Contained Gold Ounces
|
IMZ 40% Attributable Silver Ounces
|
IMZ 40% Attributable Gold Ounces
|
|
Proven Reserves
|
2,234,000
|
262
|
1.1
|
18,887,000
|
79,000
|
7,555,000
|
32,000
|
|
Probable Reserves
|
3,642,000
|
371
|
1.3
|
43,393,000
|
153,000
|
17,357,000
|
61,000
|
|
Total Reserves
|
5,875,000
|
329
|
1.2
|
62,281,000
|
232,000
|
24,912,000
|
93,000
|
|
Resource Category
|
Tonnes
|
Average Grade
(g/t silver)
|
Average Grade (g/t gold)
|
100% Basis --Contained Silver Ounces
|
100% Basis --Contained Gold Ounces
|
IMZ 40% Attributable Silver Ounces
|
IMZ 40% Attributable Gold Ounces
|
|
Measured Resources
|
1,836,000
|
313
|
1.3
|
18,480,000
|
77,000
|
7,392,000
|
31,000
|
|
Indicated Resources
|
3,511,000
|
428
|
1.5
|
48,292,000
|
171,000
|
19,317,000
|
69,000
|
|
Total Measured and Indicated Resources
|
5,347,000
|
388
|
1.4
|
66,772,000
|
249,000
|
26,709,000
|
99,000
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Inferred Resources
|
852,000
|
369
|
1.2
|
10,113,000
|
34,000
|
4,045,000
|
14,000
|
1. Measured and Indicated Resources include Proven and
Probable Reserves.
2. Metal
prices used are US$10.50/oz for silver and US$600/oz for gold.
3. The estimated reserves include an
allowance of 5% for ore loss during mining and up to 20% for dilution with
zero grade depending on individual stope configuration.
4. The estimated mineral
resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic
viability.
5. Numbers have been rounded
in all categories to reflect the precision of the estimates.
6. The mineral resources
were estimated using ordinary kriging for the western portion of the vein and
inverse distance to the power of five for the central part of the vein and
for peripheral veins. All of the
Measured Resources and Proven Reserves stated above were estimated by
ordinary kriging only.
7. Contained metal in
estimated reserves remains subject to metallurgical recovery losses.
8. The resource and reserve estimates reflect the
deposit at Pallancata as of June
30, 2008. Since June 30th, approximately 68,000 tonnes have been
processed at an average grade of 343 g/t silver and 1.6 g/t gold. This
equates to approximately 752,000 ounces of silver and 3,400 ounces of gold
that have been depleted from the estimated reserves in Table 1.
9. Total
production up to June 30th is approximately 213,000 tonnes at an
average grade of 329 g/t silver and 1.6 g/t gold. This equates to approximately 2.2 million
ounce of silver and 10,950 ounces of gold produced.
IMZ reported production data for the
Pallancata Mine for the second calendar quarter of 2008 in a July
24, 2008 news release. Silver and gold production both increased by
approximately 66% compared to the first calendar quarter of 2008, producing a
total of 829,000 ounces silver and 3,230 ounces gold (or approximately 1.0
million ounces of silver equivalent, using a silver-to-gold ratio of
60:1). IMZ’s 40% share of second
calendar quarter production was 331,600 ounces of silver and 1,292 ounces of
gold (approximately 409,000 ounces of silver equivalent). Production costs
for the Pallancata Mine will be issued as soon as available.
The technical information reported in this
news release was reviewed by IMZ’s Qualified Person, Technical Manager Nick
Appleyard.
Hochschild Mining plc does not accept any
responsibility for the adequacy or inadequacy of the disclosure made in this
news release and any such responsibility is hereby disclaimed in all
respects.
For additional information, contact Wendy Yang at (1)
303-357-4863
Internet Site:
http://www.intlminerals.com
E-mail:information@intlminerals.com
Cautionary
Statement:
Some of
the statements contained in this release are “forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of Canadian securities law requirements. Such forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ
materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements in this release include statements regarding timing and scale of
production and processing and estimates of reserves and resources. Factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results
include risks and uncertainties such as: risks relating to estimates of
production and processing rates; risks of cost overruns and completion
delays; risks of estimating mineral resources and reserves, variances between
mineral reserves and actual mineral production and other risks and
uncertainties detailed in the Company’s Renewal Annual Information Form for
the year ended June 30, 2007, which is available at www.sedar.com under the
Company’s name. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update
or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
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